1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to metering or reporting of energy consumption, and, more particularly, to enabling temporary associations of parent energy consumption meters and submeters.
2. Related Art
In a number of circumstances, it is useful for an energy purchaser to use a fixed arrangement of submeters to measure selected portions of the purchaser's overall energy consumption. (Meters for measuring energy consumption are well known. See, for example, http://www.net-metering.com/power_meters.html, http://www.watthourmeters.com, and, in particular, http://www.watthourmeters.com/modern/centron.html.) Measuring electrical use in apartment complexes is one such submetering application that is common. It is economical to use fixed electrical submeters in this situation because each apartment's consumption is large and the arrangement of submeters remains fixed for a long time. Submetering is generally not economical in situations where the total amount of energy consumption is small, the portion of overall energy consumption that is of interest is small or the submetering would be temporary. For example, although patrons commonly plug notebook computers and the like into electrical outlets in public places like libraries, book stores, coffee shops, hotel lobbies and airports, these outlets are typically not submetered because they supply only a little energy and also because patrons use them for only a short while.
A new situation is developing in which energy consumption is moderate, widespread and highly temporary. That is, the number of hybrid automobiles is increasing dramatically. These automobiles may need to be electrically recharged in public places, such as at parking garages or street side parking spaces. While this could be facilitated by installing electrical outlets having coin-operated timers, this tends to be inconvenient for the user. Thus, a need exists for improvements in energy consumption submetering.