Energy management

The Energy screen asks whether a site is using more of a utility than it should, and turns a reading into a finding rather than just a chart. Open it from Assets → Energy.

If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan. The module is called Energy there.

The Energy screen on its Findings tab, with the unread and estimated banners above a list of urgent findings

Supply points and meters

A supply point is where a commodity is measured: a building’s incoming electricity main, a gas line, a water connection, a submeter on one production cell, a generator’s fuel tank. It always belongs to a site, and it can be narrowed to a location or to a single asset. This is a different thing from an asset meter. A meter counts something about a machine — run hours, cycles. A supply point measures what a utility bills you for. The two meet when you bind a supply point to an asset meter: the supply point’s readings then feed that meter, and the maintenance plans on it come due by themselves. What is metered and what it costs — commodities, tariffs, emission factors, weather sources and targets — is set up once under Energy settings. The Configuration button at the top of this screen takes you there.

The header

Figure	What it counts
open findings	Findings that are open or have a work order raised against them
supply points	Every supply point in the organisation
due a reading	Supply points due a reading on their own Reading frequency
feeding maintenance	Supply points bound to an asset meter

The screen keeps itself current: a reading recorded elsewhere, on another screen or on a phone, appears without reloading the page. Add a supply point opens the supply point form (see below). It appears only if you may add supply points. Two banners can appear above every tab:

Banner	Why it matters
Not read recently	Counts active supply points with no reading in the last 45 days, including those never read. No reading means no consumption and no finding, so an unread meter looks exactly like one that used nothing. Show it (or Show them) opens the Supply points tab filtered to exactly those
… reading is the supplier’s estimate	Counts readings marked as an estimate. A period that is mostly estimated is deliberately left out of the findings until an actual reading supersedes it

Findings

A finding is a period in which a supply point used noticeably more than it should have. A nightly check compares each period against a baseline and raises a finding when the gap is wider than the baseline allows. There are two kinds of comparison, shown as a label on each finding:

Label	Compared with
changed	The supply point’s own history — the same period last year (adjusted for the weather where a weather source is set), or the average of earlier periods
worse than its peers	The median of comparable supply points over the same period. This is the comparison that works from the first month, before any history exists

Each finding shows:

Part	What it means
Severity	ADVISORY, IMPORTANT or URGENT. Urgent means more than half as much again as expected — usually a fault rather than a habit: something left running, a control that has failed open, or a leak
+N%	How far over the expectation the period came in
The period	The dates the finding covers
The sentence	What was used against what was expected, in words, with both quantities
Judged against …	How the expectation was worked out, then the asset (as a link) or the site
A work order number	When the supply point is set to raise work and this finding raised one. Click to open it

Open and Settled switch between findings still to act on and those dismissed or resolved. A count of urgent findings appears above the open list.

Dismissing a finding

Dismiss opens Dismiss this finding, which asks for a reason. The reason is the point: it stays on the record, the nightly check will not reopen that period, and the next person comparing the numbers reads why somebody already decided it was fine — “the extra load is the new autoclave, commissioned in March”. Dismissing needs permission to dismiss or action abnormal consumption findings.

The Dismiss this finding dialog asking for a reason

Supply points

The register of supply points. A row is red when it has open findings and amber when it has not been read in 45 days.

Control	What it does
Search	Matches the code, the name or the asset number
Due for reading	Only supply points due a reading on their own schedule — the same list the field app’s meter round counts
Not read in 45 days	Only supply points with no recent reading, whatever their schedule, including those never read
Never read	Only supply points with no reading at all. The three toggles exclude each other
Active / Inactive / Active and inactive	Which supply points to include. Active is the default
Filter	Filter on any column: commodity, site or location, latest period, last read, or whether it feeds maintenance
Columns	Choose and order the columns

