What power management software should measure in a data centre or colocation room, from PDU types and breaker headroom to A+B failover and the EU's 500 kW reporting rule, with the tools that do it and their published prices.
Mario Marin9 min readData center power management software reads power from PDUs, UPS units and meters, compares it with the capacity of each circuit and rack, and warns you before a breaker trips or a failover overloads the surviving feed. Good tools also keep history for capacity planning and energy reporting, such as PUE. Facilities-focused DCIM products like Sunbird Power IQ and Hyperview are built for this; billing-led platforms, including ours, cover far less of it.
How this was sourced. FluxBilling publishes this guide and sells billing software for hosting providers that includes basic PDU readings, so it competes with some of the tools below in a small way. Vendor prices were read from each vendor’s own pricing page on 20 October 2026; EU rules are quoted from Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 on EUR-Lex. Engineering rules of thumb are labelled as such; your electrician and local code decide.
Part of the FluxBilling guide to DCIM software for hosting providers.
What software can see is decided by the PDU you bought. Vendors name these differently, but the categories are broadly:
| PDU type | What it reports | Remote control | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Nothing | No | Lab racks; nothing to monitor |
| Metered (inlet) | Total current, sometimes per phase, on a local display and often over the network | No | Circuit headroom per rack |
| Monitored | Total load, voltage, often energy, over the network | No | Capacity planning and alerting |
| Switched | As monitored | Per outlet on and off | Remote power cycling of hung equipment |
| Outlet-metered | Load per outlet | Often, combined with switching | Per-device power, per-customer energy billing in shared racks |
Networked PDUs mostly speak SNMP, with each vendor publishing its own MIB, and many also offer a web interface or REST API. Redfish, the DMTF’s management standard best known for servers, also defines a PowerDistribution schema covering rack PDUs, floor PDUs and switchgear, so newer equipment can be read the same way as a server’s BMC.
Three limits apply, and the lowest one wins:
On three-phase PDUs, balance matters too: a heavily loaded phase can hit its limit while the PDU total looks fine. Software that only shows a single total for a three-phase PDU will miss it, which is why per-phase readings are worth having.
Power is also often what you sell. Colocation contracts commit kilowatts per rack, and the choice between billing a commitment and billing metered energy is covered in power billing: kW commit vs metered.
Power usage effectiveness is total data centre energy divided by the energy used by IT equipment. A PUE of 1.5 means that for every kWh the servers use, another half kWh goes on cooling, power conversion and lighting.
In the EU it is no longer optional for larger sites. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364, under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2023/1791, requires operators of data centres with an installed IT power demand of at least 500 kW to report information and key performance indicators to a European database: first by 15 September 2024, then by 15 May 2025 and every year after. The indicators cover energy consumption, PUE, temperature set points, waste heat reuse, water usage and renewable energy. IT energy is to be measured at the output of every UPS feeding IT equipment, or at the PDU where there is no UPS, following EN 50600-4-2.
So if you run a site of that size, you need kWh history, not just live amps. Where a Member State runs a national reporting scheme, reports go through it, so check with your national authority for the exact process.
Only what each vendor publishes; prices read on 20 October 2026, in the vendor’s own currency.
| Tool | Power monitoring | Outlet control | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunbird Power IQ | Power, energy and environment monitoring | Yes | $5.50 per node per month, US only; $27.50 per cabinet per month with dcTrack |
| Hyperview | Power and environmental monitoring included | “Control” add-on, $1 per asset per year, supported hardware only | $3 per asset per year, 500-asset minimum |
| openDCIM | Polls power strips and UPS units from several vendors; power capacity and outage simulation | None stated | Free; last release October 2023 |
| NetBox | Models power panels, feeds and ports; no live readings | No | Free; hosted plans on quote |
| EasyDCIM | PDU management from the 300-device plan | None stated | From $299 per month for that plan |
| Device42 | SNMP power monitoring of PDUs, UPS units and cooling | None stated | No public price |
| FluxBilling | Latest total and per-phase load per PDU; per-rack kW budget | No | Included on every plan, from €4.95 per month |
For a room you operate, Sunbird and Hyperview are the serious options here: both monitor power and environment continuously and both publish prices. Hyperview’s reports add-on also mentions turning sensor data into billing reports. Prices at different estate sizes are worked out in DCIM software pricing in 2026.
FluxBilling is billing software for hosting providers and colocation operators, not a power management system. What it does with power, plainly:
What it does not do: per-outlet readings, outlet switching, kWh or any power history, power alerts, PUE, UPS or cooling monitoring, or metered energy billing. If you need any of those, pair it with a power management tool or choose a facilities DCIM instead. Plans start at €4.95 a month ($5.95 for US accounts) with a 14-day refund; see pricing or the live demo.
Software that collects power readings from PDUs, UPS units and meters, compares them with circuit and rack capacity, alerts before limits are reached and keeps history for capacity planning and energy reporting. It is usually a module of a DCIM product.
A metered PDU reports current draw, usually for the whole unit or per phase. A switched PDU adds remote on and off control of individual outlets. Outlet-metered PDUs report the load of each outlet.
Divide the data centre’s total energy use by the energy used by IT equipment over the same period. EU Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 defines PUE as EDC divided by EIT, with IT energy measured at the UPS outputs feeding IT equipment.
Operators of data centres with an installed IT power demand of at least 500 kW, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364. Reports go to the European database, via a national scheme where one exists, every year by 15 May.
Some list it: Sunbird mentions energy billback and Hyperview a sensor report for billing. To put power on an invoice automatically, the readings or commitments have to reach your billing system, either through an integration or because the two are the same product.
Sunbird, Power IQ, dcTrack, Hyperview, openDCIM, NetBox, EasyDCIM, Device42, Redfish, DMTF, APC, Raritan, Server Technology, Eaton and CyberPower are trademarks of their respective owners. FluxBilling is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Third-party details are as published on the dates above and may have changed since.
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