Energy data collection plan: why is it at the heart of the ISO 50001 approach?

For organisations looking to implement a certified energy management system as part of an environmental strategy, ISO 50001 certification provides an internationally recognised method for sustainably improving energy performance.
In this process, precise knowledge of the energy consumption of the sites concerned is essential to analyse energy performance, identify priority actions and feed the PDCA continuous improvement cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act.
Clause 6.6 of the standard formalises this requirement through the energy data collection plan, which organises the information needed to steer and continuously improve energy performance.
The testimonials of Sercel, Crédit Agricole Assurances and DHL Express illustrate concretely how this requirement plays out on the ground.

 

Contents:

• From the PDCA cycle to the energy review: understanding before acting
• Data collection plan and metering plan: two complementary levels
• Smart Impulse: simplifying the metering plan
• Three case studies: from metering to action
• A metering plan that supports continuous improvement

 

From the PDCA cycle to the energy review: understanding before acting

ISO 50001 is built around the PDCA continuous improvement cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act. In the Plan phase, one of the first key steps is the energy review, set out in clause 6.3. This is a formal analysis of the organisation’s energy uses and consumption: it helps establish where energy is going, what causes consumption to vary, and identifies significant energy uses, meaning those that account for a substantial share of consumption or offer significant potential for improvement.
Based on this analysis, the organisation defines its energy performance indicators and its energy baseline, which will allow it to track progress over time. Data is therefore present at every stage: establishing the starting position, identifying priorities, interpreting variations in consumption, and measuring the effects of actions taken.

The question of metering therefore arises very early on: a bill or a main meter shows how much a site consumes, but not necessarily what is consuming it. This is a particularly significant challenge for electricity, which covers a multitude of uses: lighting, ventilation, air conditioning, IT equipment, chillers, machinery, and more. It is therefore often the most complex form of energy to break down, even though the standard requires significant energy uses to be identified and their consumption tracked. Without visibility by use, it becomes difficult to determine what is genuinely significant, build meaningful indicators, or target actions where they will have the greatest impact.

 

Data collection plan and metering plan: two complementary levels

Clause 6.6 of ISO 50001 requires organisations to “define and implement an energy data collection plan”. This plan organises the information a business needs to manage its performance: consumption, influencing factors (weather, occupancy, schedules, production levels or process parameters), data sources, collection frequency, reliability level and record-keeping arrangements.
The metering plan is the technical component of this: it defines how consumption will actually be measured. ISO 50001 does not mandate any particular technology or architecture. It does, however, set requirements around outcomes: having the data needed for management purposes, defining collection frequency, and ensuring that measuring equipment produces “accurate and repeatable” data.

In practice, each measurement point must therefore meet a concrete need: tracking a use, building an indicator, or informing a decision. And the plan cannot be static. Clause 6.6 requires it to be reviewed at defined intervals and updated as needs change. New equipment, changes to the building or production process, a new significant energy use: metering must be able to evolve alongside the energy management system.
This evolution can become complex with traditional electrical sub-metering. According to the AFNOR study “Energy management practices of organisations committed to ISO 50001” (2024), implementing a suitable metering plan is often hindered by technical constraints linked to existing buildings and the diversity of existing installations, which complicate the integration of traditional measurement systems, as well as by high upfront costs, particularly when a large number of meters need to be installed or the infrastructure needs to be adapted.
Without a suitable metering plan, the energy review loses reliability and precision. The AFNOR study notes that “the energy review does not provide a comprehensive view of energy use across sites, nor does it clearly justify the choice of significant energy uses”.

 

Smart Impulse: simplifying the metering plan

This is precisely the challenge that Smart Impulse’s non-intrusive measurement solution addresses. The Smart X is a smart meter installed on the building’s main electrical incomer or on the areas to be monitored, with no power cuts or major works required. Using the measured signal, artificial intelligence algorithms identify electrical signatures and report consumption by use.

