Industry Insights

Is Central Plant Monitoring Snake Oil or Science?

A hospital operations director thought our plant monitoring services were probably “snake oil.” Twenty years later, the data has proved otherwise: 2025 costs were 29% below baseline, saving about $1.5M on a roughly $200K spend.

The $20K Wake-Up Call: Why Upgrading Systems Brings Down Meter Maintenance Costs

We present the real-life story of replacing a legacy submetering system maintained by a building's BMS vendor with modern plug-and-play gateways. New systems are cheaper to install and maintain, eliminating overkill annual maintenance.

Proof That Monitoring Works: What Changed When This Campus Watched the Numbers

This one's for the monitoring doubters: A university campus increased square footage by about 3% while lowering its energy use index. Long-term utility tracking helped the campus beat baseline expectations, reducing electricity use and emissions year after year.

Are Your Energy Savings Real? How Independent Validation Exposes False Savings Claims

Energy contractors often inflate their savings reports. And they get away with it because no one's checking that their numbers are accurate. Here's a real-life story of phantom savings for equipment the contractor didn't realize were never in use and of taking credit for other engineers' work.

6 Critical Questions to Ask When Choosing a Utility Billing Partner

Big utility billing companies buy up smaller ones and then treat customers like an afterthought: slow service, no response, surprise fees, and zero accountability. Use these six questions to vet providers who'll actually protect your revenue instead of tanking it with sloppy work.

The Throughline Between Engineering Education and Healthcare Access

Rising healthcare costs demand operational efficiency. But achieving it requires skilled engineers—a pipeline now threatened by the "silver tsunami." Supporting engineering education is essential to keeping healthcare affordable and accessible for all communities, say fellow Maritime alumni Joe Lorino and Richard Angerame.

Why Private Equity Rollups Are Killing Utility Billing Service Quality

Why should you care that private equity and VC are buying up small utility billing companies? Because they prioritize profits over service, leaving complex property owners with poor support, hidden costs, and inflexible contracts.

How to Be in Compliance and Win: Turning Building Mandates Into Revenue Opportunities

Building upgrades shouldn't be treated as isolated projects. By aligning compliance requirements (LL97, ASHRAE 90.1) with MEP improvements, submetering, and decarbonization incentives, you can reduce costs, generate revenue, and turn mandates into competitive advantages.

What to Do About Utility Backbilling: A Guide for Multi-Family Property Managers

When utility providers bill for past consumption to "catch up" with estimated readings or meter errors, the amounts can be staggering. But there are checks on what the utilities are allowed to do, writes guest author and energy attorney, John McManus.

Utility Billing for Complex Properties: Why Manual Methods Fall Short

Discover why manual utility billing for complex properties is slow, risky, and outdated—and how the right system can cut billing time from 30 days to just one.

Murder on the Utility Express: Four Building Mysteries Solved by Submetering

Every building has its secrets. And when problems arise, every building system has its own alibi. But somewhere among the innocent – the diligent chillers, the reliable boilers, the faithful lighting controls – lurks a culprit draining your operations budget where you least expect it.

How Reference Testing Saves You Money

Meters drift. Connections loosen. Your billing data quietly goes sideways—and nobody notices until the problem gets truly painful. Reference testing catches the problem early, pays for itself fast, and saves you from awkward conversations with tenants.

Nightmare on Submeter Street

Submetering nightmares come on Elm Street, Wall Street, and even under the street. Whether it's meters measuring the wrong spaces or providers who never actually review the data, this is our list of "Halloween horrors."

Keeping Operations Shipshape at SUNY Maritime

Historic granite-block buildings, brand-new buildings, and an electric training ship. SUNY Maritime operates it all. We check in with expert Joe Tedesco about operations at one of the nation's most varied campuses.

The Hidden Costs of Relying on CAM Recovery

"Whatever the meters don't pick up, we'll get back in the CAM." We discuss the problems with this popular theory and how it increases, rather than recovers, utility costs.

