Metered energy and water data for office tenants who must report under BRSR
TL;DR Tenantgauge installs sub-meters in multi-tenant office buildings and sends each tenant a monthly, audit-ready share of electricity, cooling and water use. Listed companies need these numbers for SEBI's BRSR Core. Landlords pay to offer it as a leasing feature, or tenants pay per site.
SEBI's BRSR Core framework, issued in July 2023[1], asks listed companies for total energy use, Scope 2 emissions and water consumption, with assurance. It phases in from the top 150 companies to the top 1,000 by FY 2026-27[2]. Value-chain disclosures cover partners making up 75% of purchases or sales[3].
Offices are where this gets awkward. In a shared building a tenant's own panel may be metered, but central cooling, lifts and common areas usually come bundled into maintenance charges.
Our understanding is that many tenants just estimate that share from floor area. We found no Indian study that measures how common this is though, so treat it as the first thing to confirm.
First, the important bit - Tenantgauge supplies data only. It does not prepare BRSR filings or give assurance. It provides metered inputs that the tenant's reporting team and assurer use.
The kit is a set of sub-meters on each tenant's feeds, on chilled-water lines where cooling is central, and on water inlets, with a gateway in the building. A simple allocation method splits shared loads by measured use and states its assumptions out loud. Each tenant gets a monthly statement and a raw-data export their assurer can trace back to a meter.
The seed pitched AI-driven ESG insights for commercial property. We reframed it. Insight tools are a dime a dozen, but they all depend on data that tenants in shared buildings often don't have, so Tenantgauge supplies the measurement first.
The user is the sustainability or BRSR lead at a listed company with leased offices. There are two possible buyers. Landlords can pay a per-sq-ft fee and offer metered ESG data as a reason to lease, since one property consultancy found 63% of occupiers have ESG goals for their real estate[4]. Or tenants pay per site. Prices are untested, so start with landlords who have several listed tenants.
BRSR Core reaches the top 500 listed companies in FY 2025-26 and the top 1,000 in FY 2026-27[2]. Each step adds companies whose assurers will ask how office energy figures were worked out. Value-chain reporting for the top 250 puts more pressure on landlords as suppliers[2][3].
The narrowest figure you can count is up to 1,000 listed companies under BRSR Core by FY 2026-27[2], many of them leasing space in shared buildings. Nobody publishes what they spend on tenant energy data.
The neighbour is that consultancy's 63% of occupiers with real-estate ESG goals[4]. That shows interest, not spend.
One US firm runs an ESG data platform for property owners, used by more than 1,000 companies[5]. An Indian startup offers sustainability software with a BRSR hub and supplier data exchange[6], but its site shows no building-metering focus. Energy-management firms install meters for landlords.
The gap is a meter-to-filing feed built around what the tenant has to report.
| Difficulty | Moderate (44/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹1.2–2.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 9–12 months |
Meters are standard. The hard part is getting building managers to allow installs on live electrical and chilled-water systems, agreeing an allocation method that both landlord and tenant accept, and making it hold up when an assurer checks it line by line.
Tenantgauge needs no licence to sell data, but the installation and the way outputs are described both need care.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI fill gaps in meter data with estimates that then go into a disclosure. Gaps should be shown as gaps, and the tenant's reporting team decides how to treat them.
Want to work out the AI layer for Tenantgauge? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is best for a founder from building energy management or ESG assurance who can talk to both facility managers and auditors. If you're a pure software team then it isn't for you.
Prove one thing first - that two assurers would treat metered allocation as better evidence than an area-based estimate.
Plan for roughly ₹1.2–2.2 Cr for meters, gateways, installs and a software platform. Selling to landlords who cover several tenants at once spreads that cost faster.
No sector licence, but installs need licensed electrical contractors, and your outputs must not be presented as assurance.
Yes, tenant energy data matters wherever companies report emissions. Check local reporting rules and electrical licensing first.
The free Tenantgauge validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the reporting and data checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for BRSR leads and landlords, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Tenantgauge or something close to it? The make-or-break work is a cost-split method that landlords, tenants and assurers all accept, and that's the kind of thing I help founders with. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.