Choosing the Best Electric Sub-Meters for Tenants
The procurement process for choosing the best electric sub-meters for tenants is not straightforward.
Why? Because, on the surface, most smart meters on the market generally offer the same core features:
- Smart capabilities
- Accuracy
- Measurement Canada approved.
But checking those boxes should be standard.
Where most metering technologies fall behind, though, is solving practical problems in the field.
Your procurement scope shouldn’t be limited to whether meters can simply get your system online and billing. It should be focused on which products offer the best long-term support for your operations, property owners, and their tenants throughout the entire lifecycle of the system.
Let's explore how to navigate some of these core features for the best tenant sub-metering support.
Meter Technology Driven by Innovation
Electric sub-metering systems by Sieco-Tech are built for real-world performance for residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
Sieco-Tech smart meters are engineered for durability and complete data reliability in all new and retrofit projects. Our technology is tested to perform in even the most challenging structural conditions, like dense concrete and steel, as well as extreme cold to high-heat environments.
Features Set the Best Electric Sub-Meters Apart
What separates an average meter from a great investment is how well a tenant sub-metering system can be customized to the realities of your buildings and what it will require to manage them effectively.
That includes installation conditions, suite layouts, building materials, and local climate.
An excellent residential metering system adapts to these variables with flexible installation options and straightforward servicing.
Key Features to Watch for Include:
- Modular design and footprint
- Meter point configuration
- Ease of Installation
- Serviceability without rewiring or breaking seals
- Longevity and remote management
Lower Price Per Meter Point
Traditionally, tenant sub-metering installation costs don’t scale well with suite count.
More suites and floors should mean a proportional increase in cost. But, in practice, sub-metering floors becomes less efficient with the addition of more meter points.
In other words, if you double the number of suites in a project, your sub-metering costs will actually more than double.
This disproportionate rate is caused by a common design flaw.
Misaligned Design
Most electric sub-meter panels are built using 12- and 9-suite configurations. However, in mid- to high-rise buildings, suite layouts rarely align with these 12- and 9-point meter increments.
This mismatch between configuration and floor plan:
• Creates wasted meter points
• Requires extra hardware to bridge gaps in capacity
• Adds additional labor cost for installing more panels
• Increases demand for wall space in electrical rooms
For example, if you need to meter 27 suites and are using 12-suite panels, you'll need three panels, resulting in a total of 36 meter points. That’s nine unused points you're still paying for with the unit, installation time, and physical space — 33% of which will never be used.
Multiply that mismatch across multiple electrical closets or an entire high-rise, and the inefficiencies quickly add up.
The Best Tenant Electric Sub-Meters Offer Plug-and-Play Flexibility
Sieco-Tech meters are designed to avoid configuration mismatches altogether.
Our plug-and-play Multi-Customer Panel (MCP) system is designed based on individual six-suite meter modules that can be combined and grow to match the number of meter points more precisely to each electrical closet or floor.
The result is a lower price per point as suite counts increase.
This modular approach streamlines installation by involving fewer panels, fewer materials, and fewer connection points. This means faster work and lower labor requirements on the front-end. You’re saving both on capital investment AND service calls, maintenance complexity, and real estate inside your electrical closets.
For example, in a 27-suite project, a fifth MCP module would be required, but it results in just three (3) unused points, not nine (9).
You’re not forced into overbuying panels, and you’re not left managing partial systems across multiple rooms.
Efficiency at Installation
Getting an electrical sub-metering system installed and ready to bill is the heaviest lift of a project. This critical phase can also determine the long-term performance of a system.
Electric sub-meter installation requires field splicing, handwritten CT serials, and constant back-and-forth between electricians and commissioning teams. Each of these quickly consumes time over numerous meter points, and each manual step is an opportunity for mistakes, mislabeling and errors — issues that delays are expensive to fix.
The best electric sub-meters for tenants enable crews to execute these steps faster and without mistakes. Saving time is critical for getting systems online and bills out, but doing it right the first time prevents you from having to pay twice for an installation.
Supporting Easy Installs
Sieco-Tech’s electric sub-meters are designed to install more easily and faster than competing meters.
Our leading team of engineers and product experts has equipped Sieco-Tech meters with pre-manufactured CT cables, spring-loaded terminals, and color-coded components that eliminate field installation errors.
Pre-Manufactured CT Cables by Sieco-Tech
Sieco-Tech CT cables come ready-to-wire. They are factory-assembled, color-coded, and pre-labeled with the correct serial numbers and phase indicators.
Instead of hand-splicing and documenting dozens of individual CTs on-site, electricians simply plug labeled connectors into the MCP’s terminal card, practically eliminating mistakes from mislabeling, wrong phase pairing or bad crimps.
Spring-loaded Terminals
Sieco-Tech meters also feature spring-loaded terminals for efficient and fast wiring.
The terminals make it so electricians don’t have to fiddle with screws or guess at wire positions. Everything is angled for visibility, accessible from the front, and color-aligned to reduce installation friction.
Cheaper Maintenance & Re-Verification
Great tenant sub-meters support operations.
Every sub-metering system requires regular maintenance, re-verification, and occasional se. In addition, Measurement Canada, the federal body responsible for regulating meter accuracy, requires more than just basic compliance.
Every meter model must first be type-approved and individually tested for accuracy (S-E-02). From there, every meter point must pass a field inspection (S-E-04) after installation.
Escalating Field Costs
Where costs begin to spike is every six to 10 years, when Measurement Canada requires a property’s meters to be re-verified.
Most sub-metering systems require significant on-site work to exchange a unit. You’re dealing with full panel swaps, rewiring, manual paperwork, extended site visits by electricians, and coordination with inspectors.
Any change to the sealed wiring terminals on most systems, even during standard maintenance, can automatically trigger the need for another on-site S-E-04 inspection.
This all adds days of delay, paperwork, and costs to what should be routine work.
Multi-Sealed, Easily Serviced
Designed to eliminate these pitfalls, the lifetime maintenance costs of Sieco-Tech electrical meters are 60% to 70% lower than competing products.
Each MCP module can be removed and replaced without touching the wiring or breaking Measurement Canada seals. That means a trained technician (not an electrician) can perform a meter swap in minutes, without re-inspection.
The onboard DCU handles install/uninstall steps and logs every change. Updates are automatically pushed to your billing system, so there’s no paperwork to fill out and no chance of transcription errors.
Re-verifying a 200-suite building becomes a half-day job for one technician, rather than a multi-day project involving licensed electricians, paperwork handoffs, and costly inspector callbacks.
The Best Electric Sub-Meters for Tenants are Built By Sieco-Tech
The best electrical sub-meters are designed and innovated for the field, not a spec sheet.
Sieco-Tech smart energy meters are engineered by industry veterans with decades of experience in sub-metering, who’ve done the fieldwork, and who’ve suffered operational challenges firsthand.
That is the depth of understanding built into every feature of Sieco-Tech’s electric meters.