What Is Shadow Metering?
What is Shadow Metering & What Are The Pros & Cons?
Shadow metering has digitally transformed traditional energy management, sustainability planning, and billing and re-billing for real estate. Consumption data plays an increasingly central role in optimising the built environment. This means the quality and consistency of data has become an important strategic tool.
Shadow metering removes many of the challenges and manual processes associated with collecting and processing data. This is especially the case in complex, multi-location, and multi-tenanted buildings. Shadow metering removes the need to access tenant bills or metering infrastructure. This allows for tenant data to be collected and interpreted without the usual challenges.
The benefits make shadow metering a must for modern buildings. The race to 2050 and net zero commitments come with tightening regulations. Commercial real estate accounts for 40% of combustion-related emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, it is estimated that direct building emissions must be reduced by 50% and indirect emissions must be reduced by 60% by 2030 to meet targets.
These kinds of pressures make energy efficiency a key business decision. Real-time, accurate energy consumption data removes the guesswork from understanding usage, benchmarking, and monitoring return on investment. The best way to secure this data and intelligently report on it is through shadow metering. These metering solutions work together with online data platforms like SmarterView, and smart building management processes.
What is shadow metering?
Shadow metering collects and reports on utilities data in real time. This is done without the need to access tenant bills or metering infrastructure, making it a powerful alternative data capture approach.
Shadow metering is a match for almost every kind of asset and application. This makes it an adaptable approach for challenging, extensive portfolios. You are also able to tailor the granularity. These IoT monitoring solutions allow even individual pieces of equipment to be monitored.
This data is available on connected devices via the SmarterView platform. No more manual requests, checks, or inspections. It also removes the risk of errors, delayed data, tenant interactions and disputes, as well as the complexity of multi-stream data sources.
How does shadow metering work?
Data is collected by installing additional meters and/or meter monitoring infrastructure alongside the main meter – usually accessing data through current transformers. With retrofit and new installation options, this is minimally invasive to tenants.
What are the pros and cons of shadow metering for landlords?
Ongoing data access
Shadow metering with SmarterView provides consistent real-time data from the point of installation. This includes actual consumption data, as well as unit pricing, alerts, peak load analysis, and site comparisons.
SmarterView also allows pre-programmable thresholds to be set. This sends a notification whenever unusual or undesirable metrics are detected. For immediate interventions and long-term strategies, this allows corrective action to be taken.
The value of this data is extensive. This includes the allocation of emissions categories, sustainable strategic planning and savings, reporting and billing advantages. It also guides assessments, installations, and return on investment for solar and renewable power sources.
Sustainable and responsible
The quality of the data collected through shadow metering empowers impactful sustainable changes. Using data, landlords map, implement, monitor, and measure the success of sustainable strategies.
Improved efficiency cuts operational expenses and is linked to the value of property and rental income amounts. High-quality data also displays good governance and evidences the environmental profile of a building or portfolio.
Efficiency in reporting
Greenwashing is a growing issue – and compliance and ESG requirements contain evolving, strict reporting processes. Accurate, in-depth, uniform data automates and simplifies this process for transparent reporting.
SmarterView provides daily, weekly, and monthly comparisons – as well as on-demand historical reports. This system does not require manual checks or contact with suppliers for data. This simplifies ESG, compliance, and stakeholder reporting. The quality of the data makes it suitable for the growing body of sustainable standards reporting.
High-quality meter readings
Traditional smart meters send readings through to suppliers at short bursts or intervals. This depends on the meter. Customers traditionally only access unscheduled meter readings by performing manual checks. Additionally, the kWh readings can involve complex, time-consuming analysis for the purposes of understanding and analysis.
Shadow metering with SmarterView provides full visibility of real-time and historical data on a user-friendly and easy to understand dashboard. This is a critical tool in ensuring billing accuracy, re-billing, and timely revenue collection. It also removes the time and effort around billing disputes and fosters landlord-tenant relationships.
Shadow metering costs
Shadow metering costs involve upfront installation and infrastructure expenses. This depends on the size and scope of the building or buildings, suppliers, and the particular needs and challenges on the property.
Accurately assessing shadow metering costs means these upfront expenses must be viewed relative to other immediate and long-term factors. These include:
- The costs of time, personnel, missed opportunities, and errors.
- The potential for increased rental potential.
- The cost of multiple, outsourced entities.
- SmarterView doesn’t require any downtime and prevents disruption of utilities supply.
- The costs savings from improved efficiencies during the lifetime of the equipment.
- The adaptability of the building to changing regulations and compliance requirements.
- The value of smarter processes to your overall bottom line.
With this in mind, the initial outlay to implement shadow metering will be recovered throughout the lifetime of the equipment. The data from the system allows this to be accurately calculated over time.
Initial tenant communication
A key feature of shadow metering is automation. However, imparting the benefits and soothing the concerns of tenants requires effective communication with tenants.
At Smarter Technologies Group, we work with landlords to handle tenant communications. This plays a role in ensuring all stakeholders achieve maximum value from shadow metering and smart energy monitoring solutions.
Find out more about shadow metering from Smarter Technologies Group
The built environment is carbon intensive. As we move towards 2050, this makes boosted efficiency an environmental – and business – imperative. High-quality, accessible data ensures an optimal, future-proofed approach to achieving resource efficiency.
Shadow metering is a powerful tool for smarter energy and water. Smarter Technologies is here to help you tailor and implement solutions around your needs. Contact us to get started.