In order to register readings you have to add (or Enable) Meters in the Moderan system.
This is done in 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).
Set a Name* for the meter
Meter name can be an actual meter number or a description of the meter (e.g. to indicate that a meter measures Cold Water, the meter name could start with CW followed by its location).
If you need to show readings on invoices, remember that the meter name is also visible on the tenant cost invoice.
We generally do not recommend using the tenant's name in the meter name, because tenants change. If you really want to add it, put it in the Description field.
Specify the Cost type
Select the cost or sub-cost type 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 Building settings > Enabling cost types for period:
Transmission factor
If readings need to be multiplied by a certain number — because the meter does not read by 1 digit or needs to be converted from MWh to kWh — you should add the Transmission factor:
Select the Meter Type
Meter type affects how the usage of the meter will be split between tenants.
In Moderan there are 5 types of Meters:
Individual meter – this type is typically used to assign the meter directly to 1 tenant. If you also add the Space and switch on Automatic meter linking, Moderan links this meter to the tenant occupying that Space.
Main meter – counts the incoming quantity of the cost, for example, how much electricity you bought from the electricity provider. If there are multiple Main meters in the Property, you should add all of them. If you have only one, you don't need to add it separately.
Shared meters – their usage is distributed between multiple tenants. A Space set should be created and selected for each Shared meter. There are two types:
Shared common meter – its usage is distributed to multiple tenants as a General cost, split by m² proportion in the selected Space set. Select a Space set or All in the Space column. Usage and amount will be included in the General cost on the Costs invoice.
Shared individual meter – meter usage is distributed as a direct cost between multiple tenants, split by m² proportion in the selected Space set. Select a Space set or All in the Spaces column. Usage and cost will be included as Individual cost on the cost invoice.
Special case: If you want to split one meter's usage between multiple tenants by percentage instead of m² proportion, do the following:
– Select Individual meter and do not add a Space. – Manually link the meter in Contract terms > Individual Cost setup to all tenant contracts that should receive a share of this meter's usage. – In the Readings, add a Coefficient for each tenant contract line for this meter. Coefficients must be formatted as a share of 1 — for example, if a tenant should get 32.75% of this meter's usage, write 0.3275:
Circulation meter – usually used for meters that measure the difference between what came in and what came out (e.g. Warm water usage). The meter with the bigger usage is added as the tenant meter and the meter with the smaller usage is added as a Child meter with the type Circulation meter.
Standalone Circulation meters are sometimes used for control purposes (the usage of these meters does not go into calculations).
Out of use meters – if you have meters that are no longer in use but may be brought back in the future, you can change the meter type to Out of use. These meters appear greyed out on the Readings page and will not be included in cost calculations.
Add a Space
It is highly recommended to specify the Space (for Individual meters) or Space set (for Shared meters).
The Spaces column has a drop-down menu with all Spaces available in the Property-Building set when the meter type is Individual:
If the Meter type is Shared individual or Shared common, you can select a Space set (created beforehand in Enabling space set) or the option All:
By selecting the correct Spaces for each Individual meter, Moderan enables Automatic meter linking to Rental Contracts through Spaces:
Add a Description
You can add any additional information in the Description (more details about what this meter is measuring or used for). Information added in this field is not visible on tenants' invoices.
You can also see and edit the Description in the Readings view while entering readings. This allows you to add additional notes or reminders for yourself or colleagues for monthly processes.
Add Meters in a Sequence / Child meters
Sometimes meters have a hierarchy, meaning one or more meters are set up as sub-meters. Use this option when one meter's usage should be subtracted from the Parent meter's usage. You can create as many sequences as necessary.
There are two ways to do this in Moderan:
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.
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. The meter name will be present in each Tenant's/Rental Contract's 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. an antenna on the roof or ATM machines), it is possible to link the Meter to the Rental Contract manually (Contract terms > Individual Costs setup > Manual meter linking).
Larger properties often contain a significant number of meters. To help you maintain clarity and easily locate specific meters, Moderan offers these tools:
Sort by Column
arrange the table alphabetically (or in reverse alphabetical order) by any column (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 hidden columns back to the view.