Energy meters: the key to managing energy in your facilities
With energy prices constantly rising and energy resource management becoming an environmental priority, analysing and monitoring energy consumption is becoming essential in the residential, tertiary and industrial sectors. Reducing the waste of all energy consumed by facilities and equipment and improving the energy efficiency of buildings is a major economic challenge. The energy meter therefore plays a major role in identifying sources of loss and overconsumption and optimising the efficiency of facilities.
Role of the energy meter
While energy meters were originally used mainly for billing purposes by energy suppliers, their role today is very different. They are installed in electrical panels and cabinets to identify and locate the most energy-intensive consumption items, particularly heating, lighting and ventilation/air conditioning in buildings.
Whether single-phase for residential use or three-phase for industrial use, energy meters play a very different role from electricity meters. They are sometimes called sub-meters because they are installed downstream of the main electricity meter.
Installed upstream of a circuit, they measure the amount of energy consumed on that circuit by all the equipment connected to it. This provides an accurate picture of consumption and enables the implementation of appropriate solutions to reduce bills. Manufacturers have understood this well. Energy savings are a real competitive advantage: the less they consume, the more they reduce their production costs.
Energy meters and the energy transition
With the introduction of energy regulations, particularly in the tertiary sector, energy meters are the solution for complying with the requirements imposed. RT2020 for the residential sector and RE2020, the Eco Energy Tertiary (or tertiary decree) and the BACS (Building Automation & Control Systems) decree for the tertiary and industrial sectors set important priorities:
- Reducing the carbon impact of new buildings
- Continuing to improve their energy performance
- Lower their annual energy consumption.
Advanced technologies and smart meters
Knowing how much energy buildings consume using smart energy measurement and monitoring systems has become essential. Energy meters, with increasingly advanced performance and functionality, are the perfect response to today's energy challenges.
From simple kWh meters for energy savings, MID-certified meters for rebilling, or multifunction meters for advanced energy management, there is a wide range of choices and offerings tailored to every need and application.
Smart meters, also known as intelligent meters or communicating meters, offer advanced measurement parameters:
- Total and partial kWh to track consumption
- Four-quadrant measurement to differentiate between energy consumption
- Identification of energy supplied and energy received
- Reduction of reactive energy penalties
- Additional parameters (P, Q, S, 3xI, V, PF, F) to monitor network balance
Multi-tariff, consumption threshold alarms, graphic display, logic inputs for meter operation (water/air/gas/electricity/steam), communication ports for transmitting data to supervision or energy management systems—smart meters can be integrated into all simple energy management applications.
Schneider Electric's Series 9 meters with the iEM range help make your customers' installations more energy efficient through better consumption monitoring.
Installing an energy meter: economic and environmental benefits
Installing energy meters in electrical panels primarily allows for savings on bills. This is what motivates most market players, suppliers and consumers to install them.
Better understanding how energy is used, when it is used, and identifying the devices or areas where energy savings can be made contributes to optimising energy costs.
Equipped with threshold alarms, the meters prevent consumption from exceeding limits, thereby minimising associated costs and penalties.
The accuracy of the meters, class 1.0 and 0.5S for active energy measurement, guarantees accurate billing that closely reflects actual consumption.
Finally, monitoring consumption via smart meters contributes to the implementation of more sustainable practices:
- Training staff in eco-responsible behaviour
- Implementing an energy management system
- Turning off office lighting, shop windows and façade lighting at night
- Using less energy-intensive machines and equipment
Challenges and prospects
The energy crisis is not inevitable, and above all, solutions exist to address it. Energy meters are the first link in a complete chain of equipment dedicated to energy management. In addition to the significant savings achieved, especially in industry, they also improve employee productivity through the use of more energy-efficient and higher-performance machines. They also encourage greater social responsibility, which, thanks to energy measurement indicators, involves employees a little more in the rational use of energy.
Let's not forget that the cheapest and least polluting energy is the energy we don't consume.
