15 May, 2007
WATER COMPANY REDUCES ANNUAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY UP TO 10% WITH BGLOBAL PLC SMART METERS
A water company has seen its energy consumption at some of its sites cut by up to 10 per cent over the last two years after introducing smart metering solutions from leading supplier bglobal plc.
Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water, which supplies around 500,000 homes in the South of England, had to rely on 'guesstimated' energy bills due to the remote location of many of its 36 water pumping stations and other sites.
By using innovative 'smart meter technology' provided by bglobal and installed by Western Power Distribution, Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water has been able to monitor where and when energy is being used, and use the information to reduce costs and operate more efficiently.
Until smart metering was introduced, meters at smaller Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water sites were read manually, if at all. Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water's operations manager (Supply) Richard Barton found it difficult to budget accurately.
Now, half hourly data is sent to bglobal's website via the GSM/GRPS network, and the water company also receives regular reports allowing it to track peaks and troughs to pinpoint where savings can be made.
Richard Barton comments: "Seeing such detailed reports of our energy usage was extremely useful. While we had detailed data on some of the larger sites, the smaller ones were a bit of a mystery - seeing half hourly reports showed us where and when energy was being used.
"Quite simply, the smart meters have changed the way we think about energy consumption at our smaller sites and have allowed us to budget properly and operate more efficiently. Now, we can monitor where and why peaks are happening, and change our usage patterns to make efficiency and cost savings.
"I would estimate that we've made up to 10 per cent saving on power costs at some of our sites. Also, we were manually reading at some of the sites and this was simply taking too much time and too much manpower - so we've also saved on admin costs."
Peter Kennedy, managing director at bglobal adds: "We're delighted, but not at all surprised, to hear that Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water has made such a substantial energy saving. Its remote sites made it difficult to monitor energy peaks, which meant that the company simply had to rely on estimates.
"Providing users with information about their energy 'expenditure' not only helps them understand where it is being spent, but also encourages them to use energy more cleverly. All of a sudden, people can see that leaving machinery on all night costs a lot of money, and changes are made quickly."
Bglobal offers a unique end-to-end fully accredited smart metering solution with Data Collection/Data Aggregation and Meter Operation services, by manufacturing, installing, reading and operating smart meters.
For further information, please contact Malin Cunningham or Steven Proud at Tangerine PR on 0161 817 6600.