Take control of your energy, gas and water bills.
With BenchMarker Cloud, you’ll see exactly how much power, water and gas you’re using, hour by hour. Automatically avoid peak demand charges and excess water or gas bill surprises, and cut costs across your sites.
The Challenge:
Utility bills keep climbing, and it can be hard to know what’s driving costs until it’s too late.
Without live, hour-by-hour analysis, problems can easily escape your attention: water leaks, gas being wasted, machinery running that doesn’t need to be.
You want to run equipment and machinery in a way that reduces energy use and operates under peak demand limits, yet still have reliability, comfort, and proof of cost control.
The Solution:
BenchMarker Cloud puts live data at your fingertips using simple-to-install devices on flow meters, gas bottles and power circuits.
By tracking usage in real time, spotting unusual spikes, and sending instant alerts, you can make smart decisions or automate actions, and reduce waste before it hurts your bottom line.
BenchMarker Cloud provides significant energy savings, instant knowledge of issues and enables planned preventative maintenance.
Retrofits Easily
BenchMarker Cloud works without local networks, doesn’t need wiring to the measurement point, integrates with most existing water and gas flow meters and switchboards, and installs fast.
Predictive Analytics
The system spots anomalies early, allowing you to act before breakdowns or excess costs arise, and schedule maintenance based on real need, not guesswork.
Secure & Scalable
From one site to a nationwide portfolio, BenchMarker Cloud scales with your business. Data is stored securely, with full reporting and audit logs and rosters for alerts.
Gas Usage Tracking
-
Whether bottled gas or reticulated gas, you can now easily keep track of usage and be alerted to unusual usage.
Where gas is metered, the addition of the ‘MeterReader’ product puts your readings and daily usage online, with alerts and notifications.
For bottled gas, the GasOwl product lets you know when to reorder so you never run out.
Water Usage Tracking
-
Know there’s a problem before you lose valuable water to leaks.
Add the MeterReader to flow meters, anywhere on the site, on any number of sites, and see them all on the one dashboard. Set up alerts to the right managers.
Permanent audit trail of usage and downloads for billing information.
Power Usage Tracking
-
Detect leakage currents and identify power savings areas. Detect line company supply faults and reduce effects on equipment.
Automatically turn off air conditioners on checkout and restrict operating range.
Avoid peak demand charges by automatically backing off air conditioners based on occupancy.
How it works
Trusted by Sanitarium for Water Usage Minimisation
Sanitarium are enjoying ongoing water savings in multiple ways after installing BenchMarker Cloud:
The MeterReader was attached in moments to a flow meter on one of the processing lines to fine-tune water usage. They shaved over NZD$100,000 off their annual water bill immediately by tuning unnecessarily high flows back to the minimum required.
Accidental water flows were caught early, where staff had turned on lines and forgotten about them. The MeterReader alerted key staff, saving hundreds of dollars a day. These events could easily have gone unnoticed for long periods of time.
Base usage that was previously thought to be normal, was identified and eliminated, saving many thousands of litres per day.
The Engineer supplied the following screenshot from his BenchMarker Cloud dashboard, which shows both an unusual spike that was notified automatically and subsequently found and turned off, and the reduction of continuous base usage on a single water line.
Quick to set up. Simple to run.
BenchMarker Cloud devices fit easily into your existing set-up. No local Wi-Fi needed, and installation is straightforward. Once connected, you get instant visibility and proactive alerts — without the overhead of a traditional Building Management System.
Let us show you how!
MeterReader - for water or metered gas usage monitoring and alerts
FAQs
-
Most clients notice savings within the first billing cycle once waste and peak charges are identified.
-
Yes, the dashboard shows each site individually and gives you a portfolio view of all your BenchMarker Cloud monitored points. You can even place assets with monitors on your own floor plan.
GasOwl, for bottled gas, has its own app where you can ‘see’ the level of gas. -
No — BenchMarker is cloud-based and works independently of traditional BMS systems.
It can support an existing BMS if there are new measurement points to add, where it’s too expensive or difficult to run the wiring.
