The Energy module turns FreeMaint into a full energy and utility management hub. Track, parametrize and control electricity, water, gas, steam, compressed air, fuel and oil — plus your own on-site generation such as solar. Every reading is automatically priced and converted into a carbon figure, so you can see consumption, cost and emissions side by side.

Where to find it

Open the Energy section in the sidebar (the /energy area of the app). From there you can reach the dashboard, meters, readings, configuration and the control panel.

Power capacity and load shedding

If you run on-site generators, set each generator meter’s rated capacity (kW) and, optionally, a demand cap per zone. The Energy dashboard then shows a live power-margin gauge — available capacity minus current load — company-wide and per zone, so everyone can see how much headroom remains. You can surface the same figures on a shared Wallboard screen, and rank which zones and breakers to shed first in a Load-shedding plan. This plan is decision-support only: FreeMaint shows the numbers and the recommended order, but the actual protective trip stays in your generator paralleling controller.

Permissions

Access is controlled by fine-grained permissions, so you decide exactly who can view, edit and actuate energy data.

• energy:read — view meters, readings and the dashboard
• energy:create — add meters and record readings
• energy:update — edit meters and configuration
• energy:delete — remove meters and configuration
• energy:configure — manage tariffs, emission factors and targets
• energy:control — actuate devices and supply (sensitive; admin-only by default)

Three pillars

The module is built around three complementary capabilities. You can adopt them progressively — start by monitoring, then refine your configuration, and finally enable control when you are ready.

• Monitor: create meters, record readings, and watch a live dashboard with cost and carbon per utility and per zone.
• Configure: define zones, tariffs, emission factors and targets so every reading is priced and benchmarked correctly.
• Control: actuate connected devices, run lighting schedules, build automation rules and link external connectors.

Availability

Energy monitoring — meters, readings, tariffs, targets, dashboards and connectors — is part of the Business tier. Controlling equipment (devices, schedules, automation rules and remote commands) requires the Enterprise tier. Once enabled, an administrator can grant the relevant permissions to the right people.

Meters are the foundation of the Energy module. Each meter measures one utility at one point of your site, and every reading you record is automatically turned into a cost and a carbon figure.

Creating a meter

When you add a meter, you describe what it measures and where it sits. These choices drive how readings are interpreted and aggregated on the dashboard.

• Utility type: electricity, water, gas, steam, compressed air, fuel or oil.
• Unit: the measurement unit such as kWh or m³.
• Direction: consumption (energy you draw) or generation (energy you produce, e.g. solar).
• Reading type: cumulative (an ever-increasing index) or interval (the amount used in a period).
• Zone or location: assign the meter to a zone so consumption rolls up by area.
• Asset (optional): the machine this meter measures. Its consumption and cost then appear on the asset's Analytics tab. Left empty, a meter fed by a sensor channel follows that channel's asset.

The dashboard

The dashboard aggregates your data so you can spot trends and overspend at a glance.

• Consumption, cost (in your company currency) and carbon (kgCO₂e) per utility.
• The same breakdown per zone, so you can compare areas of the site.
• A monthly trend to see whether usage is rising or falling.
• Target variance, showing actual against the budgets you have set.

Cumulative meter safeguard

For cumulative meters, a new reading should normally be higher than the previous one. If you enter a value that is lower — which usually means a meter reset or rollover — FreeMaint asks you to confirm explicitly before saving, so accidental typos do not corrupt your history.

Recording readings

You can record readings one at a time or in bulk. As soon as a reading is saved, cost and carbon are computed automatically from the active tariff and emission factor, and stored on that reading — no manual calculation needed.

Tariffs, emission factors and targets are the configuration layer that gives meaning to your readings. They decide how much each unit costs, how much carbon it represents, and how your actual usage compares to your goals.

Emission factors

An emission factor expresses how much carbon a unit of a given utility produces, in kgCO₂e per unit. Define one per utility so each reading is converted into a carbon footprint alongside its cost. For electricity, FreeMaint proposes your country's national grid average (source: Ember, CC BY 4.0): one click copies it into an ordinary factor you can still edit.

Targets and budgets

Targets let you set a budget per period and track performance against it. You can scope a target broadly or narrowly to match how you manage the site.

• Choose a period: month, quarter or year.
• Optionally scope the target to a specific zone or meter.
• Set a target for consumption, cost or carbon.
• The dashboard then shows target versus actual so over- or under-performance is obvious.

