For international asset managers, Germany represents a unique challenge. While the market is lucrative, the metering infrastructure is still often “old school”. With a smart meter coverage hovering around just 3%, getting reliable utility consumption data is difficult.
In recent years, iqbi supported a major German investment manager company in digitalizing 60 residential assets across five German cities.
Here is how fragmented data was converted into automated, real-time data collection across the Client’s portfolio.
The Challenge:
The Client approached iqbi with the need to integrate reliable electricity consumption data into its central sustainability platform, Deepki, a complete SaaS platform that helps asset owners and investors manage risk, enhance financial performance, and meet rising expectations from regulators and stakeholders with data-driven insights. However, the buildings were not equipped with smart meters, making building-level hardware installation necessary to enable data collection. After careful consideration, iqbi identified the installation of CT clamps (current transformers) as the most efficient solution.
With certified installers operating on-site in coordination with iqbi’s German team, the primary challenge in this process was not technical but bureaucratic. In Germany, installing CT clamps requires approval from Grid Operators (Netzbetreiber). With approximately 900 operators across the country, navigating and securing these permits represents a significant operational challenge in terms of time and coordination.
The Solution: Hardware + Permission Management
To bypass the infrastructure gap, we provided a full-service solution:
- Smart Hardware: certified installers in coordination with iqbi’s German team installed CT clamps (current transformers) to measure the total electricity consumed by the tenant and landlord. This allowed us to capture whole-building consumption without needing intrusive access to individual tenant apartments.
- Bureaucracy as a Service: Our local German-speaking team managed the entire application process. We coordinated with the different grid operators across 5 cities to secure installation permits.
- Integration: The CT clamp hardware now sends reliable real-time data directly to our API, which feeds seamlessly into Deepki’s platform.
The Results
Despite regulatory complexity and legacy infrastructure, the project delivered tangible results in both data availability and operational scalability.
While successfully connecting 60 assets, iqbi also began systematically collecting grid operator permits across German cities to enable faster deployment in future projects. Additionally, the Client has access to automated, real-time building and portfolio-level data, enabling more reliable and transparent sustainability reporting. This project proved that even in a market with strict regulations and older infrastructure, digitization is possible if you know how to navigate the permission landscape.
Do you currently have a need for more reliable consumption data or for improving how you connect and use your data?
Contact our team today to digitalize your asset.