Overview: Meters and Counters
Meters and Counters are located within the EnergyCAP Enterprise Facility Tree. They are the lowest level of detail tracked by EnergyCAP.
A meter is a logical device used to gather or measure commodity data. Typically, an EnergyCAP Enterprise meter is associated with an actual physical meter attached to a building. However, the EnergyCAP Enterprise meter may also be a ‘virtual’ meter, where a physical meter does not exist, but the commodity consumption is calculated based on either an easily measurable attribute, or an engineering analysis. The meter is the linchpin between the Facility Tree and the Cost Center Tree in EnergyCAP Enterprise. The meter is associated with the Place, where the commodity is consumed, and the same meter is also associated with the account, where the cost of the commodity consumed is determined by a bill.
EnergyCAP Enterprise uses different meter icons to help visually identify the commodity being tracked by the meter.
A counter is a logical device used for collecting a wider range of data than the use or cost associated with utility bills. A counter may track "non-traditional" commodities. Counter data is typically:
- available from portable meters or other tracking devices.
- relevant to a process. Examples include hours of operation for a particular piece of machinery or equipment, or production totals (number of widgets, or weight of product produced), or number of meals served.
- related to energy consumption. Examples include building occupancy numbers/percentages, or miles driven.
Meters and counters may have one or more channels assigned to them. Measured channel data may be obtained via different means including a file import, manual data entry, or the use of virtual channel equations. Meter devices/hardware may be changed over time. EnergyCAP Enterprise maintains a history, based on installation dates, of all meter/channel or counter/channel properties.
