Solving the Time and Expertise Shortfall in Energy Management
This week’s blog is from guest Allan Robinson (pictured), Head of Business Energy Services at npower.
Energy management is no longer an optional business function. Any large organisation is likely to spend a considerable sum on energy, so increasing efficiency and minimising waste are key. Legislation also makes reducing corporate carbon emissions important. And today’s consumers and other businesses in the supply chain are increasingly asking for sustainability credentials. So there’s pressure from all sides.
This probably explains the growing importance many companies now place on energy management. A survey last year by the Institute of Building Efficiency, for example, found that 85% of businesses now rate energy management as ‘extremely’ or ‘very important’, up from 70% in 2011 and 60% in 2010.
But what we find from talking to many of our business customers is that while they recognise the value of keeping a close eye on energy consumption and taking steps to increase efficiency, they often lack the time, resources and sometimes the expertise to do so properly. Some even consider out-sourcing their day-to-day energy management, which can be costly.
It’s this kind of feedback that gets our development teams fired up. As npower evolves from being an energy supplier to an energy solutions provider, we are especially keen to identify problems in the market – and then create products or services that provide an answer.
This is exactly the process that helped us take our Encompass energy management platform and merge it with some real-life expert analysis to provide a bespoke reporting service. The result is Encompass Bureau.
In a nutshell, Encompass Bureau provides dedicated support and guidance to set up Encompass to automatically gather and monitor all the appropriate site and consumption information. This is then analysed by a remote npower team who act as your eyes and ears, highlighting were action is required. It’s like having an expert extension of your own energy or facilities manager, without incurring the overheads of employing anyone extra.
Additionally, the Encompass Bureau team can offer technical guidance as to what kind of action would be most appropriate to increase efficiency – from simple no-cost measures such as retiming heating or air conditioning systems to better reflect building occupancy times, to more complex projects such as education programmes to change staff behaviour or identifying where investment in new equipment would make significant savings.
As with any developing service, we always work closely with our customers to ensure we’re meeting their needs. I’m happy to report that the feedback we’ve had from our existing Encompass Bureau customers has been very positive. All participants found the service useful and time saving. They also said they’d recommend Encompass Bureau to a colleague or peer.
If you’d like to find out more, please visit www.npower.com/enlightenedenergy. And if you have any energy management needs you feel are not being met, then please do email [email protected] – our development team are always keen to take on a new challenge.
