Your electricity bill tells you what you spent. It rarely tells you why.
Most Australian businesses now have a smart meter at the main switchboard. That meter records consumption in intervals and sends it to your retailer. On paper you have interval data. In practice you have one line of numbers for the whole site, often viewed weeks later through a retailer portal.
That is not a load usage profile you can act on. A real profile shows how demand rises and falls across every interval of the day, the week and the season. Detailed analysis needs that profile at the level where decisions are made: each tenancy, each plant room, each switchboard.
Our view is simple. If your smart energy meter cannot capture the data, store it safely and break it down by circuit, it is a billing device rather than an analysis tool.
Key Points
A load usage profile shows when and where energy is used across each interval. Total kWh alone hides the shape of demand.
Retailer smart meters measure the whole site. They cannot isolate individual loads, floors or tenancies.
Interval length matters. Five minute data reveals short demand spikes that 30 minute averages smooth away.
Onboard memory protects your records when communications drop out.
Analysis needs software that turns raw intervals into profiles, comparisons and alerts.
SATEC’s EM133-XM, BFM136 and Expertpower capture, store and analyse interval data from the main incomer down to individual circuits.
What a Load Usage Profile Actually Shows
A load profile plots demand against time. Read across a single day, it reveals your base load, the morning ramp, the peaks and the overnight tail. Read across a year, it shows how weather, production and occupancy reshape demand.
The value sits in the patterns. A base load that never drops overnight points to equipment left running. A sharp spike at 7am may set your demand charge for the entire month. A slow upward drift in a motor circuit often signals an ageing plant working harder than it should.
None of this shows up on a monthly bill. You need interval data. You also need enough of it, at the right resolution, from the right points in your electrical network.
Where Retailer Smart Meters Fall Short
The retailer’s meter exists to bill the site. It measures energy at the connection point and passes that data into the market. It does that job well.
Detailed analysis asks different questions. Which tenant drove last Tuesday’s peak? Is the chiller drawing more than it did last summer? Did the new solar array change the evening ramp? A single meter at the site boundary cannot answer any of them.
Access is the other hurdle. You rely on the retailer or metering provider for your data. It arrives after the fact and in whatever format their portal offers.
Submetering closes the gap. A meter you own sits behind the main meter and gives you direct access to its records, at the resolution you choose, whenever you need them.
Five Capabilities Your Meter Needs for Detailed Load Analysis
Configurable Interval Logging
Choose a meter that lets you set the logging interval yourself. Thirty minutes suits long term trend reporting. Five or 15 minutes catches the brief spikes that inflate demand charges. The EM133-XM lets you define the logging period anywhere from 1 to 60 minutes.
Onboard Memory That Rides Through Outages
Networks fail. Routers get unplugged during fit outs. A meter that logs internally keeps recording through the outage and lets you retrieve the missing intervals once communications return.
The EM133-XM carries 8MB of onboard memory. At 30 minute intervals that holds around 1,365 days of interval data. At five minute intervals it still holds around 227 days.
More Than Kilowatt Hours
A useful profile records demand, voltage, current and power factor alongside energy. These values explain why some loads cost more than their kWh suggests.
The EM133-XM also measures voltage and current THD up to the 40th harmonic. That gives you an early warning when nonlinear loads start to stress your network.
Time of Use Registers
Your network tariff charges differently by time of day. Matching your load profile against those windows shows exactly where load shifting will pay off. The EM133-XM supports eight tariffs across four seasons and four day types. Our article on time of use tariffs and load shifting shows how to put that data to work.
Open Communications
Data trapped inside a meter helps no one. Standard protocols let the same records flow into a building management system, a SCADA system or a cloud platform. The EM133-XM supports Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP/IP and IEC 60870-5-104.
Retailer Meter vs SATEC Submetering
The table below compares a typical retailer smart meter with two SATEC submetering options for load profile analysis.
| Capability | Retailer Smart Meter | SATEC EM133-XM | SATEC BFM136 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement point | Whole site at the connection point | Main incomer, tenancy or major load | Up to 36 single phase or 12 three phase circuits |
| Logging interval | Set by market requirements | User definable from 1 to 60 minutes | Onboard event and data logging |
| Onboard storage | Managed by the metering provider | 8MB, around 1,365 days at 30 minutes | Onboard flash memory |
| Time of use | Retail tariff only | 8 tariffs, 4 seasons, 4 day types | Multiple tariff energy and demand registers |
| Data access | Through your retailer or portal | Direct via Modbus, IEC 60870-5-104 and Expertpower | Direct via RS485, optional Ethernet and Expertpower |
| NMI approved | Yes, as the site revenue meter | Yes, certificate 14/2/72 | Yes, certificate 14/2/80 |
From Raw Intervals to Real Decisions
Interval data only creates value when someone looks at it. That is where software earns its place.
Expertpower collects data automatically from your meters and presents it in user editable dashboards. You can schedule reports in Excel or PDF. Multi level alarms send email and SMS alerts when a load crosses a threshold you set.
Virtual devices are a quiet favourite of ours. They add or subtract meters in real time. You can isolate a common area load or calculate an unmetered circuit without installing more hardware.
With a clear profile in hand, the practical wins follow. You can find phantom loads hiding in your overnight base load. You can also improve your load factor and reduce demand charges by flattening the peaks your profile exposes.
How SATEC Delivers the Full Load Profile
SATEC designs metering to answer the questions a retailer meter cannot. The EM133-XM is an NMI approved, Class 0.5S DIN rail meter with extended memory. It suits main incomers, tenancy supplies and major plant.
Where you need many circuits in one place, the BFM136 monitors up to 36 single phase or 12 three phase circuits from one device. That makes it ideal for distribution boards, apartment blocks and data halls.
Both feed into Expertpower, hosted on Australian Microsoft Azure infrastructure. In residential buildings the eXpertConnect app gives approved residents visibility of their own individually submetered usage. You can review full specifications for the EM133-XM, the BFM136 and Expertpower on our datasheets.
Get the Data Behind Your Demand
Your load profile already exists. The question is whether your meters capture it in enough detail to act on.
Talk to our team about an energy metering design that shows exactly where, when and why your site uses energy. Contact SATEC Australia today.
FAQs - Can Your Smart Energy Meter Deliver Data for Detailed Analysis of Your Load Usage Profile?
What Is a Load Usage Profile?
A load usage profile is a record of electrical demand plotted against time, usually in 5, 15 or 30 minute intervals. It shows your base load, peaks and daily patterns. That makes it the starting point for cutting demand charges and finding waste.
Can I Get Load Profile Data From My Retailer’s Smart Meter?
You can usually request interval data from your retailer for the whole site. It will not show individual tenancies, floors or equipment. For that level of detail you need submeters behind the main meter.
What Logging Interval Should I Use?
Thirty minute intervals work well for long term trends and reporting. Five or 15 minute intervals are better for catching short peaks that drive demand charges. The EM133-XM lets you set any interval from 1 to 60 minutes.
What Happens to My Data If the Network Goes Down?
A meter with onboard memory keeps logging during the outage. Once communications return, the stored intervals can be retrieved and your profile stays complete. The EM133-XM holds around 1,365 days of 30 minute data in its 8MB memory.
