Energy solutions company Energy Partners Intelligence has developed a utility management platform that can display an organisation’s energy-related data in real time. The management tool, called GLO, is a Web- and mobile-based utility management software designed for real-time metering and data collection, optimising asset performance and ensuring energy compliance, besides other functions.

South African businesses are placing greater importance on not only reducing their energy consumption but also communicating their energy-saving abilities, says Energy Partners Intelligence energy reporting head Mila Vicquery.

Many of the country’s large companies have put robust energy-saving strategies in place, which include energy efficiency measures and renewable power generation.

“An increasing number of these businesses are also looking for ways of monitoring their energy consumption more comprehensively to better present this information to the public.”

She adds that companies benefit from being able to show how well their energy-saving initiatives are performing.

“Our clients have made significant strides that are worth showcasing to investors and stakeholders. “One of our clients in the healthcare industry has managed to reduce energy costs by R220-million and another in the food retail industry has accumulated energy savings of about R1.8-billion.”

Companies that can demonstrate their efforts to reduce operating costs and expand profit margins make themselves more attractive to investors for potential partnerships, she says.

However, while many energy consultants and service providers can monitor energy use across their locations, presenting this data still has some challenges.

“Sifting through the vast amounts of data gathered while monitoring an organisation’s energy consumption and reworking the information in a format that give clients the most comprehensive overview takes time. “Therefore, the industry standard is to provide monthly or quarterly reports for clients that addresses their exact sustainability, environmental or utility management needs.”

It is substantially more difficult to devise a platform that collates and presents all the relevant information in a reader-friendly format in real time, but more clients are asking for this functionality, she adds.

Any organisation monitoring its energy consumption and generation can display its energy savings to show the public how well its energy-saving strategies are working.

“In an era of continuous Eskom increases, utility management is important and a well-structured programme will yield impressive results, as well as potentially half of clients’ utility costs, by implementing energy-saving measures and interventions, and organisations should showcase their successes in this regard,” Vicquery concludes.