▶ Costs > Building Settings > Enabling Meters


In order to register readings you have to add (or Enable) Meters in the Moderan system. 


This is done in the Costs > Building Settings > Enabling Meters > +ADD NEW:



Before starting with the Meters, make sure, that all metered Cost types are enabled (Building settings > Enabling cost types for period).


Meter fields explained


1. Set a Name* for the meter


Meter name can be an actual meter number or description of meter (e.g. to indicate, that meter measures Cold Water, the meter name could start with CW followed by location). 


NB! In case you need to show readings on the invoices, remember that meter name is also visible on the tenant cost invoice.


We generally do not recommend to use the tenants name in the meter name, because tenants change. If you really want to add it, put it in the description field.


2. Specify the Cost type


Select the cost or sub-cost type that is measured by this Meter from the drop-down. 


If you cannot find the cost/sub-cost in the drop-down, make sure you have enabled it in the 

Building settings > Enabling cost types for period:




3. Transmission factor


If readings need to be multiplied with a certain number, because meter does not read by 1 digit or needs to be converted from MWh to kWh then you should add the Transmission factor:




4. Select the Meter Type 


NB! Meter type affects how the usage of the meter will be split between the tenants.


In Moderan there are 5 types of Meters:


Individual meter - this type is typically used to assigned the meter directly to 1 tenant. If you also add the Space and switch on the Automatic meter linking, then Moderan links this meter to the tenant occupying this Space.



Main meter - counts incoming quantity of the cost, for example, how much electricity you bought from electricity provider. 

In case there are multiple Main meters in the Property, you should add all of them.

In case you have only one you don't need to add it separately.



Shared meters - their usage is distributed between multiple tenants. The Space set should be created and selected for each Shared meter.

There are two types of Shared meters:

  • Shared common meter - its' usage is distributed to multiple tenants as a General cost and split by m2 proportion in the selected Space set. It is necessary to select in the Space column the Space set or All. In the Costs invoices Shared common meter usage and amount will be included in the General cost.
  • Shared individual meter - meter usage is distributed as direct cost between multiple tenants and split by m2 proportion in the selected Space set. It is necessary to select in the Spaces column the Space set or All. Shared individual meter usage and cost will be included in the cost invoice as Individual cost.



Special case: if you want to split one meter usage between multiple tenants by percentage instead of m2 proportion, do the following:
- select Individual meter and DO NOT add Space
- manually link in Contract terms > Individual Cost setup this meter to all the tenant contracts that should get a part of this meter usage
- in the Readings add Coefficient for each tenant contract line for this meter. Coefficients must be formatted as share of 1, for example, if this tenant should get 32,75 % of this meter usage, then write 0.3275:



Circulation meter - it is usually used for meters that are not participating in cost calculations. Most commonly used to calculate the Warm water usage (this type of meters measure how much (water) came in and how much came out, and the difference is taken into account). 

The meter with the bigger usage is added as tenant meter and the meter with smaller usage is added as a Child meter with the type Circulation meter.


Hint: Stand alone Circulation meters are sometimes used for control (as the usage of these meters does not go into calculations).



5. Add a Space


It is highly recommended to specify the Space - for Individual meters or Space set - for Shared meters.


Spaces column has a drop down menu with all Spaces available in the Property-Building set, when meter type is Individual:


If Meter type is Shared individual or Shared common, then in the Spaces column you can select Space set (created beforehand in the Enabling space set) or option All:


By selecting correct Spaces to each Individual meter Moderan enables Automatic meter linking to Rental Contracts through Spaces:



6. Add a Description


You can add any additional information in the Description (more details what this meter is measuring or used for).

Information you add in this field is not visible in the tenants' invoice.


Hint: You can also see and edit Description in the Readings view while entering readings. So you can add additional notes or reminders for yourself or colleagues for monthly processes.



7. Add Meters in a Sequence / Child meters


Sometimes meters have an hierarchy. This means one or more meters are set up as sub-meters.

Use this option when one meter usage should be subtracted from Parent meter usage. You can create as many sequences as necessary.


There are two ways in Moderan to do this:

  • If it is a new meter, you can add the sub-meter by clicking +ADD CHILD on the Parent meter.
  • If you have already entered the sub-meter before grab the meter name and drag it onto the Parent meter line and release. 




8. AUTOMATIC METER LINKING TO RENTAL CONTRACTS


By switching on this option, all meters that have Spaces specified will be automatically linked to the Rental Contracts. Meter name will be present in each Tenants/Rental Contracts line in the Contract terms.


In case the tenant changes, Moderan automatically links the meter to the new tenant.


If the Tenant does not have a Rental Space (e.g. Antenna on the roof or ATM machines) there is a possibility to link the Meter to Rental Contract manually (Contract terms > Individual Costs setup > Manual meter linking). 


You can find more info about Contract terms in here

Sorting, Filtering and hiding Columns


Larger properties often contain a significant number of meters. To help you maintain clarity and easily locate specific meters, Moderan offers these handy tools:


  • Sort by Column. You can arrange the table alphabetically - or in reverse alphabetical order - by any of the columns (e.g., Name, Cost Type, Meter Type).
Example: To view all enabled meters grouped by Cost Type, sort that column from A-Z or Z-A:


  • Filter by Keyword. Use filters to narrow down the list by relevant keywords in any column.

Example: To see meters associated with a particular space, select the Space column filter and enter the name of that space:


  • Hide Unused Columns. For a cleaner view, you can hide columns that are not needed.
Example: If you don’t use the Transmission Factor or Description fields, simply remove those columns from view to reduce clutter:

You can always bring the hidden columns back to the view



Hint: If you have a special case to handle and cannot find the exact answer here, please contact our support in Moderan chat or write to support@moderansolutions.com.