utiliVisor helps residential building owners comply with new submeter inspection regulations

utiliVisor is helping building owners comply with a new regulation (16 NYCRR 92) implemented by the New York City Public Service Commission (PSC) requiring electric submeters in service at residential buildings be subject to annual testing to ensure accuracy. A leading energy advisory company, utiliVisor is the largest submetering company in the tri-state New York metropolitan area and an approved Meter Data Service Provider (MDSP) for the State of New York. It provides comprehensive submetering services to some of the City's leading building owners, including Solow Building Company, Related Management, and Brookfield Properties. The new rule applies to all rental and condo residential buildings in New York City that are currently allocating electricity costs through submetering. All costs for testing are to be borne by the owner. Buildings notified by the PSC about the program should have submitted a meter verification plan for testing to be completed during 2015. "To comply with the regulation, building owners may perform the tests themselves or contract with a third party," said Peter Angerame, vice president at utiliVisor. "Because of our expertise with submetering systems, utiliVisor is uniquely qualified to help owners comply with the regulations by implementing an effective and cost efficient testing program and filing the appropriate paperwork with the PSC." According to Angerame, the PSC lists four methods of compliance in its owner's operating manual. "The easiest way to comply is to use the "variable" sample size testing method, which calls for testing four percent of the meters in each building in the first year," he notes. "The results of year one testing will determine how many meters are going to need to be tested in subsequent years." The regulations state that each unique meter make and model within a building must be tested according to specific criteria. For example, single and three phase meters have specific procedures that might involve balance testing on each station or testing individual phases. All meters unless tested within the last two years are considered "new" from a compliance standpoint because they have not been tested. All meter tests need to be conducted using a NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) certified device. "The variable sampling method mandates that the number of meters to be tested within a given year fluctuates based on the accuracy of meters tested in the prior year," Angerame said. "This makes it imperative that owners establish a well-documented program to ensure proper compliance." Founded in 1978, utiliVisor offers comprehensive energy monitoring and submetering services, providing accurate, reliable solutions to boost efficiency and lower energy consumption. The utiliVisor system is a web-based, networked solution, built on open standards, that works in real time to collect and format data, monitor operations and equipment errors, and deliver oversight via web-based alerts and alarms. UtiliVisor services more than 250 million square feet of commercial and institutional space nationwide and oversees more than 225,000 service data points, more than any other service provider in the United States. It is also the largest submetering company in the tri-state New York metropolitan area and an approved Meter Data Service Provider (MDSP) for the State of New York. (www.utilivisor.com). ###