Column	What it shows
Supply point	Code and name
Commodity	Electricity, gas, water and so on, from your commodities
Where	The asset (as a link) if it has one, then the location path or site
Meter ownership	Who owns the physical meter
Latest period	Consumption in the most recent period, or never read
Last read	When the last reading was taken
Frequency	How often it is due a reading: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, or not scheduled
Due	due when it is due a reading now. Periods start at midnight where the site is
Feeds	meter … when bound to an asset meter, otherwise nothing
Findings	Open findings on it

The eye button at the end of each row opens the supply point read-only: every detail it was set up with, from the same sections as its form. People with Read the audit trail also get a Change log tab beside Details, saying who changed the supply point and when — a multiplier set to 40, a meter bound to it — without opening a form that could be saved by accident. Describing a supply point is configuration’s job, so there is no Edit here.

One supply point

Click a row to open its consumption below the register. The panel shows:

Fact	What it means
Where	Its location or site
Purpose	Billed supply, Submeter, Check meter or Generation
Driven by	The heating season, the cooling season, or not the weather
Register	Whether readings are a climbing dial (and where it wraps) or each one is the quantity used
Multiplier, Base reading, Base consumption	As set on the supply point
Feeds	The asset meter it feeds, or a reminder that binding one makes the rounds on that meter come due by themselves. If other sources also feed the same meter, it says so

Monthly, Weekly and Daily change the chart’s periods. Weekly covers the last year and daily the last 92 days. The chart draws one bar per period: what was used. The solid line across a bar is what the supply point’s own history expected; the dashed line is what comparable supply points used. A bar takes its colour from whichever of the two comparisons is worse. The scale starts at zero and always includes both lines. A period nobody read leaves a gap rather than a bar of nothing. Under the chart, a table gives each Period with what was Used, Its own history, Its peers, Cost, kg CO₂e and the number of Readings (with how many were estimates). When a weather source is set, a Heating °days or Cooling °days column is added; a value marked with a small d covers only part of the period.

Recording a reading

The Record a reading form under a supply point

Recording a reading lives on this screen, where the person reading a dial or transcribing a bill actually is. Press Record a reading on an open supply point. It needs permission to record energy readings and transcribe bills.

Field	What it means	Notes
What the dial reads / Quantity used	The reading, in the commodity’s unit	Required. The label depends on whether the supply point is a climbing register. Underneath, Last stood at gives the previous reading, or the base reading it will start from. On a climbing register that does not wrap, a figure below the last reading is caught here: a sentence beside the box names the last reading and asks you to check the dial or tick The meter has been replaced, and Record stays disabled until you do. On one with a rollover value, see readings past the rollover
Where the number came from	Read off the meter or Transcribed from a bill	Defaults to read off the meter
Invoice reference	The bill’s reference	Appears for a bill
Amount billed	What the bill charged	Appears for a bill. Leave it blank to price the reading from the tariff. A figure entered here wins, because somebody has already been charged it
This is the supplier’s estimate	Marks the reading as an estimate	Kept out of the findings until an actual supersedes it. Record the actual as a second reading when it arrives
The meter has been replaced	Marks the reading as a new meter’s first	Appears for a climbing register. Records no consumption for this reading rather than comparing a new dial with the old one
Anything worth saying about it	A note	Optional
Photograph	A picture of the dial or meter	Optional. Photograph uses the camera; Choose a file uploads one
Files	The invoice, or anything else worth keeping with the reading	Optional

Readings past the rollover

On a climbing register with a rollover value, three checks stop a mistyped figure being taken as a turn of the dial:

What you type	What happens
A figure above the rollover value	Held: the dial cannot read it. Check the figure against the dial, or raise the rollover value if the meter really reads that high. Where the dial shows a fraction, such as 9999.5 on a supply point with a rollover of 9999, the form says what the rollover value needs setting to instead
A figure above the rollover of the asset meter this supply point feeds	Held, because that meter would refuse it. The form names the meter
A figure lower than the last reading, when the last reading was below 90% of the rollover value	The form says how far round that would take the dial, as a figure and as a share of a full turn. Tick *The dial really went past rollover* and back to zero before Record** saves it

Record saves it. The confirmation says what was banked — the consumption and cost, whether the register wrapped, and whether it fed the asset meter (so anything due on it has been evaluated). Readings can also be taken on the field app’s meter-reading round, which covers utility supply points and asset meters in the same walk and works offline.