-
Water flow meters with pulse or digital output are compatible with BenchMarker. If there is no pulse output, you may need to replace with a flow meter that does have pulse output. We can advise - just let us know what model of flow meter you currently have.
Or if there is no flow meter in place we can recommend and supply something suitable to your application. -
Landis & Gyr is a commonly used meter which is compatible. Usually a Reed Switch needs to be added, which picks up when the meter dial clicks over the next number.
Any gas meter that has the ability to add a Reed Switch will be compatible. Ask us - we can help let you know what is needed. -
NZ-designed and manufactured and supported.
BenchMarker Cloud: for one view across all buildings…
Water usage
•
Fridge/Freezer/Chiller monitoring
•
Power usage/load-shedding
•
Auto-door performance
•
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Monitoring & Control
•
Room Occupancy/Air Quality
•
Bottled gas monitoring
•
Metered gas monitoring
•
Cool storage gases (CO2 and Ethylene)
Water usage • Fridge/Freezer/Chiller monitoring • Power usage/load-shedding • Auto-door performance • Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Monitoring & Control • Room Occupancy/Air Quality • Bottled gas monitoring • Metered gas monitoring • Cool storage gases (CO2 and Ethylene)
Reduce Utilities Costs and Simplify Reporting
Use BenchMarker Cloud to:
detect inefficient operation
provide billing information
avoid gas and water leaks
reduce effort of audits
cut power costs through automatic load-shedding
avoid bottled gas runout and sending gas back in bottles
Ideal for: hotel groups, factories, food processors, farms, commercial properties with tenants
-
MeterReader for Metered Water or Gas
Simple and quick retrofit to existing pulse-capable flow meters (with a Reed Switch - we can supply, please enquire)
No wiring, no Ethernet ports needed, No Wi-Fi or cellular needed
Data flows directly to the cloud via local or Wide Area gateway
User permissions defined by Admin: View, Edit, Admin
User configurable settings, alerts and notifications
Rosters for users with notification settings
Alarm history
All meters from all buildings in one online view
Geospatial view of assets with floor plans
Automated audit reporting
Permanent records, date-time stamped, downloadable CSV files
Change logs
Calibration tools online for initial flowmeter reading entry
Internal device temperature and humidity information
Global grade engineering - the devices work for decades without maintenance
Other edge devices appear in the same dashboard (e.g. for space monitoring (air quality), refrigeration information, auto-doors), heat pumps and air conditioners, air curtains.
For PowerReader information please enquire.
-
Name: MeterReader
Ordering code: VLL001
Pulse frequency: Max 10Hz
Wireless range: approx 2km - 15km depending on terrain
Antenna: enclosed, internal LPWAN/CAT-M1
LED: Red/Green LED visible to indicate installed and connection status
Weight: 230g
Installation: self-install. Pickup cable inserts through gland, into push-fit terminations.
Monitoring rate: 5 sec default, configurable (2sec to 5 min)
Reporting rate: default 120min, configurable
Operating environment: -10C to 50C, 5-95% RH (non-condensing)
Battery: Primary lithium-thionyl chloride battery, 3.6V, 7.5Ah. Expected lifetime up to 10 years. Factory replaceable. Battery capacity and lifetime is reduced when operating at negative temperatures.
Power consumption: Idle: <10uA
Communication: LoRaWAN or CAT-M1
Compliance: LoRaWAN 1.0.2 AS923, AS/NZS4268:2017; IEC61000-6-1:2016, IEC61000-6-3:2006+Amd1:2010; R-NZ.
Security: OWASP 2.0
Product life cycle: Expected minimum operational life 10 years. End of life, return to manufacturing base (Nelson, NZ) for recycling.
Enclosure: Dimensions: 55mm H x 110mm W x 81mm D. Rating: IP65, dust and water resistant.
For PowerReader specifications please enquire.
To see more about bottled gas monitoring see GasOwl
Ready to cut your utility bills?
Discover how BenchMarker Cloud can give you live control and lasting savings.