winter newsletter v3

ECM Newsletter | Winter 2016

Meet Bryony and Ian! Water Competition 2017 Where Are You Using Your Electricity?

Winter Newsletter 2016


Hello Everyone, It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching another Christmas period. We at ECM hope that you are looking forward to the break and wish you all the very best for the New Year. Our offices will be closed from midday Thursday 22nd, reopening on 3rd January 2017.

2017 will no doubt bring new challenges, not least with regard to the latest phase of water competition. Our water management services provide independent advice and a comprehensive solution to manage day to day costs and the journey through competition. Your Account Manager will be in touch with you shortly to discuss the opportunities and tailor your requirements in readiness of the market opening.

The latest meter regulation P272 has brought further opportunities to help you not only manage but minimise your electricity costs. Businesses with electricity supplies with profile classifications between 05-08 profiles are subject to mandatory meter exchanges which will enable suppliers to settle data on a half hourly basis for more accurate billing purposes. These sites will also be required to have meter operator, and DC/DA contracts which will create opportunities to obtain profile data on a day+1 basis.. ECMRemote provides the tools not only to review the energy usage but set alarms against unexpected usage so prompt action can be taken. We are already seeing some very positive results and taking advantage of the availability of data will help you drive down costs and achieve any sustainability targets.

2017 brings forward a milestone for ECM. On the 28th May we will have reached the magic age of 20 and no doubt we will be celebrating the achievements and successes we have been able to provide our customers.

Thank you once again for your support and we look forward to continuing to provide appropriate energy and water management solutions to your business during 2017.

Thank you.

Best Wishes,

It has been a particularly busy year at ECM with the launch of a number of new products and services that strengthen our focus on helping you to manage your energy and water costs.

Energy and Water Industry News

Water Retailer updates

Fracking passed in Lancashire

DONG Energy announced in November that is it going to focus on Offshore Wind and is exiting the oil and gas industry


P272 rollout update

Severn Trent buying Dee Valley

DONG Energy exits the Gas and Oil Industry

Wholesale Market News

The wholesale market has seen some volatility in recent months, impacted by many factors including environmental conditions, legislation and geopolitical events as well as fundamental supply/demand factors having an impact and increasing concerns with security of supply. It is difficult to accurately forecast where energy prices will be in 2017/2018/2019, but many industry experts and commentators expect that we could easily see prices rise by 20% in the next few years.

With access to wholesale market tracking software, this enables ECM to monitor daily price trends and provide our clients with an independent view on opportunities, in order to be able to put you in the position to get the best rates for your contracts.

If you have any questions about your current electricity or gas contract, or you simply want to hear some updates on how the market is going, then please feel free to call one of our Account Managers on 01772 682323, or email [email protected]

P272 is continuing to be rolled out across the country, with a lot of meters being upgraded in October and November. P272 legislation impacts specifically on 05-08 profile classification sites which will be upgraded to 00 (Half-Hourly) site for energy data settlement purposes. In some cases this will result in increased costs and new metering/data collection contracts to contend with. Contact ECM for further information and to find out how we can help you with these matters.

Severn Trent has announced their plans to buy Dee Valley, a neighbouring water supplier to help expand their profile, although there has been some objections from the locals.

Fracking was passed in Lancashire in October despite environmentalists and local campaign groups protesting against the decision. This means that for the first time, UK shale rock will be fracked horizontally which is expected to yield more gas.

In advance of Water Competition 2017, Yorkshire Water retail side has rebranded as Three Sixty, along with United Utilities retail who have rebranded as WaterPlus. We have also seen Regent Gas announce plans to obtain a Retail water licence, whilst Thames Water have announced “I’m Out” and will be exiting the retail market next year.


Water Competition 2017

What is Water Competition 2017?

The English Water Market is de-regulating in April 2017, following from Scotland’s de-regulation in 2008

Your regional water company will no longer be your supplier for “Retail Services”, including billing, customer service, or account management

Each region will have a new “Retailer” to focus on the above tasks, which will be separate from the “Wholesaler” who will continue to provide the water as well as other sewerage and drainage services

Businesses can change their supplier from April 2017 and choose a contract with any retailer in England

If your business chooses not to switch supplier before April 2017 you will be charged a default tariff by your current regional supplier’s new Retail company

If your current supplier has decided to exit the commercial market and you do not switch suppliers, your new supplier will be allocated by the Central Market Agency

The switching process depends on how many sites are in your portfolio, but looking at the Scottish Open Market their switching process is currently within 28 days


Water Competition 2017

How Can ECM Help?

How we can help get you prepared

Manage the tendering process with Retail suppliers

Bill Validation

For more information on our Water Services and how we can help you and your sites prepare for Water Competition 2017 please contact your Account Manager on 01772 682 323

Undertake a retrospective Water and Trade Effluent audit

Compare tenders and advice the best deal for site

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Undertake detailed site consumption analysis with a Data Logger

Reduce site consumption if possible with Leak Detection & Repair

Retail Market Opportunities Experience from the Scottish Market opening in 2008 coupled with our research and communications with English retailers suggests that:

• Initial price discounts won’t be high, they will be most likely between 2-5%

• The best savings may come on the second or third switch, so best to switch early to ensure greater savings in the future

• Retailers advise that they will be focussing at the start on improving customer service and offering Added Value Services. In reality this means that some customers costs may increase when the market first opens.

