buyer's guide

Energy audit software: the distinction that decides the purchase.

Almost all software sold as "energy software" solves continuous energy management — connecting meters, monitoring consumption, spotting drift over time. An energy audit is a different job: it happens at a point in time, it rests on invoices and documents the client has to hand over, and it ends in a report whose format the regulator imposes. A monitoring platform does not produce that report, and an audit platform does not replace monitoring. Choosing wrongly here means buying something excellent for a problem you do not have.

Listed alphabetically, not by preference. Each product is described by its category and the audience it serves, from its own public documentation. Third-party pricing is omitted because most of it is quote-based.

The criteria that decide, in order.

In an energy audit the bottleneck is rarely the calculation. It is almost always getting to the data.

  1. Point-in-time audit or continuous monitoring. Two products and two categories; most platforms do one well and the other badly.
  2. How energy invoices get in. If the answer is manual transcription, that is where the project's time goes, and no other feature makes up for it.
  3. Whether the regulator's report format is covered. In Portugal that means SGCIE and what DGEG expects; in Spain, RD 56/2016; and EN 16247 cuts across both.
  4. Whether it serves the auditor or the audited. A consultancy or ESCO needs many clients running in parallel, kept apart; a platform designed for one company to monitor itself does not do that.
  5. Where the data sits. A client's energy invoices say a great deal about their operation, and they will ask where those invoices ended up.

The platforms, alphabetically.

The order is alphabetical and means nothing. Every entry carries a "not for" line, ours included.

Dexma

Best for: Continuous energy monitoring across a building portfolio

An energy management platform with a strong Iberian presence, oriented to meter readings, consumption analysis and drift detection over time.

Not for: Producing the report for a point-in-time energy audit from invoices.

EnergyCAP

Best for: Energy accounting and invoice management at scale

Specialised in energy accounting: consolidating invoices across many delivery points, validating costs and reporting. Large installed base, mostly in the United States.

Not for: European consultancies that need the local regulator's report format.

EnergyElephant

Best for: Consolidating energy data from invoices

Handles energy data from invoices and files, focused on turning scattered documents into a consistent consumption baseline.

Not for: Checking the finished report against the standard or regulator.

SafetyCulture

Best for: On-site survey with a checklist

Useful for the visit itself: photo records, checklists and on-site actions, from a phone.

Not for: Extracting invoice data and producing the regulatory report.

foraudits

Best for: Consultancies, ESCOs and engineers auditing clients

A portal under the auditor's brand where the client uploads invoices, extraction of consumption data with no manual transcription, and a check of the report against the standard. Many clients in parallel, kept apart. Data processed in the European Union.

Not for: Continuous energy monitoring. There is no meter connection, no telemetry and no real-time drift alerting. If what you need is consumption by the minute, pick an energy management platform from this list.

What people ask.

What is the best energy audit software for a consultancy or ESCO?
There is no absolute best, because the choice depends on whether you audit clients or manage energy for a single organisation. For auditing clients, what decides it is how fast you can pull data out of invoices and produce a report the regulator accepts. For managing your own energy, a continuous monitoring platform is the right category.
What is the difference between energy management software and energy audit software?
Energy management is continuous and meter-based: it measures consumption over time and flags drift. An energy audit is point-in-time and document-based: it gathers invoices and site information at a defined moment and produces a report in a format the regulator imposes. They serve different purposes and coexist well.
How do you automate EN 16247 energy audit reporting?
The part that automates well is the input: reading consumption data out of invoices and site documents without transcribing them, and checking that the finished report covers what the standard requires. The engineering judgement in between does not automate, and a tool claiming otherwise is describing something else.
Does foraudits issue the report to the regulator?
foraudits helps produce and check the report, but it is not a certification body, does not sign audits and does not replace the qualified engineer. Technical responsibility and submission stay with whoever runs the audit.

Do you audit energy for clients?

If the project's time disappears into transcribing invoices, that is exactly where foraudits comes in.

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