How to Ensure a Successful Energy Management Program

Despite the challenges created by the pandemic, energy management programs can’t be put on the backburner. A key place to start when striving to improve an energy management program is with data. Energy data plays a vital role in measuring a program’s performance and helps an organization better understand energy consumption, identify energy-saving opportunities, and optimize its operations.

More than ever, organizations looking for ways to conserve their budgets and stay ahead of energy benchmarking requirements need to identify new ways to save energy and money. To help accomplish these goals, let’s dive into the three key components of running a successful energy management program.

Measuring consumption

When it comes to energy management programs, ensuring success is simple – you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Typically, measurement of energy usage starts with the monthly utility bill, but it can’t stop there – the most important steps are to collect and translate that utility bill data into a usable format that can help you understand your organization’s consumption over time. Monitoring your energy consumption will give you better insight into progress toward efficiency goals, targets, month to month usage, and trends. 

An effective energy management program goes beyond the monthly utility bill – it’s about collecting and translating utility bill data into a usable format.

The ideal starting point for setting energy management goals is to establish a baseline based on consumption data collected over at least 12 months. This baseline will act as a comparison point for performance and goal tracking. Without an accurate baseline, an energy management program’s goals will be difficult to reach, or perhaps not be ambitious enough, leaving valuable savings opportunities on the table. 

Optimizing operations

Measuring consumption allows organizations to optimize their energy and operational efficiency. The more granular measurements, the better – a consistent reporting of consumption data enables you to be proactive in identifying issues that could otherwise lead to increased operating costs and service outages. That’s where interval meter data comes in. With interval data, energy managers can go beyond monthly utility bills and access more detailed information, down to the hour or minute, about energy demand and daily consumption.

 

LEARN HOW TO ACCESS UTILITY INTERVAL DATA

 

By introducing this level of granularity into energy management, organizations can gain better insight into which sites, pieces of equipment, and times of day consume the most energy or require repairs and enhancements. After incorporating real-time interval data into its energy management program, industrial manufacturing company Arconic identified high demand charges at one facility, made some quick adjustments, and saved over $13,000 in just one month.

Identifying energy-saving opportunities

With several companies and school districts bracing for budget cuts as a result of the pandemic, energy efficiency should be a top priority, low effort way to cut costs. Maximizing your organization’s energy efficiency and lowering energy costs can help keep operations afloat and money in the bank. Since 2005, energy efficiency has been responsible for over half of carbon emissions reductions and is cheaper than finding new electricity sources. By investing in these programs, roughly two cents per kilowatt hour can be saved.

With increased visibility into its operations, Cox identified accounts that were no longer in use, resulting in annual savings of over $43,000.

A great example of an organization using energy data to identify cost savings opportunities is Cox Enterprises. The company used to struggle to maintain visibility into its over 40,000 accounts across hundreds of utility providers. After turning to Urjanet, the company was easily able to collect, reconcile, analyze, and report on its energy consumption and costs. With this increased visibility, Cox identified and removed several utility accounts that were no longer in use, resulting in an annual savings of over $43,000.

Accelerate your energy management program with Urjanet

With Urjanet, organizations can seamlessly power their energy management programs with automated access to detailed utility data. Utility Data for Energy Management enables organizations to ensure data accuracy, improve operations, and easily identify savings opportunities. 

To give your energy management program a boost, speak with one of our data experts today.

 

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

• Beyond The Bill: Refining Your Energy Management Program with Interval Data
• Tackling Campus Energy Management During a Pandemic
• The State of Modern Energy Management

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