Electricity use across apartments, shopping centres, retirement villages and mixed use developments is changing quickly. A site may generate solar power, store surplus in a battery and supply electric vehicle chargers. The greatest value emerges when these technologies operate as one connected system rather than three separate projects.
An embedded electricity network provides the structure to coordinate those resources across a multi tenant property. Electricity enters at a parent connection point then travels through private infrastructure to occupants and shared services.
Solar, batteries and chargers sit behind that connection. Accurate metering shows where energy came from, where it went and who should receive the benefit.
Key Points
An embedded network buys electricity at a parent connection point then distributes it internally through child meters, which makes the site responsible for its own measurement accuracy.
Solar, battery and EV charging assets each need their own measurement point, because a single site total cannot separate generation from storage losses or charging demand.
Selling electricity to occupants behind a parent connection sits inside the AER exemption framework, and Victoria and Western Australia apply their own arrangements.
Where energy is billed by the kilowatt hour, the meter at that point must be pattern approved under Australian trade measurement law.
Unmanaged EV charging is the fastest way to create a new demand peak inside a private network that was never designed for it.
SATEC metering combined with Expertpower gives building owners one connected view of generation, storage, charging and tenant consumption for billing, reporting and performance analysis.
How The Energy Flows Change
A conventional embedded network has a simple flow. The site buys electricity from the grid. Child meters record consumption for occupants and for common services such as lifts, ventilation and lighting. Money in, energy out, one direction.
Solar generation breaks that simplicity. A battery absorbs and releases. Chargers create large loads that swing across the day. Energy now moves between the grid, generation assets, shared equipment and tenant loads, sometimes reversing within the same hour. The metering design has to distinguish those flows or the billing engine is guessing.
Solar Generation Within The Network
Rooftop solar usually connects behind the parent meter. The building consumes that generation first, which reduces the volume purchased from the grid. Surplus may charge a battery or export to the network where the connection agreement allows it.
In commercial and mixed use sites the picture varies, because a single tenant may hold their own array behind their own child meter.
Who Owns The Benefit
The financial outcome depends entirely on how the solar is assigned. Some properties direct it to common area loads, which lowers the owners corporation levy. Others allocate or sell generation to occupants inside the network. A mixed use site might prioritise daytime commercial tenancies then push the remainder into storage for the evening.
Agreeing who gets the cheap electrons is not, and that conversation is far easier when the meter data can settle it.
Export Is No Longer Free
Distribution businesses can now apply two way pricing, which means exports from a parent connection may attract a charge rather than a credit at certain times. Planning a system around unlimited free export is a risk. Inverter connections also sit under AS 4777.2, and many distributors apply export limits at the connection point regardless of installed capacity.
riff. Unless a child connection is arranged as an on market connection, the export relationship belongs to the network operator, not the resident.
What Batteries Add
Battery storage gives a site control over timing. Solar produced at midday can be released during the evening peak. Storage can also shave maximum demand or arbitrage a time of use tariff.
The battery needs its own metering point. Charge and discharge energy must be measured separately so the operator can quantify round trip losses, savings and actual performance. Without that, a site knows its bill changed without knowing whether the battery caused it. A battery without its own meter is an act of faith, and faith does not survive a levy dispute.
A battery might charge from solar, from cheaper overnight grid electricity or from both. It might discharge to common services, to chargers or across the whole site. Interval data is what confirms the operating strategy matches the commercial intent.
Managing EV Charging
Charging introduces a different problem. A bank of chargers adds serious demand even when each vehicle draws a modest amount of energy. Unmanaged, that load creates a new peak, stresses parts of the private network or pushes the site into a higher demand charge.
NCC 2022 already requires switchboard capacity for future charging in new apartment and commercial buildings, and AS 3001.2 governs the installation itself. Capacity in the board is not the same as capacity in the supply, which is a distinction that catches out plenty of retrofit projects.
Billing Models And Trade Measurement
An embedded network can support several charging arrangements. Residents may be billed for their own use. Visitors may pay through a charging service provider. Fleet vehicles can be assigned to a business cost centre. Shared chargers may simply form part of a building amenity.
Where energy is sold by the kilowatt hour, the measurement becomes a trade measurement and the instrument must be pattern approved. Charger head units record session data, which is useful for user management. Dedicated meters remain the independent record for reconciliation against the parent supply, and load management can then limit or schedule charging around building demand, solar availability and network capacity.
Metering Requirements By Asset Type
The table below sets out what to measure at each point and where trade measurement obligations apply.
| Connection Point | What The Meter Records | Trade Measurement Applies | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent connection | Import and export energy, demand, time of use | Yes, retailer billing to the network operator | Sets the site cost that all internal allocation must reconcile against |
| Tenant or child connection | Consumption, time of use, demand where tariffed | Yes, where the occupant is billed | Pattern approved measurement is the basis of a defensible invoice |
| Common area services | Consumption by service group such as lifts, lighting, ventilation | Generally no, unless separately onsold | Identifies waste and supports fair apportionment of shared costs |
| Solar generation | Total generation, time of production | Only where generation is onsold to occupants | Separates real production from reduced grid import |
| Battery storage | Charge and discharge energy measured separately | Only where stored energy is onsold | Reveals round trip losses and proves the operating strategy works |
| EV charging | Energy per charger or circuit, demand profile | Yes, where charging is billed by the kilowatt hour | Prevents a hidden demand peak and supports user level cost recovery |
The Regulatory Layer Behind The Meter
Selling electricity to occupants behind a parent connection is a retail activity. In most of the National Electricity Market (NEM) it operates under the Australian Energy Regulator exemption framework, which covers both network exemptions and retail exemptions.
