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NCC J8.3 Facilities for energy monitoring

Wattwatchers Solution for National Construction Code (previously known as Building Code of Australia or BCA for short) J8.3

Point (a) and (b)

(a) A building or sole-occupancy unit with a floor area of more than 500 m2 must have an energy meter configured to record the time-of-use consumption of gas and electricity.

(b) A building with a floor area of more than 2500 m2 must have energy meters configured to enable individual time-of-use energy consumption data recording, in accordance with (c), of the energy consumption of—

(i) air-conditioning plant including, where appropriate, heating plant, cooling plant and air handling fans; and 
(ii) artificial lighting; and
(iii) appliance power; and
(iv) central hot water supply; and
(v) internal transport devices including lifts, escalators and moving walkways where there is more than one serving the building; and
(vi) other ancillary plant.

Answer

Wattwatchers Auditor devices are Class 1 energy monitoring devices that can be installed to monitor the required loads in each switchboard. Wattwatchers devices record and transmit data in 5 minute resolution to provide data for time-of-use electricity consumption monitoring.

Point (c)

(c) Energy meters required by (b) must be interlinked by a communication system that collates the time-of-use energy consumption data to a single interface monitoring system where it can be stored, analysed and reviewed.

Answer

Wattwatchers Auditor devices utilise cellular (4G or 3G) or WiFi communications—depending on the model installed—to send the energy data to the Wattwatchers platform. This data can then be accessed via the Wattwatchers Web Dashboard, API, or 3rd-party platforms for analysis and reporting purposes.