Metering, Monitoring, Managing

For a long time, electricity costs in manufacturing and the industry sector were regarded as fixed and part of overhead. Energy was treated as resource that couldn’t be controlled in the same way that other resources were managed. Beyond a single energy meter installed by utility companies for billing, even large energy-using facilities did not consider energy metering and monitoring programs to track electricity consumption.

But this is no longer the case. In recent years, the attitude towards industrial energy use has been changing. Rising energy prices, tougher competition in the marketplace, and increasing regulatory pressures from climate change legislations worldwide have led to greater recognition by manufacturing and industrial firms of energy as an important resource to be managed strategically for business profitability and long-term business sustainability.

More companies are pursuing energy efficiency projects and adopting energy management strategies. Site energy managers realise the need for more thorough understanding of how, where and when energy consumed as a first step to improve energy management. After all, it is only by monitoring energy usage that a continuous profile of how energy is consumed and allocated across various production processes and areas can be obtained.