How to Access and Use the Energy Management Dashboard

Enabling Energy Management (Early Access Program) 

Enabling Energy Management grants your organization access to the Energy Management dashboard and its early access capabilities. 

1. Log in to your Meraki dashboard using your Meraki account credentials. 

2. Navigate to Organization > Early Access.

3. Browse the list of available early access features. 

4. Scroll down to find Sustainability Early Access. 

6. Toggle the opt-in setting next to Sustainability Early Access to enable this feature for your entire organization.  

Accessing Energy Management dashboard

1. Navigate to Organization > Energy Management.   

2. Select a network from the Network Picker. Choose a specific network, or select All Networks to view aggregated energy usage, cost, and emissions data across your organization. When you select a single network, the dashboard filters metrics to show data only for that network. 

3. Select a month using the Month Selector, choose a month for which the data must be displayed. By default, the dashboard shows data for the previous month. You can only select data for one month at a time.

4. View the usage data in the widgets. The dashboard includes three main widgets:  

• Summary: Provides an overview of energy consumption, cost, and carbon emissions for the selected network or networks. If you select All Networks, the summary displays aggregated data for all networks in your organization. The arrow in the summary indicates a change in metrics compared to the previous period.

  • A red arrow pointing upward indicates an increase in cost, energy use, or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

  • A green arrow pointing downward indicates a decrease, suggesting improved efficiency or a reduced environmental impact.

     These visual indicators help users assess trends and take corrective actions to optimize energy use, reduce costs, or minimize environmental impact.

• Energy Consumption, cost, and emissions: Displays top energy usage trends with options to view trends. 

  You can view trends by:

  • Device categories
  • Networks
  • Devices
  • Sensors
  • Access points
  • Cameras
  • Switches
  • WAN appliances
  • Cellular gateways

Depending on your selection in the Top energy usage dropdown, you can view metrics for the top five items (for example, the top five networks or switches). Select "View All" to access a paginated list of all available items in the chosen category.

The image below shows a paginated list of items. The paginated page includes a search bar that lets you quickly filter and find specific devices, networks, or other items.

• Total energy usage and cost trends: The Total Energy Usage & Cost Trends section provides an overview of your organization's energy consumption and related expenses for the month you select using the Month selector. This section displays energy usage in kWh, letting you monitor and compare energy consumption across selected networks or devices. The Cost tab displays the corresponding energy expenses, helping you analyze spending patterns and identify opportunities for cost optimization.

• Total emissions trends: The Total Emissions Trends section displays the trend of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over time, measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide (kg CO₂). This metric reflects the total CO2e emissions generated by energy consumption for your selected network or networks. Tracking GHG emissions helps you monitor environmental impact and supports sustainability initiatives by showing how energy usage contributes to your overall carbon footprint.

Actual data

Actual sensor-based power reporting is available only on device models and manufacturing batches that include power monitoring components. These sensors provide accurate representation of device power consumption.

In certain situations, even devices designed with power sensors may not report actual values. When this occurs, the system may fall back to estimated values.

Estimated values

The dashboard uses estimated power values when actual sensor data is unavailable or unsupported. Estimation methods let the dashboard present power consumption information, helping maintain visibility into device power usage across the network. The dashboard calculates power estimations using one of the following methods:

• System Energy Estimation: For devices powered using Power over Ethernet (PoE), the dashboard estimates system power based on the PoE output power reported by the upstream device. If upstream PoE data is unavailable, the dashboard uses a static, model-specific value. This value is determined based on the typical operating characteristics of each device model.

• PoE Out Energy Estimation (Switches Only): For supported switch models, the dashboard estimates total PoE output power using the PoE output data that the switch reports.

Power reporting by device types

Devices listed in the table provide actual sensor data. For devices not listed, or those without available sensor data, the dashboard provides estimated values.