What a virtual meter is
Virtual sub-metering groups any combination of breakers into a single virtual meter, so you can measure consumption for a tenant, a zone or a specific piece of equipment without installing a physical meter. In Hybird OS, a virtual meter is created by selecting a breaker set: you choose the breakers that feed the equipment you want to investigate, and the system treats that group as one meter.
When to build one
If you are wondering how much electricity a particular device or group of devices is using, a virtual meter is the way to find out. Typical questions it answers include:
How much does my heat pump, ventilation system, EV charger, compressor or production line actually consume?
Which of my machines or areas uses the most electricity?
What does it cost to run this equipment per day, week or month?
Once the breakers serving that equipment are grouped into a virtual meter, you can analyse consumption across exactly the devices you are investigating, compare periods, and put a cost on the usage.
What you can use it for
Investigating the consumption of specific devices or equipment, by grouping the breakers that feed them.
Tenant billing, by grouping the breakers that serve each tenant.
Comparing consumption between areas, machines or time periods.
Estimating the operating cost of equipment by correlating its consumption against the electricity spot price.
ESG and energy reporting.
How to create one
Create a new breaker set and give it a meaningful name, for example "Heat pump" or "Production line 2". The virtual meter is selected through this breaker set, so the name should describe the equipment you want to measure.
Tick the Virtual Meter option so the set shows up as a meter.
Select the breakers that belong to it. These should be all the circuits feeding the equipment you are investigating. Consumption is aggregated automatically.
How consumption is aggregated
A virtual meter sums the measured consumption of every breaker in its breaker set. The aggregated figures are shown in kWh, so the virtual meter behaves like a real energy meter for the equipment it covers:
Consumption from each selected breaker is added together into a single total for the set.
The total is available over time, including 24-hour and 30-day views, so you can see both short-term behaviour and monthly patterns.
Per-phase figures are also shown, which helps you spot uneven loading across phases.
Correlating consumption with the spot price
Because the virtual meter records consumption in kWh over time, that consumption can be correlated against the electricity spot price for the same period. Multiplying the kWh used in each period by the spot price for that period gives an estimate of the operating cost of the equipment configured into the breaker set.
This lets you answer questions like:
What did this equipment cost to run last month?
Does it consume most of its energy during expensive hours or cheap hours?
Would shifting its usage to cheaper hours reduce the operating cost?
Note that the spot price is the raw market price of electricity. Your total electricity cost also includes tariffs, taxes and your supplier's terms, so treat the spot price correlation as an estimate of the market cost component rather than your final invoice amount.
Seeing the result
Each virtual meter appears in your Energy Meters list with its own 24-hour and 30-day consumption and per-phase figures.
Good to know
A breaker can belong to more than one virtual meter, so you can report the same circuit in different groupings.
A virtual meter only measures what its breakers measure. If a device is fed by a breaker that is not in the set, its consumption will not be included, so double-check that you have selected every circuit feeding the equipment.
You can create as many virtual meters as you need, so it is fine to build one per device, one per zone and one per tenant at the same time.
Common questions
How do I find out how much a specific device consumes?
Build a virtual meter: create a breaker set, name it after the device, tick the Virtual Meter option and select the breakers that feed the device. The virtual meter then shows the aggregated consumption in kWh for exactly those circuits.
Can I see what a device costs to run?
Yes. The virtual meter's kWh consumption can be correlated against the spot price for the same period, giving an estimate of the operating cost of the equipment in that breaker set.
Do I need to install any extra hardware?
No. A virtual meter is built entirely in Hybird OS from breakers that are already being measured. No physical meter is required.
Can one breaker be in several virtual meters?
Yes. The same breaker can be included in multiple virtual meters, so a circuit can appear in a device-level meter and a zone-level meter at the same time.
Where do I see my virtual meters?
They appear in the Energy Meters list alongside your physical meters, each with its own 24-hour and 30-day consumption and per-phase figures.