Tariffs

Define a tariff per utility to price every reading. You can keep it simple or model a real utility contract.

• A flat unit price for the simplest case.
• Time-of-use bands (peak / off-peak) defined by day-of-week and time window, in your company's time zone.
• An optional demand charge, per kW of the month's highest demand.
• An optional standing charge: a fixed amount per meter and per month.

The energy dashboard turns your readings into decisions: what you use each day, when your peak happens, what the month will cost and how much is burnt while the site is closed. The same figures make up the energy report, which you can download or have e-mailed every month.

Estimated bill

For this month or last month, each meter's bill is estimated from your tariffs: energy (priced on every reading), demand charge on the monthly peak, and standing charge. If an input is missing — no tariff, readings not priced, no measured peak — the meter says so instead of showing a figure that is quietly short.

Load curve, peak and baseload

Pick a meter to see the power it draws over 24 hours, 7 or 31 days. The peak is the highest demand reached; the baseload is what never switches off (fridges, servers, standby equipment).

• A load curve needs readings no more than an hour apart: a connected device or regular readings.
• Gaps in the readings are left blank, never joined by a line nobody measured.
• Peaks are shown per meter: two meters rarely peak at the same moment, so they are never added together.

Electricity per day

Each bar is one day of your company calendar. When opening hours are set, the bar is split between opening hours and off-hours; the line shows the cost. Daily figures are computed from your readings within about ten minutes.

Off-hours waste

Set your opening hours in Energy ▸ Configure ▸ Opening hours: a company default, and hours of its own for any site that differs. FreeMaint then measures what is used while the site is closed, the part above the baseload, and projects its cost over a year.

1. Open Energy ▸ Configure ▸ Opening hours.
2. Set the company default (for example Monday to Friday, 08:00–18:00).
3. Add a second range for a different Saturday, or split a night shift into two ranges.
4. Give a site its own hours if they differ. Past figures are recomputed automatically for the last 13 months.

The energy report

On the energy dashboard, Report downloads a PDF for the previous month, the last 30 days, the previous quarter or the last 12 months: consumption, cost and CO₂ by utility, daily electricity, peaks, off-hours waste, estimated bill and the emission factors used. To receive it every month, schedule the « Energy Report » template in Reports ▸ Scheduled Reports.

The Control panel is where the Energy module moves from observing to acting. From here you operate connected devices, automate routine switching, and shed load — always with safety guardrails and a full audit trail.

Actuating devices

The Control panel can operate the connected equipment in a zone.

• Cut or restore electrical supply to a zone.
• Turn relays on or off.
• Set dimmer or HVAC levels.

Audit log

Every command is recorded in an audit log — who issued it, when, the reason given, and the result — giving you a complete and reviewable history of all control actions.

Automation rules

An automation rule triggers an action when a condition is met, such as a consumption threshold or a time of day. Actions that cut supply or shed load always require confirmation, so automation never operates critical equipment silently.

Safety first

Actuating physical supply is a sensitive action, so several safeguards are mandatory and cannot be skipped.

• Cutting or restoring supply requires the energy:control permission.
• A reason for the action is mandatory.
• An explicit confirmation is required before the command runs.
• Restoring supply to a zone with an active Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is blocked until the lockout is cleared.

Lighting schedules

Lighting schedules switch zones or devices on and off automatically on a recurring weekly schedule — for example lights off overnight and on again before the first shift.

Energy connectors are the older way to push readings straight into energy meters. They keep working for existing setups, but for any new meter or sensor use FreeMaint Connect: devices are recognized automatically, their health is monitored, alerts can open work orders, and a channel can still feed an energy meter.

Control over connectors

To send commands back to your equipment, register the connector's command endpoint (an HTTPS URL). FreeMaint then sends signed commands to that endpoint, so the connector can trust and execute them.

Ingesting readings

Point your gateway at FreeMaint to push readings in automatically.

• Have your gateway POST readings to /api/v1/energy/ingest using the API key as a Bearer token.
• Map each physical meter to a FreeMaint meter using its external ID, so every reading lands on the right meter.

Pairing a connector

Pair a connector to generate an API key. The key is shown only once, so copy it immediately and store it securely — you can rotate it later if needed. This key can only send readings: it reaches nothing else, and it keeps working if the person who paired it leaves.

Status and key rotation

Each connector card shows its current connection status. You can rotate the API key at any time — useful if a key may have been exposed or as part of routine security hygiene.