The Butterfly Effect: What the Olympics Can Teach Us About Energy Plant Efficiency

Are you putting in the energy but not getting the distance in your operations? Let's borrow a page or two from elite athletes about how to optimize for true efficiency.

Free Money, Lower Bills: How to Maximize Your Facility's Funding Potential

The NJ Triennium program is offering billions in FREE grants to support energy efficiency initiatives. Learn how to go beyond the IGA audit to unlock larger energy efficiency grants.

The Mini Guide to Meter Selection

The right submeters are essential to efficiency goals and accurate recovery of tenant utility costs. This article guides you through the must-have features, the nice-to-haves, and some basic price estimates.

Beyond the Illusion: How to Protect Your Facility from Disappearing Support

Service used to be a proud offering from equipment manufacturers. Today, you're lucky if you can get anyone to answer the phone. Now what?

How to Reduce Hospital Operational Costs Without Sacrificing Patient Care

Of all property types, hospitals might have the tightest margins. Plant monitoring improves budget health through specific technical solutions that reduce costs while maintaining care quality.

Real-Time Monitoring: How We Caught a Set Point Problem Before It Became Expensive

The saboteur was silent. Only the watchful eyes above the coffee steam detected the pattern of a system in rebellion. What unseen forces drove this compressor to desperate lengths? Sometimes the numbers tell tales no one else can hear.

Avoid These Submetering Contract Terms

We reveal 15 sneaky submetering contract terms that dump all the risk on you, lock you in for decades, and let vendors off the hook – while they profit.

How kW and kWh Affect the Cost of Commercial Electricity

Both kW and kWh impact your monthly commercial electric bill, but they're not interchangeable. Here’s a breakdown of what these terms mean and how they affect your electricity charges.

How Load Matching Creates Energy Savings and Lowers Costs

Are your plant and your field equipment constantly at odds? Aligning operation with actual demand maintains comfort, protects equipment, and reduces costs. Here's how we go about it.

Lessons in Energy Strategy With Jennifer Kearney

Industry veteran Jennifer Kearney shares effective strategies for optimizing energy consumption and reducing utility costs in large facilities – in any economy.

The Impact of Manual Overrides on Efficiency

The short and oh-so-sweet story of how a campus power outage cleared overrides and boosted building efficiency.

What Property Managers Need to Know About CTs & Tenant Billing

Are your utility bills off but your meters fine? Learn how current transformers could silently be messing up your billing amounts.

How to Avoid Common Mistakes in Submetering Applications

Applying to submeter can be a quagmire. Attorney John McManus explains how to move through the process without sinking in regulatory... muck.

Why Temperature Alerts Matter

Tenants leave windows open even in the winter. Temperature alert systems are a property manager's best friend, saving pipes, property, and pooches.

Demystifying Emissions Reporting With Doug Hileman

Emissions reporting has tangible upsides, no matter how the political winds blow. Here's how you can make reporting easier and more accurate, which adds multiple business benefits beyond compliance.

Submetering Q&A

Sometimes you want to build a clock, and sometimes you just want to know the time. Here are quick, clear answers to the submetering questions we hear the most.

How Submetering Pays Off During Design, Construction, and Beyond

Just like anything else, buildings have life cycles. Turns out, submetering helps with efficiency during all of them.

The Bourne Measurement: Outsmarting Energy Loss With Check Meters

Cost recovery is difficult enough without tech glitches. Putting check meters upstream of important service areas can help you decipher data issues quickly.

BTU Billing Demystified

Charging for chilled water is a dilemma worthy of Goldilocks – are you charging too much? Too little? How do you bill BTUs just right?

What's Wrong With Using Degree Days to Estimate Savings

Degree days use mean temps to account for weather's impact on building energy use. They're also a gross oversimplification that misleads about "results."

The Mini Guide to Truly Effective Submetering

Does submetering make financial sense? How do you decide? Let's demystify the key factors in cost-effective submetering.

