Open Metering Systems — Scale, Adapt, and Retain Clients
PUBLISHED JULY 1, 2025
What happens if your client wants a feature you didn’t plan for? Or Measurement Canada updates its standards? Or what if you’re asked to integrate with a platform that your meters can’t communicate with?
What happens when another sub-metering company says, “We can do it without a retrofit”?
These scenarios pinpoint the advantage of commissioning open meter systems (OMS).
Systems that Grow with Your Clients
Operators cannot afford to continue deploying systems that fence customers in. While it feels like securing your client base, you’re actually undermining trust.
Instead, operators should prioritize technology that can scale, adapt, and evolve with their customers.
We’re not talking about expensive bells and whistles that only offer consumer-facing perks. We’re talking features that enhance a system’s long-term viability and foster strong client relationships, from meter points to comms to documentation.
Future-readiness is no longer a luxury. It’s how providers like you keep services agile and attractive. It’s how you stay more valuable than the competitor trying to swoop in behind your back and take over your contract.
Open Metering Systems (OMS) = Open Doors
Think about this scenario:
You spec a great system. The install goes smoothly. The client’s pleased.
But three years later, that client’s back on the phone. They’re excited about adding EV charging to their parking garage through a new partnership and want the charging fees to be looped into their billing platform.
Suddenly, you’re explaining why the building’s comms don’t support it and why the head-end can’t mesh with the new hardware. You’re now pitching a retrofit.
And your client? Probably on the phone with a competitor offering a 12-foot ladder.
The Real Risk
This goes beyond value-added infrastructure like EVs. As clients increasingly target advanced capabilities, such as building automation systems (BAS) and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) automation, gaps are only likely to grow wider.
Systems built on proprietary or closed communication protocols close doors. Not just for building owners and developers, but for sub-metering operators.
If your utility meter and communications cannot support BACnet, Modbus, M-Bus, or other open standards, you’re not only limiting what your client can do with their building, but you’re also cutting yourself short as a provider.
When clients are ready to jump into the future, breaking bad news about their system limitations is not the position you should be in.
Future-Proofing Starts with Flexibility
Here are some key areas to consider for your next sub-metering project.
- Open Metering System Architecture — Ensure meters, DCUs, and head-end systems support BACnet/IP, Modbus TCP/RTU, M-Bus, DLMS, RS-485, and pulse outputs.
- Heterogeneous System — Your system should support a mix of electrical, water, thermal, and gas meters across multiple manufacturers.
- RF Comms That Scale — Look for long-range, low-power RF protocols like LoRaWAN or NB-IoT that can handle multiple meter types on a shared network.
- Expansion Capacity — Panels should be designed with spare CT inputs or addressable channels, not maxed out on install.
- API and Data Access — Metering data must be accessible by external systems (BAS, EMS, client dashboards) via secure APIs or standard export formats.
- Structured Documentation — Drawings, specs, and config files should be audit-ready and designed to grow while simultaneously ensuring efficiency around S-E-04 compliance.
Built to Evolve: Open Metering Systems Keep Long-Term Clients
Sub-metering systems need to support your system five, 10, 15, even 20 years from now.
That means you need to think beyond current features and consider future-ready architecture.
You’re making significant capital investments into these systems, and you’re squandering ROI if your equipment cannot perform beyond paying down the principal.
Think about:
- Upgradeable firmware
- Modular hardware
- Adaptability to market demand.
Designed for Longevity, Not Labels
This isn’t about chasing buzzwords like AMI 2.0. It’s about designing infrastructure to stay useful.
Any ability to keep systems growing once they’re commissioned is a safety net that helps avoid the need to rip and replace.
Take ZigBee. It’s not widely used in metering today, but that could change quickly, especially if more consumers lean into load control, energy dashboards, or BAS-driven automation.
Could your systems keep up if that becomes an industry standard?
What Future-Ready Really Looks Like
A forward-ready DCU functions like a smart, modular hub. If a new feature needs to be rolled out or metering logic needs to be updated, you should be able to deploy those changes across your entire install base — securely, instantly, and without hardware disruption.
Open metering systems should be able to:
- Accept ZigBee or other smart protocols
- Deploy remote firmware upgrades fleet-wide, with zero site visits
- Maintain Measurement Canada compliance through passive display logic
- Support new integrations without invasive steps
Open Metering Systems for Regulatory Agility
Stay Ahead of PS-E-18 and PS-E-19
We’ve talked about growth, flexibility, and firmware, but there’s one more pressure that tests all three: regulation.
When your infrastructure is regulatory-ready, Measurement Canada updates or new specs don’t slow you down.
Standards like PS-E-18 and PS-E-19 are already poised to shift sub-meter specifications. Systems unable to adapt could be the first to feel the impact.
PS-E-18: No More Harmonics in Residential Billing
This standard would mandate that residential meters only measure energy at fundamental frequency (typically 60 Hz).
That means harmonics, or noisy distortions caused by electronics, must be filtered out of billing. Meters that report total power, including harmonics, risk overbilling and non-compliance.
→ If your system can’t isolate fundamental power, you could be looking at a mountain of service tickets.
PS-E-19: Protecting Data Integrity From Meter to Display
PS-E-19 focuses on data flowing through the system. As DCUs, displays, and cloud platforms become more common, Measurement Canada wants clear assurance that metering data isn’t being manipulated downstream.
→ That means the system will need to support passive displays, audit trails, and a clean separation between the certified meter and any device that shows or processes the data.
What This Means for Sub-Metering Providers
If your meters can’t handle remote firmware changes, or if your display logic lives inside the same box as your certified metrology, you’re boxed in.
Hardware could need re-verifying. Displays might have to be redesigned. And that’s time and money your competitors won’t be spending.
Regulatory-Ready Tech
With these changes on the horizon, VIP advises sub-metering companies to prioritize meter technology that will keep their systems flexible.
Features to shop for:
Push firmware changes remotely, fleet-wide
Separate certified meter logic from user interfaces
- Use passive displays that comply without interpretation
- Scale without triggering re-verification under S-E-04
Open Metering Systems Done Right
Sub-metering companies don’t lose contracts overnight. They lose them over years of continued friction.
That’s why VIP consults early, designs smart, and pushes for future-ready systems that don’t lock you or your clients in.
We empower clients with the resources and expertise to build around open protocols, modular architecture, scalable comms, and flexible platforms that grow with demand, not against it.
The goal is to keep the building — and the client — in your portfolio.