Beyond Monitoring: How to Automate Tenant Utility Billing with Niagara

For Building Management System (BMS) engineers and solution designers, the Niagara Framework is the powerhouse behind modern building automation. We expertly use it to monitor energy consumption, control HVAC, and optimize performance. But what happens when you need to monetize that data by billing tenants for their actual usage?

The process is often a manual nightmare: exporting CSV files, wrestling with spreadsheet formulas, designing invoices, and chasing payments. It’s time-consuming, prone to errors, and doesn't scale.

Thankfully, Tridium offers a powerful native solution often overlooked: the Niagara Tenant Billing Module. This add-on transforms your JACE from a passive monitoring tool into an active billing engine.

What is the Niagara Tenant Billing Module?

In essence, it’s an automated invoicing system built right into your Niagara station. It allows you to:

• Configure Owners & Tenants: Define who is billing and who is being billed, complete with contact details.

• Assign Meters & Rates: Link specific meters (electric, water, gas) to tenants, applying custom multipliers, utility rates, and tax rules.

• Automate Invoice Generation: Schedule bills monthly, quarterly, or on any custom cycle.

• Generate Professional Invoices: Create branded PDF invoices with your company or client’s logo.

• Maintain Audit Trails: Keep a secure history of all invoices within the station for record-keeping.

Key Prerequisites and Common "Gotchas"

Before you begin, a successful implementation hinges on a few critical technical prerequisites:

1. History Collection is Mandatory: The module does not collect data itself. It queries the history data of your meters. Every meter you wish to bill from must be configured to log its data to a history extension. No history, no bill.

2. Find the Hidden Templates: The module requires invoice templates (.px files). They aren't in the pallette by default. You must navigate to them inside the module's JAR file (/modules/NiagaraTenantBilling-*/rt/resources/) and copy them to your station's file system. This is the most common hurdle.

3. Email Service Setup: For full automation, you’ll need to configure Niagara’s email service. Without it, you’re limited to generating PDFs for manual distribution.

A High-Level Overview of the Setup Process

1. Install & Place the Module: Add the Niagara Tenant Billing license and drop the component into your station. Best practice is to place it under the "Services" section.

2. Import Invoice Templates: Copy the template files from the module's JAR (as mentioned above) to a folder in your station (e.g., /files/TenantBilling/). These are your starting points for customisation.

3. Configure Owners: This represents the entity issuing the invoice (e.g., "ABC Property Management").

4. Configure Tenants & Contracts: Add your tenants and define their contract—what utility they're being billed for, the currency, tax rate, and most importantly, which invoice template to use.

5. Set Up Utilities & Meters: This is where you link the physical meter’s history ID to a billing rate. Proceed with caution here: setting a rate to 1.0 and billing in pounds or dollars will create a massive bill if your meter reads in kWh! Ensure your multipliers and rates are correct.

6. Link It All Together: Assign the meters to the tenant's contract. This connects the tenant to the meter that measures their consumption.

7. Generate & Automate: You can generate a one-time invoice for a specific period or set up an Auto-Billing Profile to handle everything automatically on a schedule.

Is Automated Tenant Billing Right For Your Project?

The Niagara Tenant Billing module is incredibly powerful for:

• Individual billing in flats

• Commercial office buildings with multiple tenants

• Shopping malls with retail units

• Industrial units with sub-metered spaces

• University campuses billing different departments

However, every building and requirement is unique. The complexity often lies not in the module itself, but in the initial architecture—ensuring meter data is structured correctly, rates are applied accurately, and templates meet your client's branding needs.

Need Help Designing Your BMS Solution?

Designing a bulletproof, automated billing system requires a deep understanding of both Niagara and the nuances of utility billing.

At Innon, our technical consultants help you pick the right products for your solution. 

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Technical Consultation with Our Experts