From Complex to Clear: The Power of Customized Energy Reports

Building energy data is a firehose of information. Here's how one campus turned down the flow so operators aren't drowning in data they don't need.

Does Proptech Have a Place in Submetering?

Proptech is great until it isn't. We discuss a real-life example of how "software as submetering" goes very wrong. You've been warned.

The Energy Impact of Elevators

Elevators see more miles than trains and airplanes combined. Learn about the factors that affect their energy consumption and how to minimize elevator inefficiencies.

How Elevators Helped Build the Modern Skyline

Without elevators, skyscrapers would be inaccessible and impractical. Read how the creation of a moving closet opened up opportunity for builders, businesses, and visitors.

CRE Is Rough Right Now. Here's How You Can Attract and Keep Quality Tenants.

The commercial real estate news is full of talk about supply gluts, diminishing leases, and lower appetite for space. To stand out from the competition, lure prospects with appealing terms that won't break your budget.

Not Just for Tenant Billing: How Submetering Solves Common Operational Obstacles

Success in real estate is simple: Buy low and sell high. The tricky part is how you achieve that. We've put together pragmatic solutions to help ensure your property is operating as efficiently as possible.

You’ve Just Recommissioned! Why Would You Need Ongoing Monitoring?

Systems drift. Identifying issues in your systems and equipment through ongoing monitoring protects your investments and ensures operating efficiency.

How to Estimate Billing With Nulls, Zeroes, Gaps, and Other Problems in Your Meter Data

Data gaps got you lost in billing wilderness? Navigate the tricky terrain of nulls, zeroes, repeats, and missing meter data and estimate tenant invoices confidently.

The Top 5 (Non-weather) Reasons for Fluctuating Utility Costs

Trying to decode your fluctuating utility costs? Check out our guide to the top five non-weather reasons your bills might be throwing you curveballs.

Considering Gen AI in Building Operations: Key Questions to Ask

Get the low-down on the possibilities, pitfalls, and the all-important questions you need to ask before you let a robot take the wheel in your operations. Spoiler: It's not as simple as it sounds!

Will Gen AI Replace Machine Learning in Building Operations?

What is the role of generative AI (gen AI) in building operations, and how does it compare to classic machine learning? This guide clarifies the differences between the two. It also discusses the practical applications and potential pitfalls of gen AI in property management.

Ripple Effects: How Water Recovery Boosts Retail's Bottom Line

Gas and electricity get most of the attention when it comes to utilities and property management. But a closer look at your water usage could have a big impact on your operating budget.

Unit Conversions: How to Compare Your Meter Data to Your Utility Provider's

Submeters don’t always measure utilities in the same units you’re billed in. This article walks you through how to convert your meter data so you can identify billing or usage issues quickly.

How Load Factor Impacts Operations

Load factor can be a mystery. But once you understand it, it can help you detect and diagnose problems as well as reveal demand response opportunities.

Submeter Calibration: Why and How

Submeter data is the bedrock of operational efficiency, so it has to be accurate. Here’s how to determine whether your submeter data is valid and what to do about it if it’s not.

Converting From kWh to BTU: A Comprehensive Guide

To evaluate the efficiency of your operations, you need to be able to compare your electric, water, natural gas, and other utilities. Here’s how to convert your utilities into BTUs for apples-to-apples comparison.

The (Almost Endless) Benefits of Submetering New Construction

Electrical submeters are often required in large new buildings. If you're buying them anyway, why not try to get the most out of them?

What Building Automation's History Teaches Us About Building AI

Gen AI promises to help operators overcome common challenges and significantly cut maintenance costs. However, the history of building automation shows that operational challenges are timeless, and AI is just beginning its learning.

AI in BMS Controls – Hero or Hype?

Generative AI has great potential in an industry where too few people are asked to do too much. But where is the technology at now, and how can you evaluate AI's real value against its sales hype?

