Part L2 Explained

Metering energy use in new non-dwelling buildings.

Guidance on metering energy use in new non-domestic buildings is provided in the Approved Documents L2A (Building Regulations) and the GIL (General Information Leaflet) 65.

These are intended to provide guidance for some of the more common building situations. However, there may well be alternative ways of achieving compliance with the requirements. Thus there is no obligation to adopt any particular solution contained in an Approved Document if you prefer to meet the relevant requirement in some other way.

The Building Regulations are non-prescriptive thus the approved documents are published to give methods of compliance.

Approved Document L2A

The document asks if a metering strategy has been prepared to ensure sufficient meters and sub-meters are installed.

Why install energy meters?
Section 3.3 states that ‘to enable owners or occupiers to measure their actual energy consumption, the building engineering services should be provided with sufficient energy meters and sub-meters.’ Section 3.5 states ‘Reasonable provision of meters would be to install incoming meters in every building greater than 500m2 floor area’.

GIL 65 Sub-metering new build non-dwelling buildings.

This guide helps building designers meet Part L of the Building Regulations and details the different ways to meet Part L2A.

Sub-metering power and lighting separately can allow the operator to:

• Compare actual consumption with targets
• Spot unusual periodic usage and apply changes
• Keep annual records of seasonal consumption changes

In conclusion, there are many ways to provide energy sub-metering within non-dwelling buildings. The dual metered power and lighting board is one of the many solutions available from Hager.