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Calcimator

Energy Monitoring Budget Calculator

Submeter count and cost from monitoring requirements.

About this calculator

This calculator budgets an energy monitoring and verification (M&V) system from four submeter counts -- electrical (~$1,600 installed each), BTU/thermal (~$3,500), gas (~$2,500), and water (~$1,400) -- summed into Total Capital Cost along with data gateways (one per ~16 meters), wiring/integration (25% of meter hardware cost), and installation labor (~$350/meter). Electrical Submeters is the dominant input on Total Capital Cost at this calculator's defaults: it carries both the highest default count and a meaningful per-unit cost, while the other meter counts default low enough that a +/-10% nudge rounds back to the same whole number of meters and produces no local change at all.

Building Area and Annual Energy Cost never touch Total Capital Cost -- Building Area only normalizes the result into Cost per Sq Ft and Metering Density, and Annual Energy Cost only feeds Expected Savings and Simple Payback, a completely separate calculation using a fixed conservative 8% savings assumption. That split means a bigger, more expensive building doesn't automatically justify a bigger metering budget in this tool -- the capital cost is driven purely by how many meters of each type you specify, not by how large or costly the building's energy use already is.

Inputs

sq ft

Results

Total meters

18

Total capital cost ($)

$57,950.00

≈ 5 years of state college

Meter hardware ($)$37,800.00
Data gateways ($)$4,400.00
Wiring/integration ($)$9,450.00
Installation labor ($)$6,300.00
Annual software ($)$270.00
Annual maintenance ($)$2,646.00
Cost per sq ft ($)$0.58
Expected savings ($/yr)$20,000.00
Simple payback (years)2.9
Meters per 10k sq ft1.8
Total 3-year cost ($)$58,760.00
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter Electrical submeters, BTU/thermal meters, and Gas meters.
  2. Set Water meters, Building area (sq ft), and Annual energy cost ($).
  3. Review Total meters and Total capital cost ($) ($).
  4. Use Meter hardware ($) ($) and Data gateways ($) ($) to inform your decision.

How the result changes with Electrical submeters

Electrical submetersTotal metersTotal capital cost ($)
513$44,000.00
7.516$51,050.00
1523$69,700.00
2533$95,400.00

What each input means

Electrical submeters
Number of CT-based electrical submeters (~$1,600 installed each).
BTU/thermal meters
Number of thermal energy (BTU) meters for chilled/hot water loops (~$3,500 each).
Gas meters
Number of natural gas submeters (~$2,500 each).
Water meters
Number of water submeters for domestic or process water (~$1,400 each).
Building area (sq ft)
Gross building area for cost-per-square-foot and metering density calculations.
Annual energy cost ($)
Total annual energy spend. Used to estimate M&V savings (typically 5-15% reduction) and payback.

What each result means

Total meters
Total number of submeters across all utility types.
Total capital cost ($)
Total installed cost: meters + gateways + wiring + installation labor.
Meter hardware ($)
Cost of meter hardware only.
Data gateways ($)
Cost of data acquisition gateways (1 per ~16 meters).
Wiring/integration ($)
Network wiring and system integration (~25% of meter cost).
Installation labor ($)
Commissioning, programming, and testing labor (~$350/meter).
Annual software ($)
Annual energy management software/platform license.
Annual maintenance ($)
Annual calibration and maintenance (7% of meter hardware).
Cost per sq ft ($)
Capital cost normalized by building area.
Expected savings ($/yr)
Conservative 8% energy cost reduction from monitoring and M&V.
Simple payback (years)
Years to recover capital + first year software cost from energy savings.
Meters per 10k sq ft
Metering density. ASHRAE 90.1 typically requires 1-3 meters per 10,000 sq ft.
Total 3-year cost ($)
Total capital cost plus three years of annual software/platform license fees.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Electrical submeters = 10, BTU/thermal meters = 4, Gas meters = 2, Water meters = 2 = 6 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Total meters
    Total meters
    18 = 18
  3. Calculate Total capital cost
    Total capital cost = totalMeterCost + gatewayCost + wiringCost + installationLabor
    57950 = $57,950
  4. Calculate Meter hardware
    Meter hardware = electricalTotal + btuTotal + gasTotal + waterTotal
    37800 = $37,800
  5. Calculate Data gateways
    Data gateways = gatewaysNeeded * 2200
    4400 = $4,400

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the per-meter cost figures based on real vendor quotes, or rough industry averages?

They're midpoints of typical installed-cost ranges drawn from ASHRAE Guideline 14 and IPMVP practice ($1,600 electrical, $3,500 BTU/thermal, $2,500 gas, $1,400 water), not a quote from any specific vendor or manufacturer. Actual installed costs on your project can swing meaningfully based on regional labor rates, existing conduit or piping access, and how far each meter sits from its panel or gateway, so treat this budget as a planning-stage figure to size the project before soliciting formal vendor proposals.

Does building size affect the total capital cost?

No. Building Area (sq ft) only normalizes the result into Cost per Sq Ft and Metering Density -- it never appears in the Total Capital Cost formula, which is driven entirely by the four meter counts, gateways, wiring, and installation labor. A larger building with the same meter counts costs the same to instrument, just at a lower cost per square foot.

How is the expected savings estimated?

Expected Savings applies a fixed, conservative 8% reduction to Annual Energy Cost -- a flat assumption, not something the calculator derives from the metering plan itself. Annual Energy Cost has no effect on Total Capital Cost; it only feeds this savings estimate and the resulting Simple Payback calculation.

Why does the calculator add a data gateway cost separately from the meters?

Data acquisition gateways aggregate readings from multiple meters onto the building network, and this calculator assumes one gateway (at $2,200 each) can serve about 16 meters. That means gateway cost increases in discrete steps as your total meter count crosses each 16-meter threshold, rather than scaling smoothly with meter count.

What is the difference between capital cost and the 3-year total?

Total Capital Cost covers one-time costs only: meter hardware, gateways, wiring/integration, and installation labor. The 3-year total additionally rolls in three years of the annual software/platform license (based on $1.25 per meter per month), which is an ongoing operating cost rather than a one-time capital expense.

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