Readings

The ledger of every reading across all supply points, newest first, with Filter, Columns and paging.

Column	What it shows
Reading date	When the reading was taken
Supply point	Its name, with its code underneath — or the code alone where it has no name
Commodity	What was measured
Location	Where the supply point is
Previous reading	The reading before this one. On a supply point’s first reading it is the supply point’s base reading, marked Base reading; the first reading of a replacement meter has nothing before it
Current reading	This reading. was … appears when it has been corrected, with the original figure
Multiplier	Shown when the supply point has one, as ×100 and so on
Previous consumption	The consumption the previous reading banked, or on the first reading the supply point’s base consumption, marked Base consumption — for reference only
Current consumption	The consumption this reading banked. was … appears when a correction before it recalculated it
Consumption change %	How this consumption compares with the previous one
Cost	From the bill, or priced from the tariff
Source	Web for a reading typed on the web, Handset, Bill, Meter, Sensor, Import or Calculated, with markers for estimate, new meter, backdated, recalculated and corrected
Who	Who recorded it
Modified	When the reading was last corrected, or a dash
Modified by	Who corrected it
Remarks	Why it was corrected, as written on the correction
Notes	What was said when the reading was taken — on the reading form or a backdated entry
Files	A paperclip and a count where a photograph of the dial or the bill is attached to the reading. Click it to open them. They can be read but not replaced or removed, because they are the evidence for the figure

Further columns can be switched on under Columns: Estimate, New meter, Invoice reference and Backdated. Consumption figures are shown to two decimal places, because what was used is a difference spread over a period; the readings themselves are shown exactly as the dial said. Edit and Backdated entry are icon buttons held in view at the right of each row.

Correcting a reading

Edit on a row opens Edit reading. It applies to readings from the last 30 days and needs permission to correct a reading.

Field	What it means	Notes
Current reading	The corrected value. Underneath: what it was recorded as	Required
Previous reading / Next reading	The neighbours, for context	Shown for reading only
Remarks	Why the reading is being corrected	Optional. Shown on the ledger’s Remarks column beside who corrected it and when

Save correction recalculates this reading’s consumption and cost, and the next reading’s, so every reading after it still adds up. The original figure stays on the row. Once any reading has been corrected, a Reading change log appears under the ledger, newest first, with a row for every correction: Changed, Changed by, Supply point, Reading taken, From, To, the Consumption before and after, and Reason. A reading corrected twice keeps both steps and who made each.

The Edit reading dialog showing the previous and next readings

A backdated entry

Backdated entry — at the top of the ledger, or on a row to start from that supply point — records a reading for a day in the last 30 that has none. It needs permission to record a reading for a past day.

Field	What it means	Notes
Location	Narrows the list of meters	Defaults to every location. A scan button beside it reads the meter room’s door label
Meter	The supply point	Required
Date	The day of the reading	Required. Only the last 30 days, and only days with no reading yet
Current reading	What the dial read that day	Required
Anything worth saying about it	A note	Optional

Save reading inserts it in order and restates the reading after it.

Targets

A target is a reduction somebody has committed to — so much less of a commodity over a period, measured against what a named earlier period actually used. Targets are set under Energy settings; this tab shows where each one stands. Targets are sorted with the ones being missed first.

Part	What it means
Standing	missed, behind, on track, ahead, met, not started, no baseline (nothing was used in the baseline period) or nothing metered (no supply points under it)
down N% / allowed up N%	The commitment
The line beneath	Commodity, supply point or site, how many supply points it sums, and the period
The bar	How much of the allowance has been used
… of … expected by now N%	Consumed against the allowance, and how much should have been used by now — paced from the baseline’s own shape, or pro-rated across the period
Heading for …	While the period is running, where it will land if the rest of the period looks like the rest of the baseline
The baseline covers N of M months	A warning that the allowance is extrapolated from part of the baseline

A site-wide target sums the supply points the site is billed for and leaves submeters out, so the same energy is not counted twice. Targets never raise work — what to do about one being missed is a decision.

