When you activate Utility Sync on a site, the meters & its readings will also sync into ENERGY STAR. Utility Sync meters are always formatted in this way: MSR.(provider)(account number):(meter number).
But you might be wondering what happens to:
- Any ENERGY STAR meters you were using to track usage that’s now tracked by Utility Sync?
- Any meters in ENERGY STAR that you're not updating via Utility Sync?
1. How do you handle legacy manual meters for which you're now tracking bills via Utility Sync?
Let’s say you have a meter, called “Manual Electric” with five years of usage. Now that meter’s usage is being tracked via Utility Sync, so now there's a new Utility Sync meter with a year of historical usage. What do you do?
A good first step is to download the site to Excel in ENERGY STAR so that you have a clear view of your site’s meters. Head to your site’s “Summary” tab in ENERGY STAR, scroll to the very bottom, then select “Download Property to Excel” on the right.
The spreadsheet download includes a “Meters” tab with key information:
Your goal is to make sure that the MSR meter picks up right where the manual meter leaves off, with no gaps or overlaps.
To do that, you’ll edit the “Date Meter became Inactive” and “Last Day of Last Meter Entry” of the manual meter so that they match the “First Day of First Meter Entry” and “Date Meter became Active” of the MSR meter.
To make changes to the manual meter, head to either the “Energy” or “Water” tab in ENERGY STAR, then select the name of the meter that you’re updating. Select the “Basic Meter Information” dropdown and update the “Date Meter became Inactive” to match the “Date meter became Active” of the MSR meter (first uncheck the “Still In Use” box). Select “Save Changes”.
You can then head down to the “Monthly Entries” table on the same page and delete any entries that already exist in the MSR meter, then select “Save Bills”.
2. How do you handle meters in ENERGY STAR that you're not updating via Utility Sync?
You won’t need to make any changes to how you are updating non-Utility Sync meters in ENERGY STAR. It’s always a good idea to reach out to us about updating all meters via Utility Sync to save your team hours of data entry over the long run.
Feel free to submit a request or email us directly if you have any questions!