Having been in the water management industry for 20 years already, ECM are uniquely placed to offer truly independent and expert advice on how to manage and monitor your water, what tariff structures your site should be on, and how to negotiate changes with retailers. Our relationships with water retailers also enables us to procure your new water contract and make sure you get the best, and correct rates.

We can also help you to get your site and account prepared for Water Competition with a variety of our current services, have a look and contact us if any of them are of interest!

Where are you using

your Electricity? What if there was a way that you could see exactly when, where, and how much electricity is being used on your site?


Thankfully, there is! ECM can log sub meters across your site to enable you to view on Day+1 dashboards exactly where on your site electricity is being used, how much, and when it was in use. This helps to see if lights are being left on overnight when there is no one working, and any general misuse of the facilities. You will also have access to a dashboard on ECMRemote where you can view the usage through your Main meter, as well as all of the individual sub meters. Alarms will also be raised if the expected usage level, during particular times of the day, have been exceeded.

Level 1

Level 2


Level 3

Level 4

ECMRemote is our online portal which provides you with dashboards to enable easy monitoring and management of your utility costs and/or usage. You may not know that there are various levels of ECMRemote depending on what you want to monitor. Find out more below:

Level 1 provides you with information of cost and usage based on your utility invoices. It also enables you to submit direct readings to us for your meters to help us validate bills, and submit to suppliers.

Level 2 provides you with dashboards showing profile usage from your meters, whether this is water, a logged gas meter, or a HH electricity meter, we can gather the data and upload it to the dashboard so you can see how much you’re using every day.

Level 3 is the extension of the system, providing you with all the fundamentals of Level 2 but with additional visibility on all profile data from any sub-meters installed.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!

Level 4 is our latest addition to the dashboard suite, which helps to monitor your Compressed Air usage on site.

Meet Bryony and Ian!

Ian Teunion— Accounts and Business Development Executive


“I’m one of the newest members to the ECM team having been here for 5 months. I’m enjoying the role, and very recently had the pleasure of taking on an additional role of Account Manager. I believe in strong customer satisfaction, relations and ensuring that clients are well looked after and experience high levels of service on an ongoing basis. I’m excited to be able to provide this for ECM’s clients in both a Business Development and Account Manager role. When I’m not in the office dealing with energy matters I can be found out and about on my bike cycling around Lancashire, or walking my dog Asia around Kirkham.

As an associate member of BH&HPA, ECM regularly attend member events and myself and Steve recently attended the Cumbria Branch meeting and the Scotland Conference. We’ll also be attending the BH&HPA Annual Conference next year in Birmingham on the 1st and 2nd February.” For more information on events Ian will be attending next year, keep an eye on our Twitter account or feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn at /ian-teunion

Bryony Brogden— Accounts and Project Executive

“I have been working as part of the ECM Team since July and am really enjoying the role and learning lots every day. My main role is to look after the Water solutions that ECM provides; looking after the Data Loggers we have installed, managing any installations, and processing the daily water alarms. You might recognise me from your alarm emails, or from the follow-up email I’ll send after three days of high usage giving you detailed information on the costs, and also offering you the services of our ECM engineers for leak detection works. The data logger service has been a massive help to a lot of our customers, saving them sometimes thousands of pounds, and it’s great to know that I’m a part of that! Outside of work I like to socialise with friends, go to the gym and work out. I also enjoy reading and spending time with my dog, Ella.” For more information on our Water solutions, keep an eye on our Twitter account or feel free to connect with Bryony on LinkedIn at /bryony-brogden

Prepare for Summer


We know how important these winter months are to help get your site prepared for summer when you run a Caravan or Leisure Park, with that in mind we have the perfect solutions to get your site ready and prepared for efficiency and water usage tracking through the new year:

PoolProPlus measures and monitors utility usage and environmental performance in swimming pool halls, this includes the water consumption, water temperature, air temperature and humidity monitoring. Similar to our Data Logger service, you will receive alarms when a measured element exceeds the expected levels. PoolProPlus helps to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the environmental performance and s standard of your pool hall.

SmartNetPlus is an extension to our Data Logger service, enabling you to create sub-networks and break your site down into discreet areas. Data Loggers are placed at key locations on sub meters in order to create smaller areas to monitor. It comes with a man-aged alarm service for each individual monitored location on the network, and helps to identify and locate water leaks quickly.

Water Audits Let our analyst's complete a water audit on your site to see if there are any anomalies that can be found on your bills, historic refund opportunities, or ways to improve your efficiency. Making sure that you are on the correct rates and tariffs is just one step to reducing your water costs. We have developed a bespoke in-house system to enable us to complete a thorough water audit on sites no matter what supplier they are with.

ECM News

Some of you may know that our Data Administrator, Katryna Barnes, has been on Maternity Leave recently—we have good news! She had a

bouncing bundle of joy called Evelyn on the 14th October 2016. Congratulations to Katryna and Family from us all at ECM!

In the meantime, why not have a look at our updated website and follow us on social media for market information, up to date ECM news, and lots more!

www.ecm-uk.com @ECM_UK /energy-cost-management/


ECM Man; Launching February 2017

How old do you think we look? ECM turns 20 on the 28th May 2017! Watch out for celebrations!

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