Help from the hands of the energy sector

British Gas Business has launched Energy360, an integrated energy management solution that identifies where energy is being used, delivers energy efficiency technologies and maintains these services. Energy360 offers a package of services designed to help larger commercial and public sector organisations cut their energy consumption and costs. British Gas Business helps to identify ways that businesses can reduce their energy usage by 20 percent.

Building controls and maintenance are at the heart of a good energy management strategy and BMSi, an Energy360 company, was recognised at the annual Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) Awards in Coventry. It was awarded two of the highest profile awards: energy management company of the year; and best service and maintenance provider.

Chris Mills, Managing Director at BMSi, an Energy360 company, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised for our work to help companies’ reduce their unnecessary energy usage by our sector and peers. As energy efficiency becomes increasingly recognised as a means of reducing long-term costs, we hope to help more organisations to realise energy and cost savings.”

Jeff Whittingham, Director of Business Solutions at British Gas Business, added: “As organisations start to take a long-term view of investing in energy efficiency, the range of services we offer become integral to the Energy360 service. Now, more than ever, there is an increasing understanding that energy efficiency measures can help organisations meet growing environmental legislation, cost reduction pressures and corporate responsibility goals. Energy360 helps organisations to identify where their energy is being used and make informed decisions about how best to reduce consumption. And what sets our service apart is that our own Energy360 business managers will not only help identify the areas of savings, they will stay with the business during and post implementation to ensure everything goes to plan.”

Energy360 from British Gas Business provides a range of solutions:

• Monitoring through the use of technologies such as Smart Metering and Automatic Monitoring & Targeting (aM&T), offers real-time energy monitoring which can pinpoint energy use to highly specific locations at specific sites, and give an accurate, up-to-date picture of where energy is going.
• Advising companies, through more detailed on-site audits, where their specific energy wastage stems from and ways that they can cut consumption.
• Implementing energy efficiency technologies, such as building control systems, that will ensure that consumption is as efficient as it can be.
• Maintaining these technologies to ensure the company continues to operate as energy efficiently as possible, through support functions such as the help desk is vital.

Closer to home
The economic storm continues to wreak damage on the property market, with rising unemployment and low wages combining with fewer mortgage approvals, so estate agents and property managers are continually looking for ways to cut costs and reduce overheads to ensure their survival. Reducing energy consumption by implementing energy efficiency measures can form an integral part of an estate agent’s and property manager’s operational efficiency during the downturn. And adopting even simple measures can save companies up to 20 percent on their energy bills.

Recent British Gas Business research showed that 97 percent of small businesses are concerned about reducing their energy consumption and identify energy efficiency as a very real opportunity to cut costs. However they are confused about how to achieve lower energy costs. Currently only 36 percent of businesses are actively looking at ways to reduce consumption, as they feel unclear about the steps they can take to make these reductions.

So, what can they do? There is an almost overwhelming variety of both practical and behavioural approaches to increase energy efficiency, from insulating windows to switching off lights and computers, and even just simply unplugging unused mobile telephone chargers. Citing a lack of information, time or money, small businesses lack the resources of larger organisations when it comes to analysing their energy usage and ways to cut consumption. They believe it isn’t always clear which of these many approaches will deliver the greatest cost savings and how much those savings might be.

In February this year, as we entered deeper into recession, we closely consulted our own customers and the most common requirement was for a single point of information providing advice, guidance, product support and even implementation specific to each business’ consumption and requirements. We also estimate that about 40,000 of small business customers will at some point require special assistance managing their energy bills.
In response British Gas Business rapidly developed a new support service – SAVE (Small business Advice and Value Expertise). This is designed to make energy management more straightforward to help British Gas Business customers take action to manage their expenditure. The free initiative, launched in March, has several components, including a dedicated personal account manager advising how to reduce energy consumption and explain Government legislation and access to a tailored energy assessment (Greener Businesses Assessment) based on a visit to businesses by a trained energy assessor.

Also available are Energy Saver’s Packs, containing energy-saving products to help businesses encourage behaviour change amongst staff. SAVE customers can also access an Expert Credit Solutions team who help advise, support and resolve debt problems for small businesses who are experiencing difficulty with their energy bills.

In addition, SAVE allows all businesses, both customers and non-customers, to get a free audit of their energy consumption through the use of a unique online assessment tool. The Energy Saver’s Report provides guidance on energy consumption reduction and helps to evaluate how much businesses’ are spending on energy annually. It also benchmarks their energy efficiency rating relative to other businesses of their size and type. The report offers hints and tips on ways to reduce consumption through both simple behaviour change and by investing in energy efficiency technologies. Businesses will then be able to track progress and plan for changes in their cash flow.

Since the launch of the SAVE initiative, we have worked with a variety of businesses of different sizes, from office-based estate agents and property managers, right through to larger scale small businesses with a monthly energy bill of £5,000. Through a deep understanding of their issues and needs, and through listening and understanding their circumstances, we’re able to find solutions for each individual business to help them become more energy efficient and to emerge from the economic storm in much stronger shape.

For more information
Written by Kanat Emiroglu, Director of SME markets at British Gas Business. For further information on British Gas Business or SAVE, please visit britishgas.co.uk/business or for the Energy360, please visit energy360.co.uk.