Metering systems for energy management

Energy costs are frequently a major part of the overall running expense of a business and should be minimised. A clear understanding of how energy is being utilised is the first step to its control. The meter data base is created by recording for every meter on the system, the average demand in every demand period of the day. If transferred to a computer with mass storage capability, this data can readily be stored for a year or more and be available for processing and display by the user. In addition to the long term data storage of demand period data a short term 1, 2, or 3 minute average demand data store can provide information for a quasi-real time information system. By adopting the approach that utilities have taken for many years to their metering data a versatile tool for energy management is available