Adding a supply point

Field	What it means	Notes
Code	A short code used in lists and exports	Required. Unique in your organisation
Name	What somebody standing in front of it would call it — “Building B incoming main”	Required
Commodity	What it measures	Required. From your commodities
Purpose	Billed, Submeter, Check meter or Generation	Defaults to Billed. A billed supply point is one you get an invoice for; a submeter measures part of one and is left out of site totals so nothing is counted twice
Site and location	Where it is	Required. Every supply point belongs to a site, which also decides who can see it. A site that has been switched off is not offered
Asset	The single asset it measures	Optional. Only where it really measures one asset — a gas line feeding four boilers names none of them
Cumulative register	Whether the dial climbs and never resets	Defaults to on, which is nearly every utility meter. Turn it off where each reading is already the quantity used — a delivery note, a tank dip
Rollover value	Where the register wraps back to zero	A five-digit kWh meter rolls at 99999. Without this, a wrap reads as a month of negative consumption
Multiplier	What the dial is multiplied by to give real units	A CT-metered supply reads in hundreds and the nameplate says ×100
Base reading	Where the dial already stood when the supply point was set up	The first reading is compared with this instead of banking nothing
Base consumption	What it was already using when set up	For reference only; it plays no part in readings
Meter ownership	Who owns the physical meter — the utility, the landlord, or your organisation	Optional. Worth knowing before anybody opens it, exchanges it or disputes what it read
Meter	The asset meter its readings feed	Optional. Bound, its readings drive the maintenance on that meter
Reading frequency	How often it is due a reading: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or not scheduled	Required. Monthly by default. Periods are calendar periods starting at midnight where the site is, and weeks start on Monday, so a meter read late one month is not due late every month after. Not scheduled keeps it on the list without ever calling it due — a check meter read only when somebody doubts the main
Weather-driven by	Heating or cooling	Optional. Heating for anything that burns more when it is cold, cooling for anything that draws more when it is hot. It enables weather-adjusted baselines and a peer group of supply points driven the same way. Leave it blank for most supply points
Raises work order	Whether an abnormal period raises a work order	Defaults to off. One at a time: another anomaly raises nothing until that work order is closed
Work order type	The type of work order to raise	Used when Raises Work Order is on. Types are configurable
Active	Whether it is in use	Defaults to on

Weather and carbon

Where a weather source is set, consumption can be degree-day normalised, so “the boiler used more gas in January” and “January was colder” are not the same finding. Every reading also carries a carbon figure (kg CO₂e) from the emission factor in force when it was taken — dated, so a cleaner grid later never restates a year already reported.

On an asset

An asset with a supply point pointed at it shows an Energy over the last year panel on its Costs tab: what it used, what it cost and its carbon figure, by commodity. An asset with nothing metered shows as Not metered rather than as zero.

Who can do what

To	You need permission to
See the screen	View energy readings and consumption
Record a reading	Record energy readings and transcribe bills
Correct a reading from the last 30 days	Correct a reading, recalculating the reading after it
Add a backdated reading	Record a reading for a past day that has none
Dismiss a finding	Dismiss or action abnormal consumption findings
Add or change supply points	Add or configure supply points and commodities
Set targets	Set or edit energy reduction targets (on the settings screen)

Energy settings

Commodities, supply points, tariffs, emission factors, weather sources and targets.

Get started

Work

Maintenance

Assets

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Procurement

Workforce

Vendors and contracts

Finance

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Gatehouse

Analytics

Knowledge base

The field app

Release notes

Supply points and meters

The header

Findings

Dismissing a finding

Supply points

One supply point

Recording a reading

Readings past the rollover

Readings

Correcting a reading

A backdated entry

Targets

Adding a supply point

Weather and carbon

On an asset

Who can do what

Energy settings