Time to move into the 21st century
June 1st 2005 Why, today, do we still have to put up with inaccurate or estimated utility bills, asks Alan Aldridge, executive director of ESTA In a world where energy prices are rising and climate change is a boardroom issue, there is increasing pressure on the managers ‘at the coal face’ to reduce consumption and manage budgets.Yet, with accurate and timely metered data so essential for effective Monitoring & Targeting,why is it still so difficult to gain access to this information? Business and public sector organisations have been asking this question for years, but there still seems little interest on behalf of the regulator or the suppliers to improve the situation.
With inaccurate or estimated bills too often the order of the day, the potential savings that can be generated – with the associated cuts in greenhouse gas emissions – are literally going up in smoke.The UK will probably meet its Kyoto international obligations on reducing emissions, but is falling further and further behind on the domestic target of cutting CO2 emissions by 20% against 1990 levels by the end of the decade.With non-domestic buildings producing 22% of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, the prospect of saving around 10 million tonnes a year from the systematic application of metering and M&T should be attractive to both the Government and users.
Last year,The Carbon Trust commissioned an independent study of the issue.While confirming the scale of achievable savings, it also highlighted a number of barriers in the way of that goal, including: lack of access to primary meter data (for electricity, gas and water); difficulties with the accuracy and timeliness of bills; energy savings not being on the corporate agenda; and misconceptions about the complexity and cost of M&T – and automatic M&T (aM&T) – systems.
Research carried out with customers of ESTA members backs up these findings. From our surveys, we estimate that approximately only 18% of gas bills and 73% of electricity bills are accurate.Coupled with the persistence of estimated readings, this means that bills may only be reconciled once every two years – the gap between legally required visual readings.
It is difficult to see any clear reason why this state of affairs should continue to exist at the beginning of the 21st century.
A united voice Energy consumers tend to be focussed on business goals, with energy being one issue among many competing priorities – unlike the utilities who present a united front to the regulators and legislators on standards of performance and changes to operating practice. So it is no wonder that improvements in areas such as access to data and billing accuracy are slow to occur.
But if we are to achieve the efficiency gains that are possible, then change has to happen – and now. In response to this need, illustrated so clearly in the Carbon Trust findings, ESTA is facilitating a new action group to address the barriers which have prevented the UK from effectively controlling its energy costs and reducing its emissions.
The Monitoring & Targeting Action Group
Facilitated by ESTA, the aim of this group is to campaign for reform. It seeks the removal of the barriers to effective M&T – and so allow customers to make the huge savings that are possible.
Members of the group include major energy users such as The BT Group Plc, Leicester City Council,The Boots Company Plc and Buying Solutions.This group represents the diversity of public and private sector energy consumers and will be actively campaigning to bring operational benefits to everyone, including medium and smaller enterprises.
To register an interest in the group’s activities, provide feedback and to be kept informed of developments, visit the ESTA website at www.esta.org.uk More articles from ESTA: | 
