Energy Monitoring Budget Calculator
Submeter count and cost from monitoring requirements.
Inputs
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
Total3Year Cost$58,760.00
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter Electrical submeters, BTU/thermal meters, and Gas meters.
- Set Water meters, Building area (sq ft), and Annual energy cost ($).
- Review Total meters and Total capital cost ($) ($).
- Use Meter hardware ($) ($) and Data gateways ($) ($) to inform your decision.
How the result changes with Electrical submeters
| Electrical submeters | Total meters | Total capital cost ($) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 58 | $156,350.00 |
| 175 | 183 | $467,700.00 |
| 325 | 333 | $840,000.00 |
| 450 | 458 | $1,151,350.00 |
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.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersElectrical submeters = 10, BTU/thermal meters = 4, Gas meters = 2, Water meters = 2 = 6 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total metersTotal meters18 = 18
- Calculate Total capital costTotal capital cost = totalMeterCost + gatewayCost + wiringCost + installationLabor57950 = $57,950
- Calculate Meter hardwareMeter hardware = electricalTotal + btuTotal + gasTotal + waterTotal37800 = $37,800
- Calculate Data gatewaysData gateways = gatewaysNeeded * 22004400 = $4,400
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators.
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