How to Use IAMMETER Energy Consumption Analysis

How to Use IAMMETER Energy Consumption Analysis

IAMMETER's Energy Consumption Analysis menu contains five reports for reviewing hourly patterns, selected time windows, different meters, different periods and monthly summaries.

This guide explains which report to choose, how to set its comparison scope and how to interpret the result.

New to energy analysis? First read How to Analyze Home Electricity Consumption and Find Energy Waste for baseline, base-load, peak-demand and before/after analysis methods.

1. Open Energy Consumption Analysis

1. Sign in to IAMMETER-Cloud.
2. Select the required Place from the left side.
3. Open Report Analysis.
4. Open the Energy Consumption Analysis menu.
5. Select one of the five report types.

The available reports are:

Report	Use it when you need to
Hourly Energy Consumption	See how energy is distributed across the 24 hours of a day
Energy Consumption During Selected Hours	Compare user-defined time windows, shifts or tariff periods
Comparison Analysis for Different Meters	Compare measurement points over the same period
Comparison Analysis on Time Basis	Compare one measurement point across different periods
Comprehensive Analysis	Review natural-month totals and trends

2. Choose the Correct Meter or Channel

The report result represents the selected measurement boundary. Before comparing data, confirm what each selection measures.

Examples:

• A whole-home channel includes every downstream load.
• A dedicated-circuit channel contains only that circuit.
• A three-phase meter may provide individual phase channels and combined results.
• A solar system may contain separate grid and inverter measurements.
• Different meters may cover different buildings, circuits or sites.

Do not compare two series as if they measure the same thing unless their CT positions and channel roles are understood.

3. Hourly Energy Consumption

Use Hourly Energy Consumption to display energy for each hour from 00:00 through 23:00.

Configure the Report

1. Open Energy Consumption Analysis → Hourly Energy Consumption.
2. Select the required meter or phase channels.
3. Choose Today, Last Week, Last Month, or specify the displayed date range.
4. Select View to refresh the chart.
5. Use Export when the report provides an export file for further analysis.

Interpret the Result

• When one day is selected, each bar represents the energy recorded during that hour.
• When a week or month is selected, the hourly chart shows the aggregated hourly pattern for the selected period. The current IAMMETER report presents the average result for each hour across that week or month.
• Compare the height of the bars to find recurring high-consumption and low-consumption hours.
• Check the legend before interpreting multiple phases, channels, import or export series.

Useful Applications

• Find overnight base-load hours.
• Identify morning or evening peaks.
• Check when heating, cooling or EV charging normally operates.
• Compare phase contribution in a multi-phase system.
• Identify consumption during an expensive tariff period.

4. Energy Consumption During Selected Hours

Use this report when the standard 24-hour chart is too broad and you need to compare specific groups of hours.

Residential examples include:

• Off-peak, shoulder and peak tariff periods
• Overnight, daytime and evening usage
• EV charging hours vs the rest of the day
• Water-heating hours before and after a schedule change

Configure the Report

1. Open Energy Consumption Analysis → Energy consumption during selected hours.
2. Select the meter.
3. Set the start and end dates.
4. Add the required hour groups with the + control.
5. Add or remove hours in each group.
6. Choose the required Group By interval.
7. Select View.

Interpret the Result

Each plotted series represents one configured group of hours. Compare the groups over the same dates to see how much energy was used in each time window.

For a time-of-use tariff comparison, define the groups so they match the utility tariff periods exactly. If a tariff crosses midnight, check that every hour is assigned to the intended group.

5. Comparison Analysis for Different Meters

Use this report to compare different meters or measurement points over the same period.

Configure the Comparison

1. Open Energy Consumption Analysis → Comparison Analysis for Different Meters.
2. Select the meters or measurement channels to compare.
3. Use the same date range and grouping interval for every series.
4. Select View.

