Metered Rack PDU
Metered rack PDUs with billing-grade +/-1% accuracy let colocation operators allocate real power spend per tenant.
Metering Classes and Accuracy
Rack PDU metering falls into three practical classes: basic strip, meter-at-inlet, and per-outlet metering. A billing-grade PDU measures current at every outlet and reports true RMS power with +/-1% accuracy, which is sufficient to allocate energy cost per tenant rather than estimate by nameplate.
Most metered PDUs from Shenzhen production lines use IEC C13 outlets rated at 10 A and C19 outlets at 16 A, with C21 for hot-condition circuits. When procurement specifies +/-1% accuracy on the datasheet, the PDU uses dedicated current transformers and calibration data, not simple shunt estimates.
Metered PDU Specification Reference
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Metering accuracy | +/-1%, true RMS at outlet and phase level |
| Form factor | 0U vertical or 1U horizontal |
| Input voltage | 208 V or 400 V three-phase, 50/60 Hz |
| Outlet types | IEC C13 (10 A), C19 (16 A), C21 (16 A hot condition) |
| Rated load | 11-22 kW depending on inlet and outlet mix |
| Monitoring | Voltage, current, power, power factor, energy per outlet |
| Communications | Modbus TCP, SNMP, billing data export |
| Certifications | UL 62368-1 |
| MOQ | 10-100 pcs |
| Lead time | 15-30 days from Shenzhen |
Metered vs Switched vs Basic Rack PDU
| Feature | Basic | Metered | Switched |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlet-level current data | No | Yes, +/-1% per outlet | Yes, +/-1% per outlet |
| Remote outlet switching | No | No | Yes |
| Billing-grade accuracy | No | Yes | Yes |
| Typical load range | Up to 22 kW | 11-22 kW | 11-22 kW |
| Cost per outlet | Lowest | Moderate | Highest |
| Best fit | Fixed infrastructure | Colocation tenant billing | Remote reboot and capacity management |
Colocation Billing with 120 kW AI Cabinets
When AI racks cross 120 kW per cabinet, liquid cooling becomes mandatory and power density starts to resemble a small substation. For colocation operators, that concentration makes tenant-level billing accuracy a revenue issue rather than an instrumentation detail. A +/-1% metered PDU at each rack provides the audit trail needed to reconcile utility bills, cooling load, and tenant invoices.
At these densities, estimating consumption from server nameplates fails because GPU utilization varies minute to minute. Billing-grade PDU data lets you charge actual measured energy per tenant, set power caps, and identify under-utilized capacity. The same metering stream feeds the DCIM system for capacity planning and PUE calculations.
Get Metered PDU Pricing
Send your rack load profile and we will quote UL 62368-1 metered PDUs with +/-1% accuracy within 48 hours.
Input vs outlet metering
Input metering tells you the rack total; outlet metering tells you which tenant, which server, which circuit. For colocation billing you need both: input accuracy for utility reconciliation, outlet accuracy for the customer invoice. The two numbers should agree within 1 percent — a larger gap usually means a calibration or wiring issue, not a PDU fault.
