Why Customized and Ongoing Utility Monitoring for Your Building Makes a Difference

While government incentives have encouraged electric utilities to deploy smart metering systems, the same has not happened for natural gas and water utilities. But lower-cost connectivity is accelerating demand for water and gas monitoring systems. In fact, the number of connected nodes for natural gas and water is expected to reach 150 million by 2028—a staggering 82% increase over a decade.

Technology has changed what’s possible when it comes to utility monitoring. The Internet of Things (IoT), allows devices and networks to communicate with each other and transfer utility data to centralized building management systems (BMSs) for control and analysis. The introduction of customized and continuous utility monitoring gives you a new level of control in the quest for efficiency and opens up tremendous opportunities for cost savings.

Why Continuous Utility Monitoring Makes Sense

Customized and continuous utility monitoring allows you to access real-time information via utility meters within a building. Smart building management platforms normalize data collected from connected utility meters and use advanced analytics to evaluate this data in real time along with historical analysis. 

Utility monitoring by a smart building management platform allows for easy identification of trends, including:

• Average usage
• Maximum demand levels
• Who is consuming what resources 
• Where and when resources are being used

This information allows you to make smart changes that optimize systems throughout the building, reduce utility costs, and bring you closer to your environmental objectives. 

Electricity 

Meters and smart building management platforms offer a means to monitor electricity use and take advantage of demand response programs. This helps quantify savings by verifying kilowatt-hours (kWh) used, which allows stakeholders to better evaluate the performance of energy conservation measures. Continuous real-time utility monitoring also allows facilities managers to get immediate feedback and adjust accordingly. Not only does continuous utility monitoring of electricity use decrease costs, it also enhances comfort and safety for building occupants.

Natural Gas 

Normally, natural gas is purchased from local utilities, with total gas consumption measured by gas meters and recorded on customers’ utility bills. Smart submeters installed to register each tenant’s gas use allow facilities managers to examine which building or area is using the most gas. This ensures tenants are charged based on the amount of gas they actually use, not imprecise estimates. Smart submeters can even be utilized to examine which equipment or areas use the most gas and when. With an in-depth understanding of natural gas consumption patterns, stakeholders can create efficiency-focused changes.

Water

Water conservation and monitoring have become increasingly important objectives for facilities managers, particularly in drought-prone areas. Customized and ongoing utility monitoring will:

• Uncover trends regarding water use, including seasonal changes
• Lower costs associated with high water consumption, including the energy used to transport it
• Identify hidden leaks by monitoring water pressure, preventing water damage and waste

Like other supplied utilities, metering also provides a means to analyze water use. It’s a key element to conserving resources and preventing waste. Depending on the type of smart meters installed, custom utility monitoring with smart meters can even provide alerts when water pressure, temperature, or other measured aspects of water fall outside expected parameters. 

Finding the Right Partner

A smart building expert can offer the guidance you need to create a customized and ongoing utility monitoring system that meets your needs. Buildings IOT offers end-to-end smart building solutions, from expert master system integration to an industry-leading smart building management platform. We help you turn your building data into a powerful resource for change.