Interpret the Result Carefully

Valid examples include:

• Two similar homes or buildings
• Two independent circuits
• The same type of load at two locations
• Individual phases in an appropriate multi-phase analysis

Avoid adding a dedicated-circuit reading to a whole-home reading when that circuit is already included in the whole-home total.

Before concluding that one meter uses more energy, also check:

• Whether the measurement boundaries are equivalent
• Whether the periods contain the same number of days
• Whether occupancy or operating schedules differ
• Whether a meter measures import, export, generation or consumption

6. Comparison Analysis on Time Basis

Use this report to compare the same meter across different dates or periods.

It supports comparisons such as:

• Hourly consumption across different days
• Daily consumption across different months
• Monthly consumption across different years

Configure the Comparison

1. Open Energy Consumption Analysis → Comparison Analysis on Time Basis.
2. Select one meter or measurement channel.
3. Add the periods to compare.
4. Choose an equal and appropriate grouping interval.
5. Select View.

Hourly comparison across different days

Daily comparison across different months

Use Equal Comparison Periods

For a valid before/after comparison:

• Use the same number of days.
• Compare similar weekdays or weekends.
• Use the same hours.
• Note weather, occupancy and tariff changes.
• Change one variable at a time when testing an energy-saving action.

If equal periods are not possible, compare an average such as kWh per day rather than raw totals.

7. Comprehensive Analysis

Use Comprehensive Analysis for a consolidated view based on natural months.

Use this report to review the longer-term direction of energy consumption. Because it uses natural months, do not assume that its totals correspond exactly to a utility billing cycle that begins on another date.

For utility-bill periods, use the relevant Billing Report and configure the correct billing date.

8. Read Import, Export and Multi-channel Series

Some reports display more than one series for the selected meter.

Before reading the chart:

1. Read the legend.
2. Confirm the meter and phase/channel name.
3. Confirm whether the series represents import or export energy.
4. Confirm the physical measurement point.
5. Do not treat solar generation, grid import and home consumption as interchangeable values.

For a solar installation, use the channel roles defined by the system wiring and configuration. See the Home Solar Monitoring Solution for the relationship between inverter generation, grid exchange and calculated home consumption.

9. Export and Record the Result

When an Export option is available, export the selected report after confirming the meter, date range and interval.

For a repeatable analysis record, save:

• Report type
• Meter/channel
• Start and end dates
• Selected hours or grouping interval
• Total or average being compared
• External conditions such as weather or occupancy
• The action taken after reviewing the report

This information makes it possible to reproduce the comparison later.

10. Common Report Mistakes

Problem	Cause	Correction
Weekly/monthly hourly values appear lower than expected totals	The chart represents the aggregated hourly pattern, not one cumulative monthly bar	Interpret each hour using the report interval definition
Two meters cannot be compared meaningfully	They measure different boundaries	Confirm CT positions and channel roles
Before/after totals differ mainly because one period is longer	Unequal date ranges	Use equal periods or kWh per day
Selected-hour groups do not match the tariff	Missing or incorrectly assigned hours	Rebuild groups from the utility tariff schedule
Whole-home plus circuit total is too high	The circuit is already included in the whole-home total	Compare the circuit as a component; do not add it again
Natural-month report does not match the bill	Utility billing cycle starts on a different date	Use Billing Reports with the configured billing date
Solar chart is interpreted incorrectly	Import, export or inverter channels were confused	Check the legend, channel role and wiring topology

11. Related Guides

• Analysis method and examples: How to Analyze Home Electricity Consumption and Find Energy Waste
• Billing-period reports: Billing Reports
• Load-specific analysis: Load Analysis
• Other IAMMETER analysis tools: Other Analysis
• Residential monitoring design and validation: Plan and Verify a Home Electricity Monitoring Setup
• Home monitoring solution and meter selection: Home Energy Monitoring Solution

Choose the report based on the comparison you need: hours within a day, selected time windows, different meters, different periods or a natural-month summary.