Designing Your Raw Data Options
Note: 
If your company uses an external system for collecting, adjusting and aggregating raw interval data, then you may skip this section.
The term "Channel" is often used for devices that may store interval data. A physical channel may hold interval data or index readings.
• Interval channels will contain collections of interval data
• Index channels are a collection of time of use registers and readings for these registers are no different than standard register readings
In either case, a "channel" is represented in the system by a register and a meter will represent a logical grouping of channels (index or interval). Refer to The Structure Of A Meter for more information.