The Royal Festival Hall needed to update its energy management systems not only to enable energy saving but also to accurately measure where power was being used and allocate costs to each user as a true reflection of use. The new system put in place monitors the power coming in and then uses around 50 monitoring devices to monitor the power as it is distributed out to different areas and departments throughout the building. As well as monitoring the power being used the units also register any peaks and troughs of usage, loss of power or supply outside normal parameters.
All the monitoring devices are connected to a data gathering device and ultimately to a PC, which allows the historical data to be exported or printed in a text or graphical format. The power use can also be monitored in real time if required. The logged data is then used to monitor each area for its efficiency, to check whether any area is putting a significant load onto the building supply and to bill each area for its use.