Using the Consumption Coverage tool

This article explains how to use the Consumption Coverage tool to monitor meter data quality month by month, understand exactly what the coverage percentages mean and how they are calculated, and take action to close gaps before reporting deadlines.

The Consumption Coverage tool gives you a portfolio-wide heatmap of data completeness. Each row represents an asset, each column represents a month in the selected calendar year, and the percentage in each cell shows how complete that asset's meter data is for that month.

Where to find it: Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Consumption Coverage

Applies to: Energy, water, and waste — switch between them using the tabs at the top of the table

The Consumption Coverage tool applies the Scaler data coverage methodology to each calendar month individually. This means coverage is calculated at the meter level and weighted by covered area — meters are not treated as equal shares of an asset.

Understanding this is important: the percentage shown in each cell is not simply "how many meters have data this month." It reflects how much of the asset's floor area is represented by meters that have data, and how complete that data is.

Monthly time coverage

Time coverage for each meter is calculated per calendar month. If a meter has consumption data for 15 out of 30 days in a given month, its time coverage for that month is 50%.

When a consumption record spans multiple months — for example, a utility bill covering January 15 to February 15 — Scaler uses temporal alignment to apportion it across months proportionally by number of days. This is a straightforward day-weighted split; no seasonal or weather-based adjustments are applied.

Area weighting

Each meter's monthly time coverage is weighted by its share of the total covered area across all active meters for the asset. This means a meter covering 800 m² has four times the influence on coverage as a meter covering 200 m².

If the total covered area of all active meters is less than the asset's total floor area for a given Area type, Scaler applies an area corrective factor. This reduces coverage to reflect the portion of the asset that has no meter coverage at all — not just the portion with missing data.

Key principle: Coverage reflects both how complete the meter data is and how much of the asset each meter represents. A missing month on a large meter affects coverage far more than a missing month on a small meter. Similarly, an asset where meters only cover half the floor area will never exceed 50% coverage, even if all those meters have complete data.

→ For the full methodology, including corrective factor calculations and worked examples, see: Scaler data coverage methodology.

Coverage quality ratings

Scaler color-codes each cell based on the coverage percentage:

To understand why an asset has a particular coverage percentage for a given month:

Use this view to determine whether a low coverage figure is caused by a few meters with missing data, one large meter with no data, or meters that don't collectively cover the full floor area.

Once you've identified which meter is causing a gap, open the meter to add consumption:

Use filters to focus on a subset of your portfolio relevant to your reporting needs.

Available filters

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Warning If you want a full portfolio export, remove all active filters before downloading.

Low coverage comes down to one of two root causes: missing consumption data on existing meters, or meters that don't collectively cover the full asset floor area.

Note: Inactive meters (those with no active period in the reporting year) and meters excluded from calculations do not contribute to coverage — so they will not cause a coverage gap. If you've excluded physical meters specifically to avoid double counting with a calculated meter, this is correct behavior and will not affect coverage negatively.

Step 1: Identify which meters are causing the gap

Scroll through the coverage table to find the months with low percentages for a given asset. Then click the + icon next to the asset row to see meter-level detail. Review the Scaler time coverage column for each meter — this shows directly whether a meter has missing consumption data for that month.

Step 2: Check whether data is missing or meters are missing

Navigate to Data Collection Portal → [Asset] → Meters & Consumption. Expand each Area type section to see the floor area panel, which shows total covered area compared to total floor area. If covered area is less than total floor area, you need additional meters to cover the remaining area. If covered area matches total floor area but coverage is still low, the issue is missing consumption data on existing meters.

Step 3: Fill missing consumption data

Once you've identified which meter is causing a gap, open the meter to add consumption. Click the pencil icon next to the relevant meter, go to the Meter consumption tab, click Add consumption, and fill in the missing days.

Step 4: Add meters for uncovered floor area

If part of the asset has no meter coverage, create additional meters with the appropriate Area type and Covered area values. Even if no consumption data is available for those meters yet, their presence allows Scaler to accurately track the gap.

Tip Focus first on meters with the largest Covered area values — these have the greatest impact on overall coverage.