Rewire sensus water meter
The small-scale, experimental nature of the projects reduced the significance of the large difference in per-unit cost and operational/maintenance complexity between this form of metering and the multi-register form. The majority of projects selected magnetic-tape meters for their flexibility with respect to rate structure, load-survey capabilities, and ready availability. Time-differentiated metering takes three major forms: multi-register watthour meters, magnetic-tape recording meters, and remote automatic meter-reading systems. Time-differentiated metering of electricity consumption and demand is required in both rate-structure experimentation and the implementation of most time-of-use rate designs. Other funding sources not fully available can also be made available with regulatory agency support. The key recommendations are to repeal the voting requirement, maintain the utility incentives, adopt a uniform dispute resolution mechanism, and increase awareness through an Ad-hoc Submetering Committee and supporting educational materials. The key barriers to submetering implementation were found to be the Public Service Commission (PSC) requirement for a vote of a majority of shareholders (for coops and condos) and the high initial cost that cannot easily be recouped by owners of both rental and shareholder-owned buildings. This and other data were then analyzed to ascertain the barriers to submetering and develop recommendations designed to reduce or eliminate these barriers. Experienced professionals in the technical, legal, regulatory, analytical, financial, and other aspects of submetering were retained to interview key interested parties and conduct public forums. The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) has commissioned a project called Facilitating Submetering Implementation to identify and analyze barriers to the implementation of residential electrical submetering in New York and to formulate more » recommendations that would facilitate the removal of these barriers, streamlining the process. As a result, studies have confirmed that residents in master-metered buildings tend to consume more electricity than residents with individual apartment metering, and have established electrical submetering as an effective energy conservation measure. In master-metered building situations, residents do not bear electricity costs in proportion to consumption levels. Residential submetering is the measurement and billing of electric use in individual apartments in master-metered buildings. Typically the ban on master metering was for new construction. Most commissions exempted specific uses more » such as centralized hot water and central heating and cooling systems. Although alternatives to the elimination of master metering were examined most commission actions were directed at its elimination. This was used in one Project and it eliminated the cost advantage of master metering. Another alternative was to bill master metered customers on multiple block rates.
Submetering was reviewed but the lack of reliable and economical submeters prevented its testing. Five alternatives to eliminating master metering were examined or considered. In one Project it was estimated that construction costs in high rise buildings could increase by around $3,000 per apartment if master metering was eliminated. It was found that centralized space heating systems used 10 to 15% less energy than individual systems. Two costs of eliminating master metering other than the cost of meters were: the loss of centralized space conditioning and hot water systems and increased building costs. One study of housing units before and after conversion to individual metering showed consumption reductions of 17 and 20%. These studies showed that master metering increased the level of energy consumption by as much as 40% in some areas and 11% in others. The master metering of electricity was investigated in nine of the Pilot Implementation Projects.