Energy Management
By metering and monitoring your business energy use, we can reduce energy exposure and keep your energy costs down
Reduce energy exposure and keep your energy costs down
Large power users have complex monthly bill charges and higher exposure to potential costly mistakes. Most businesses aren’t aware there are multiple companies who pass on charges to your energy retailer for them to model and pass on to you. Unfortunately, this commonly leads to incorrect bill charges, be it overcharges or undercharges.
Many of us take for granted the finer details around organising power for our office, factory or site, and focus only on securing a good energy rate. But what you aren’t aware of could be costing your business in the long run.
We provide expert guidance and services that put in place those essential checks and balances that could be adding unnecessary extra spend to your bill.
SHIELD Metering and Monitoring
Our unique SHIELD metering and monitoring service helps mitigate the risk and exposure of large market bill charges, while also providing valuable insights and proactive measures to ensure you are always in control of your business’ energy expenditure.
By default, you have a metering charge on your energy bill from which you receive zero value in return. Shield metering and monitoring is simply added to your metering charge, and at the same time provides you with insights, reports and a dedicated account manager that put you back in control of your business energy needs. This continued value empowers you with the opportunity to validate energy bills, and continually monitor your energy usage without stress - simply set and forget, and let us identify the strengths and weaknesses.
86% of our business customers have chosen SHIELD metering and monitoring for their business.
Our partnerships with accredited metering providers provides you with not only the ability to secure control over your meter and energy data, but also the capability to upgrade the meter to include proactive monitoring services, ensuring your total bill charges are under control, and cost reduction opportunities are capitalised on.
Shield metering and monitoring makes your meter work harder for you, and provides tangible results when it comes to saving money on energy usage.
What can you expect from SHIELD metering and monitoring with Choice Energy? Let’s break energy metering and monitoring down into its essential services:
Energy Bill Validation
A typical large-market energy bill is comprised of:
1. Energy Retail Charges
2. Network Charges
3. Environmental Charges
4. Market and Meter Charges
Bill Validation aims to validate whether the array of charges have been modelled correctly, including verifying billable consumption data against actual meter data.
In plain terms, we’re here to ensure what you’re charged for is what you have actually used.
Bill validation aims to diffuse this exposure in the form of a monthly report identifying when charges are outside a tolerance range. In the event we identify an overcharge, Choice Energy negotiates a bill credit.
“At a time when everyone could use a little help to save a dollar, Choice Energy helped our business find a new Energy retailer at the same cost, without incurring the annual increase proposed by our old energy retailer. Included was independent metering to be able to verify bills easily and the process also helped us get a demand reset as part of a solution that delivers our business a saving of over $20,000. These guys can handle everything…Great job Choice Energy.”
— David Maillard, Financial Controller, Beaconsfield Home Timber & Hardware
Network Tariff and Demand Assessment
Charges outside your retail contract, such as demand and network charges, account for roughly 60% of your total bill cost. Without independent monitoring, there is no way of maximising savings on these components of the bill.
Many business operators don't realise these charges are independently negotiable outside your existing retail contract, and networks review and often increase these tariffs annually.
This means if your business energy use has changed since the tariff was set – for example you’ve taken over a new site from a larger energy user, you may be eligible for a lower network tariff which could save you tens of thousands of dollars.
Your Dedicated Account Manager
When your energy accounts are powered by SHIELD, you’ll have your own personal account manager to help you navigate through the complexity of bill charges, including the management of contract transfers and billing enquiries.
As an active participant of the energy market, your dedicated energy manager will:
- Formulate procurement/go-to-market strategies to secure you the lowest energy rates, while avoiding exposure to higher energy costs
- Keep you abreast of energy market conditions, including key events (risk-based) whilst tracking the wholesale cost of power which directly impacts your business as a large energy user
- Deliver support to navigate complex bill charges
- Assist with contract transfers and billing enquiries
- Investigate unforeseen charges or back dated bills.
We’re a team dedicated to education and full spectrum knowledge, which means your account manager can also offer general energy advice, like market or retailer notices of forthcoming changes or investigate unforeseen charges or backdated bills.
Dedicated account managers are for all of our customers, both electricity and gas, as well as any small market energy accounts. When an energy account is protected by SHIELD, all future procurement exercises and general assessment charges (up-front fees) are waived where ordinarily applicable.
FAQs about Metering and Monitoring
How is the metering fee billed?
The Independent metering via Choice Energy is simply added to your existing metering line item charge on your bill. You don't pay Choice Energy directly, so won’t see a change or interruption to the way you view and pay your bills.
How does Shield help me save on my network costs?
Many businesses believe that their network charges are pass-through costs from a distributor, which are placed on their electricity bill, and more importantly, that there is nothing they can do about them. The fact is, most distribution networks have multiple tariffs that are designed based on a business’ load. But as clients' energy load and demand changes, oftentimes their tariffs have not been changed to reflect their current usage profile creating an opportunity to save money by switching tariffs. Choice Energy reviews these tariffs twice a year and can make change for you at no additional cost.
Why should I use Choice Energy's metering over the retailers?
Most people change retailers every few years to get a better deal. As these relationships change, the one constant you should keep is your relationship with your independent energy broker, who can make sure your charges are always fair and reasonable. Unfortunately, energy bills can be incorrect and that's fine if it means you pay less, but like most errors, they tend to leave customers out of pocket. The metering marker was deregulated via the 'power of choice' movements.
Many people use a mortgage broker to hold the banks to accounts: this is no different. As we’re an independent body, we’re here to look out for you.
How often are my bills checked?
Every month we check 58 data points on your energy bill and send you a detailed report confirming your bills are current or highlight any errors which we will endeavour to have corrected for you.
I’ve had metering and monitoring done before and it was just useless reports sent to me. How is this any different?
We know you are busy, and part of our role is to ensure you are given essential information without burdening you with extra priorities or confusing industry jargon.
We go beyond merely issuing the reports by actually reading the assessments ourselves and undertaking corrections and conversations with the retailer on your behalf. That way, you can know you’re in safe hands and someone is looking out for your energy needs, without you having to lift a finger.
Further Your Energy Efficiency
The national energy market in Australia functions in a way that high energy users are tied to the discretion of power providers, confusing energy bills and increasingly volatile pricing.
As the trend of increasing wholesale power prices continues, Choice Energy is dedicated to keeping your operations energy efficient. By helping you use less, we’re your assurance against future energy price hikes, and keep you proactively aware of opportunities when they arise.
Choice Energy is accredited with the Clean Energy Council which provides us with the ability to both assess your eligibility for solar and secure government funding on your behalf, both State and Federal.
Let us go beyond your grid-energy usage. Our accreditation with the Clean Energy Council provides us with the ability to both assess your eligibility for solar, and secure both state and federal government funding on your behalf.
As a result, we keep abreast of what grants are available for you, and can perform a no cost feasibility study on your site upon request. This allows us to identify if solar would be a viable outcome for your business and its values. If not? We won’t recommend it.
Choice Energy provides turn-key solutions in the following key areas: Commercial Grade Solar, Battery storage, Power Factor Correction and LED solutions.
Are you being overcharged for your energy use?
