Metering Strategy Playbook

Move from allocation to measurement: what to meter, where, and how to justify it

Scope 3, Made PracticalPlaybook1 hour

What you'll accomplish

  • Decide where metering provides the highest leverage (accuracy + operational value)
  • Build a phased metering plan (pilot → scale)
  • Create a simple ROI and feasibility case
  • Avoid common metering mistakes (installing meters without a data plan)
  • Align metering with tenant data workflows and green lease clauses

Quick start (60 minutes)

  • Pick one building with the biggest data pain
  • Identify current metering reality (master/sub/tenant)
  • Choose one metering improvement option (Template 1)
  • Define how data will be ingested and used (Template 2)
  • Build a pilot plan

The metering hierarchy (plain English)

1

Master meter

Whole building

2

Submeters

Tenant suites or systems

3

System meters

HVAC, lighting, EV charging, etc.

4

Tenant meters

Tenant-controlled, sometimes inaccessible

Beginner rule: Metering only creates value if the data is actually ingested, QA'd, and used.

Templates included

Template 1 — Metering Decision Matrix (copy/paste)

| Option | What it measures | Value | Feasibility | Cost | Data access | Recommended? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Add tenant submeters | suite usage | high | medium | $$ | high |  |  |
| Add system meters | HVAC/lighting | medium-high | medium | $$ | high |  |  |
| Metering platform | automated exports | high | medium | $$ | high |  |  |
| Do nothing + allocate | estimated | low | high | $ | medium |  |  |

Template 2 — Metering Data Plan (copy/paste)

Metering Data Plan

Building:
Metering changes:
Data source (platform/export):
Ingestion cadence (monthly/weekly):
Data fields required:
Evidence storage:
QA checklist:
Owner:

Use cases:
- reporting
- tenant engagement
- anomaly detection
- cost recovery / billing support

Template 3 — Pilot Plan (copy/paste)

Metering Pilot Plan

Building:
Goal (what problem are we solving?):
Meters to install:
Install timeline:
Data ingestion owner:
Success metrics:
- % measured coverage increase
- reduction in proxy/allocation usage
- data availability latency

Common pitfalls

  • ✗Installing meters without a data ingestion and QA process
  • ✗Not mapping meters to tenant/site IDs
  • ✗No maintenance plan for meters
  • ✗Over-metering early (start with highest leverage)

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release