If you're going to the EEI show in October, you'll hear about energy managers that are using Energy Intelligence (EI) to save their companies tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Here are a few stories about energy managers using EI to transform their companies in the retail, CPG, and transportation industries. EI puts you, the Energy Manager, in control of the internal and external data available so you can move forward on energy investments and projects with confidence.
ROI Matters
At a large retailer with over 1,500 stores, accounting was paying the bills using an antiquated expense management system. The energy manager with his staff of three people needed to catalog and analyze spend across these stores to drive capital allocation. The old system was no help. Even after many years of using the software with numerous upgrades, he still couldn't get the information he needed.
After just two months using an EI platform, facility managers were empowered to monitor their energy spend and several identified inappropriate rate plans costing them thousands of dollars extra per month. The energy manager had access to data across all of his stores and was working together with these facility managers to save money. Together they were targeting 10-25% savings by identifying the right stores for retrofits and alternative energy projects and using the EI platform to estimate and measure ROI for each project. With access to internal company data organized by location, business function, or commodity type and external data such as regional tariffs, rate plans, and rebates, he could make the right decisions.
Quick Wins with Sustainable Value
A well-known Consumer Product Goods company had 50 manufacturing sites and over 150 stores and offices, but no way to manage energy costs across the company. The energy manager would occasionally bring in consultants that typically charged thousands of dollars to collect sample data and thousands more to provide suggestions for one-off changes that could drill down to the right data to save money. These one-off projects left many questions unanswered and left the company with little lasting value.
He had long suspected that energy companies were charging him taxes he wasn't supposed to be paying in tax-exempt locations. For the first time, with an EI platform, he had the specific data to take action and was quickly rewarded by more than $75,000 in refunds after only a few minutes of work. After one month of using an Energy Intelligence platform, the energy manager had tools to view detailed bill analyses every month across all 50 states that uncovered many hot spots and savings. He now audits energy bills automatically as they are received and is uncovering numerous cost-saving opportunities for his many sites.
Moving Fast
Finally, a transportation industry company was facing many years of rising energy costs. With over 600 sites and no understanding of the energy footprint across their connected locations, they were looking for an energy audit and suggestions on where they could choose new rate plans to save money. They also wanted to kick-off multiple energy efficiency projects to get on the right track but had no way to make decisions or measure the impact of these projects. The Energy Manager worked with his strategic energy services provider to get an answer and together they brought in an Energy Intelligence solution.
Right away, the team realized 5-10% savings, accounting for over $100,000, could be achieved in the first year across its large number of locations, more than enough to pay for the EI platform. They found zombie accounts and many accounts that were on the wrong rate plan. The Energy Manager's investment gave her the tools to measure ROI across multiple initiatives with measurement and verification of each of the sustainability projects the company started. Everyone was involved and could participate in finding new cost savings.
Decisions Based on Data
By providing powerful access to both internal and external data, visibility into this data along with guidance and insights, an Energy Intelligence platform becomes a strategic and fundamental technology for Energy Managers. Through its visualization and conversational interfaces and eye-catching and informative charts, everyone in the company can move in the right energy direction to save money and execute on sustainability projects.
To create your own stories, please come and see Pear.ai and its Energy Intelligence solution at the October 6-9, 2019 EEI event in Las Vegas, Booth 109.