Victoria administers its own exemption arrangements through the Essential Services Commission. Western Australia sits outside the NEM and follows separate state rules.
Reform of the embedded network framework has introduced the Embedded Network Manager role and the concept of on market child connections, which allow an occupant to choose a retailer in the ordinary way. Implementation timing has moved more than once, so any project should confirm the current position for its jurisdiction rather than relying on a summary written last year.
Metering competition also shapes the parent connection. New and replacement meters in the NEM are smart meters managed by a Metering Coordinator, and the market is working toward full smart meter coverage by 2030.
Making The Technologies Work Together
Coordinated operation is where the returns sit. Solar covers daytime building load and daytime charging. Surplus fills the battery. Stored energy then trims the evening peak once generation falls away. Flexible charging shifts into the windows when local generation is abundant or grid electricity is cheapest.
Managers need one consistent view of generation, storage, charging, tenant demand and common area consumption. Three separate portals and a monthly spreadsheet will not do it. Reconciling a parent bill against internal allocation is difficult enough without gaps in the data.
Plan The Metering Before Adding Equipment
Panels, batteries and chargers should never be treated as isolated purchases. Connection points, communications requirements, tariff arrangements and intended users all shape the metering architecture. Early planning avoids gaps that become expensive to correct once the switchboard is full and the slab is poured.
A site assessment should review the parent connection, switchboard capacity, existing child meters and communications infrastructure. It should also define who owns each asset and how costs or benefits will be allocated. Regulatory, billing and electrical requirements need confirming for the specific property and jurisdiction.
In practice the most common mistake is sequencing. Metering gets specified last, after the equipment schedule is locked, and by then the only available answer is a compromise.
How SATEC Supports Embedded Networks
SATEC metering provides a flexible foundation for an embedded network that carries solar, storage and charging. The EM133-XM smart energy meter holds NMI pattern approval, which allows it to be used where electricity measurement forms the basis of billing. Its compact DIN rail format suits new switchboards and space constrained retrofits alike, which matters when a retrofit has to fit around existing gear.
Time of use energy data plus separate import and export measurement makes the same platform workable across parent connections, tenant supplies, solar generation, battery circuits and dedicated charging loads, when specified and installed for the relevant application. Communications options let that data feed broader building systems rather than sitting in an isolated meter.
Sites with many circuits can use multi circuit metering to capture a large number of loads efficiently, which supports monitoring and cost visibility across a busy switchboard. Where inverters, chargers or other electronic equipment may affect voltage quality or introduce harmonics, power quality analysers from the SATEC range give deeper diagnostic visibility. Those analysers serve a monitoring role and are separate from pattern approved billing metering.
Expertpower brings the data together in a single energy management environment. It supports monitoring, billing, reporting, alerts and analysis across the site. Building teams can compare production against consumption, review battery performance and isolate the demand created by charging. Missing data and unexpected changes surface early, which is usually the difference between a small correction and a difficult conversation.
For apartment residents the visibility is deliberately narrow. Where an individual submeter connects to Expertpower and the resident is an approved user, they can see their own consumption through the app. Common area consumption is not accessible to residents.
Accurate meters and a connected platform give every stakeholder the same picture. That supports fairer allocation, clearer reporting and better judgement about future capacity. With more than 50 plus years in electrical measurement behind the product range, the engineering emphasis has always been on data you can defend rather than dashboards you cannot verify.
A More Flexible Energy Future
A well designed embedded network turns separate energy technologies into a coordinated system. Solar reduces grid purchases. Batteries move energy to more valuable hours. Managed charging supports growing transport demand without overloading site capacity.
Metering is what makes the arrangement visible and accountable. With the right measurement points and a platform such as Expertpower, owners and operators can understand performance, allocate costs fairly and make every energy investment work harder than it would on its own.
Planning solar, storage or EV charging for a multi tenant site? Talk to the SATEC Global Australia team about the metering architecture before the equipment schedule is finalised. We will review your parent connection, switchboard and billing requirements and set out the measurement points you need. Contact us to arrange a discussion.
FAQs - How Solar, Batteries And EV Charging Work Within An Embedded Electricity Network
Can residents in an embedded network receive a solar feed in tariff?
Generally not, because the export relationship belongs to the parent connection rather than to individual occupants. A resident would need an on market child connection with their own retailer to access a feed in tariff directly. Many embedded networks instead pass the solar benefit through reduced internal tariffs or lower common area costs.
Does an EV charger need an NMI approved meter?
If charging is billed by the kilowatt hour then the measurement is a trade measurement and the instrument must be pattern approved. Where charging is bundled into a levy or provided as an amenity, the obligation changes. Confirm the position for your billing model before committing to a charger specification.
Why does a battery need its own meter if the site already has a parent meter?
A parent meter shows the net result and cannot separate charge energy from discharge energy. Without a dedicated battery meter you cannot calculate round trip losses or verify that the operating strategy is delivering the savings modelled. It is the difference between knowing the bill fell and knowing why.
Who is responsible for metering accuracy in an embedded network?
The embedded network operator carries responsibility for the internal measurement used to bill occupants, which includes using appropriately approved meters and maintaining them. Obligations flow from the relevant exemption conditions and from trade measurement law. That responsibility does not transfer to the equipment supplier or the electrical contractor.