This approach significantly reduces the amount of instrumentation required: the number of meters needed is around ten times lower than with a traditional sub-metering solution. This makes initial deployment easier, but also makes it easier to evolve the plan over time: a new use or a need for greater granularity can be added progressively, without significant instrumentation costs at each step.
This simplification does not come at the expense of metrology. Smart Impulse relies on class 0.5 active energy measurement in line with IEC 61557-12, with supervised data and an average data rate of 99.9%. Consumption data can then be used within the Smart Impulse platform or integrated via API into a broader multi-energy reporting system.

 

Three case studies: from metering to action

 

 

At Crédit Agricole Assurances, improving the metering plan was one of the first steps in gaining a better understanding of its buildings and prioritising actions.

“Energy data collection is the starting point: without it, you can’t move forward with ISO 50001, and you risk making the wrong choices.” Hugues Burger, Environmental and Energy Performance Project Manager, Crédit Agricole Assurances
Smart Impulse metering helped deepen the energy review, identify priority uses, and then implement targeted actions: optimising controls, scheduling, adapting to weather conditions and adjusting temperatures. Crédit Agricole Assurances achieved energy savings of over 7.5% in the first year alone, without major investment.

“We could have installed a whole set of sub-meters, but the cost would have been astronomical. This solution is therefore also very attractive from a financial point of view.” Hugues Burger.
AFNOR auditors also noted the relevance of the metering plans and an energy review that had become more detailed thanks to Smart Impulse metering.

 

 

 

In industry, Sercel, an equipment manufacturer within the Viridien group, started from a different position: its workshops historically had very little metering by use, even though it needed to identify significant uses and relate their consumption to production schedules, temperatures or process parameters. Asked what the essential step was in meeting the standard’s requirements:

“Without hesitation: the metering plan. Thoroughly mapping the site and its equipment, prioritising significant uses, and putting the right metering in place. That’s the foundation for robust indicators and effective actions.” Céline Turmo Roca, CSR & HSE Director, Sercel

In Nantes, monitoring by use made it possible to detect circulation pumps running in summer while the heating was switched off, saving 46 MWh, or €8,280. On compressed air, correcting a programming issue that was switching the compressor back on overnight and at weekends is delivering annual savings of around €8,000.

Read the interview: ISO 50001 energy management: how Sercel is structuring its energy performance using usage-level data

 

 

Finally, DHL Express illustrates the challenge of scaling up. Across an ISO 50001 scope of 55 sites, the priority was to centralise, standardise and improve the reliability of data from multiple sources. Smart Impulse provides electricity data by use, integrated via API into the Citron platform alongside other energy data.

In Toulouse, in a newly built facility, this level of insight revealed excess consumption linked to lighting and heating settings; after corrective action, DHL recorded close to €35,000 in savings over six months.

“A new building isn’t automatically optimised. You have to learn to understand it, manage it and use it properly. With fine-grained data, by hour, by minute and by use, we can identify lasting actions for the day, the night, evenings and weekends.” Lise Chevalier, DHL Express

 

 

 

A metering plan that supports continuous improvement

These three case studies illustrate how ISO 50001 works in practice: the energy review identifies the issues and significant uses; the data collection plan organises the information required; metering produces the measurements; actions turn that knowledge into savings; and the data then allows those results to be tracked over time.
For electricity, where the sheer variety of uses makes this analysis particularly complex, Smart Impulse simplifies this chain by combining non-intrusive measurement, artificial intelligence and metrology. With fewer measurement points required, and metering that can evolve alongside changing uses and priorities, businesses gain usage-level data capable of supporting their energy management system from one energy review to the next.

 

 

To go further:

ISO 50 001 certification: What the new EU Energy Directive changes

Dassault Systèmes & Smart Impulse: From Energy Optimisation to ISO 50 001

Electric Submetering Electrical vs. Non-Intrusive Measurement: Which System to Choose?

 

This article was produced with the partial assistance of AI for research and writing support, then reviewed, refined and verified by our editorial team.