Top 6 Causes of Inaccurate Meter Readings

Many properties read their meters manually, a process that is notoriously rife for making mistakes. Here are our recommendations for ensuring your manual reads are good, and what to do about them if you suspect they're not.

Adding Value Through ASHRAE 90.1's Energy Monitoring Requirement

Is ASHRAE 90.1 just a check box, or is it also an opportunity? This article explains why a submetering system prevents more headaches than a good accountant during tax season. It also explains why many end up paying double to meet their requirements.

The Benefits of Electrical Submetering for Mixed-Use Condominiums

This commercial and residential building only fully submetered the residential and not the commercial units, forcing residents to pay more than their fair share in common area costs. Thanks to good submetering, this condo board fulfilled their duty of care and fairly allocated utilities to ALL tenants.

Top 4 Operational Challenges in 2023

Like years, buildings are all unique. Yet they also have much in common, as do those who operate them. As 2023 comes to a close, here are the top 4 operational challenges we saw customers taking on this year.

Is RTEM right for you?

Real-time energy management (RTEM) involves continuous analysis of live building performance data to find efficiencies while meeting demand.

Building Drift 101

Building drift is usually small, 1%–2% a year. But over time, those inefficiencies add up, affecting performance, maintenance time, budget, and tenant satisfaction.

Why Utility Rates Change With the Seasons

Utility rates, particularly for electricity, change depending on the seasons. Learn why and when to expect to see changes on your utility bills.

Proposed Changes & Resources for LL97 – Fall 2023

LL97 goes into effect in January 2024. Learn about the latest proposed changes and decrease your risk of penalties with this resource list.

utiliVisor Partners With Maritime College to Prepare for New Training Vessel and SUNY Sustainability Goals

utiliVisor talks with facilities team members at Maritime College about preparing for the delivery of Maritime’s new training ship while continuing toward Maritime’s clean energy and sustainability goals.

utiliVisor Analyzes Tenant Energy in NYSERDA’s 2021 PropTech Challenge

utiliVisor analyzes the factors that go into accurately predicting energy consumption as building occupancy changes.

Curing Energy Waste: NYU Langone Case Study

NYU Langone Medical Center is committed to meeting sustainability goals and built a best-in-class energy management program. We came on board to oversee the chilled water plant and distribution at the facility.

utiliVisor Welcomes Shannon McAuliffe as Director of Sales, Southwest

Shannon McAuliffe is the new Director of Sales for utiliVisor Southwest - building relationships with managers in industrial, healthcare, educational, hospitality, government organizations as they look to improve operations with utiliVisor’s energy plant monitoring, submetering, billing services.

How Building Owners Can Encourage Tenant Conservation

The next generation of so-called green leases will require tenant sub-metering to show compliance with lease terms. So, commercial property owners…why wait?

Submetering Helps Sage Realty Pocket Savings for LL88

With effective submetering, utiliVisor helped New York City's Sage Realty to save money on energy costs, increase efficiency, and accurately bill tenants.

utiliVisor Provides Submetering Services for Brookfield Properties

With 928 meters and 206 tenant accounts, utiliVisor is implementing an enterprise-wide submeter reading and cost allocation service in New York and Houston.

Sustainable Possibilities – Determining Healthcare Microgrid Efficiency

Designed to provide reliable heat and power to four NYC institutions, generate an estimated $87.2 million in benefits and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

utiliVisor Becomes Authorized Vendor in NYSERDA Real Time Energy Management Program (RTEM)

Now accredited as a qualified service provider for the new NYSERDA Real Time Energy Management (RTEM) program to support building owners and management.

State-of-the-Art Submetering System for Union Station

Building on the existing submetering infrastructure in place, utiliVisor updated Union Station to the latest in submetering solutions with real-time data.

Texas Tech Optimizes Utility Plant Performance

Through continual energy monitoring and chiller plant optimization, Texas Tech has been able to save over $200,000 thanks to increased energy efficiency.