Game changer

Forget the ifs and maybes, smart metering is already shaking up the way businesses manage their energy consumption and bills, says Martin Moir

Energy is a significant cost for most businesses and making reductions can make a big difference to a company’s bottom line. Smart meters are proving their worth as a tool for making savings by helping firms to see where they are spending their money.

At First Utility, our smart meter proposition was a mainstay from day one. As an independent energy supplier, we have been installing smart meters to all our business customers and have noticed significant changes in business energy usage over the past year.

One company we are currently working with is Equipe, an autocare company based in northwest England, which now has smart meters fitted in all ten of its premises. The smart meters allow Equipe to monitor its energy usage more closely – via interactive graphs – and take an informed approach to reducing energy use. The smart meters also mean the business receives accurate monthly bills, allowing it to budget more precisely, with no more estimates and no more build-up of excessive debt or credit.

Graeme Hepburn, director at Equipe, estimates that the installation of smart meters has saved on average 30 per cent of the company’s annual energy spend. Each site has been set a target to consume less power. According to Hepburn, the data he can access through smart meter technology is invaluable in helping the firm manage its energy consumption.

This positive view of smart metering is held by many of the businesses we speak to. Martin Coulson, technical director at Atomwide, a managed services company, says: “It has provided much more to the business [than just meter readings] due to the level of detail it has given us on our energy consumption as an organisation.”

More widely, we have noticed that businesses’ approach to energy is changing significantly as a result of smart meters, the biggest impact being from accurate billing. Unlike residential customers, business income is variable, based on productivity. Normally, the busier a business is, the more income it has and the more energy it uses. So to align energy billing with productivity is a great benefit because it alleviates reconciliation bills being received at inconvenient times and allows the business to keep on top of its budget.

Furthermore, smart meters are vital in justifying a business’s investment in energy-saving equipment. Data is helping internal energy managers and energy consultants identify areas of energy waste on a site-by-site basis. While some of our customers look to control this energy waste as part of their environmental commitments, the majority focus on monetary savings, both in the short and long term.

Suppliers like First Utility also benefit from smart meters, from regular and accurate visibility of use, which can be compared to initial estimates. This feeds through to more accurate purchasing decisions and eventually lower prices as forecasting is improved.

With volatile wholesale energy prices and increasing pressures on businesses to drive down costs wherever possible, not to mention environmental and corporate social responsibility considerations, smart metering is already proving itself a highly effective way of future-proofing business energy provision. Smart meters will help make sure energy becomes not only a controllable cost, but also one that can be reduced. We look forward to seeing further developments in this evolution of the energy industry.

Martin Moir, director of sales and marketing at First Utility

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 7th September 2012.

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