First-to-market SME advanced metering package could save businesses 25% on Utility costs
Leading independent electricity provider BizzEnergy Ltd has launched a ground-breaking new service that will enable UK SMEs to escape the cash-flow headache of estimated electricity bills for the first time – effectively solving one of the energy industry’s most inherent customer service problems.
Smart Choice, developed by BizzEnergy in direct response to SME feedback listing estimated billing as their number one Utility complaint, is the UK’s first affordable advanced metering package for non half-hourly electricity customers. Based on figures from the Carbon Trust , BizzEnergy estimates that businesses taking full advantage of the Smart Choice service could slash energy consumption and reduce their total Utility costs by as much as 25%.
The official launch of Smart Choice follows a highly successful pilot project in which BizzEnergy has installed more than 100 of its unique ‘Smart Meters’ into group and single-site customers around the UK – including Cambridge University and Nottingham City Council. The service means that BizzEnergy is the first UK electricity supplier to offer SMEs a highly effective alternative to fixed communications-line metering, which has until now been unaffordable for all but the largest corporates. Harnessing mobile phone technology, Smart Choice delivers all the benefits of high functionality metering at a fraction of the usual cost – and even eliminates the need for those all-too-infrequent visits from the ‘Meter Man’.
Businesses switching to the new package receive a revolutionary new ‘Smart Meter’ in place of their traditional electricity meter. Programmed to read ‘real time’ consumption data, the new metering equipment uses GSM-enabled data retrieval software to ensure highly accurate energy consumption monitoring and can hold up to 160 days’ accumulated data at any one time.
As well as aiding cash-flow, the fully accurate, flexible billing system this produces can also help to identify further opportunities for cutting energy wastage, confirms BizzEnergy’s Director of Marketing Sussanne Chambers: “BizzEnergy has been concerned that the kind of technology helping big businesses to become more economically and environmentally efficient, has until now been completely out of reach for SMEs,” she explains.
“Smart Choice now means that for the first time, non half-hourly customers can rely on fully accurate energy consumption data and choose to receive synchronised billing even if they have multiple sites,” she continues. “This can lead to better tariff options, more detailed consumption analysis and even identify ways the company could make additional energy savings – all whilst reducing impact on the environment.”
This extra operational and budgetary control was exactly what Nottingham City Council, one of the first to pilot the scheme, were seeking. Ashley Baxter, Service Manager (Energy & Sustainability) at Nottingham City Council explains, “Estimated and infrequent reads are the scourge of energy management and used to make budgeting and usage tracking a real headache. But with the new BizzEnergy metering system installed we are already getting a much clearer picture of what’s really going on at our sites; and can therefore take effective action to reduce consumption.”
According to figures from the Department of Trade and Industry, electricity consumption by the UK’s 1.1 million small and medium sized businesses tops 52,000 GWh per annum. Efficient environmental management in line with the government’s Kyoto-driven recommendations, the Carbon Trust estimates, could save these businesses up to 25% of that total – worth around £900 million.
Smart Choice is one of a stable of innovative products pioneered by BizzEnergy and part of its environmentally-led ‘Clear Choice’ portfolio. Clear Choice was launched in 2004 to enable small and medium sized businesses to take firmer control of their environment management, by offering improved access to an affordable proportion of greener energy sources, or facilitating practical and even financial assistance to help them cut down on their energy usage. With every Clear Choice option combining BizzEnergy’s competitive electricity pricing with additional environmental advantages, the range includes two products enabling companies to opt for renewable electricity sources including wind farms and biofuels, and a high efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP) package. BizzEnergy is also the first electricity provider in the UK to join up with the government’s Action Energy initiative, in another package making it easier for industrial companies to access loans for energy saving projects. The launch of its new Smart Metering service and the Clear Choice range marks a highly successful year for Worcester-based BizzEnergy. Founded in 2000, today the company is the UK’s leading independent supplier of electricity to businesses. In 2004 the company increased its business by over 30%.
