A PROACTIVE


APPROACH TO SAVING ENERGY AND COSTS


Energy is still one of the major expenses for many industry sectors, and


in this article STC Energy demonstrate how further reductions in cost and consumption can be made.


SAVING MONEY BY OUTSOURCING UTILITIES


MANAGEMENT Making savings on energy expenditure is always on the agenda within many finance and energy departments. As well as introducing energy saving products and behavioural controls, savings can also be made by fully validating utility invoices (streamlining invoice management and accounts payable processing).


While bureau services create many intrinsic benefits they also generate direct cost-saving opportunities. By employing a dedicated provider, businesses will be able to identify all billing errors and ensure that all overcharges are correctly refunded.


KNOW YOUR PORTFOLIO The first port of call is to establish


exactly what supply points are in your organisation (including water) and create a cleansed database of all utilities. This in itself can highlight opportunities for savings, such as identifying non-consolidated supplies billed on “default” or out of contract rates.


ONLY PAYING FOR


WHAT YOU USE Suppliers’ contracts and invoices can be very complex and difficult to understand and as a result it is inevitable that some billing errors will be missed. With flexible and energy-only contracts becoming a more popular way of buying energy, additional validation is required to balance reconciliation statements


12 | ADVERTORIAL


from suppliers and check the growing number of third party charges.


It is estimated that 3-5% of utility expenditure can be saved by fully validating supplier invoices. Further savings can be achieved by reducing time spent by internal staff dealing with utility issues. This type of saving can often outweigh the cost of an energy bureau service, which should equate to less than 0.5% of the total utility expenditure.


FASTER SOLUTIONS,


ACCURATE RESULTS Changing to electronic billing and using a system that can import and validate these invoice files provides a much more efficient way of processing utility invoices. Once validated, invoices can be included on a consolidated accounts payable file together with cost codes that can be imported to most accounts software. This process further reduces the time internal staff spend processing invoices and also ensures that duplicate or incorrect payments are eliminated.


HIGHLIGHTING WASTAGE Setting consumption targets and


undertaking proactive monitoring is an effective way to combat energy waste and other exceptional consumption. Sophisticated software can be used to provide half-hourly and AMR profile data for electricity, gas and water meters and loggers. The software can then be used to build a picture of the site’s consumption profile, which can be automatically monitored for exceptions. Any deviations will trigger an email alert, which can then be viewed on a map-based site exception dashboard. Reporting can quickly


highlight which sites are over target, allowing for swift corrective action.


Profile alerts are very successful in identifying wastage directly, and in suggesting behavioural changes that can be implemented to reduce wastage.


DEMAND SWITCHING - AVOIDING PEAK TIMES


With the introduction of the capacity market, reducing energy usage during peak times is crucial. Profile data can assist with identifying periods of consumption that could be reduced during peak times. Peak times are typically 4–7pm on weekdays between November and February (business days only). However peak times can vary by region.


COMPLIANCE Although the CRC scheme is nearing


its demise in 2019, annual returns and audits will still be required. Savings can be made here by ensuring that estimated invoices are kept to a minimum by using Profile/AMR data or self-read meter readings. This will save an uplift of 10% on estimated data when purchasing allowances.


www.stcenergy.com


www.tomorrowsem.com


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