Sub-metering for Tenant Billing in Commercial Buildings

In multi-tenant commercial buildings, fairly allocating electricity costs is a common challenge. While a main utility meter measures total consumption, it does not break down usage per tenant. Installing individual sub-meters, specifically three-phase energy meters for commercial loads, solves this problem.

Each tenant's distribution board is fitted with a modern digital energy meter. This meter accurately measures the active energy (kWh) consumed by that tenant's office space, servers, and lighting. The data from these meters can be collected manually via a local display or automatically through a building management system (BMS) using communication protocols like Modbus.

This sub-metering system provides transparent, precise data for billing tenants based on their actual consumption, rather than dividing the total bill by square footage. This promotes energy conservation among tenants, as they are directly responsible for their costs. For building managers, it simplifies billing, helps identify abnormal consumption patterns, and provides valuable data for overall energy management and efficiency improvements.