EMIS Solutions

Reducing recurring costs is becoming a priority for most businesses in today’s competitive environment. EMIS Solutions come in handy to support business owners reduce energy costs. With Sustainability and Digital Transformation being a rising topic in all corporate strategies, Energy Management Information Systems make the business case more attractive today.

With different energy management solutions on the market, how can you choose the correct one that meets your own business needs?

1 –   Know your requirements

You should deploy the solution that fits your requirements. Start by asking yourself the following question to understand the energy flows that you wish to monitor:

• Do you want to measure and record data on electricity consumption only or do you also want to monitor thermal fuel use such as gas or oil consumption?
• Do you want specific areas and circuits to be monitored?
• Do you want the solution to integrate existing monitoring systems?

2 –   Go for real-time data

You should ask the supplier about what type of data will be available from the solution. Some solutions will provide only quarterly hourly energy data on your building or facility on a site-wide basis, as this is relatively straightforward to collect from energy utility meters. Other solutions will offer far better granularity on energy data collection when it comes to electricity use, offering real-time data not only on a site-wide basis also by area or circuit/appliance. This type of information offers far better scope for identification of saving opportunities.

3 – Do not go for monitoring only

The energy solution should be able to offer much more than just the display of energy data on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Does the solution offer a cloud-based solution accessible from any device? Are there customer support and energy consultancy services provided? Can the solution automatically identify significant energy consumers and discover energy-saving opportunities for you?

4 – Match the solution to your expertise

It is important to understand who will be using the solution. Are the users looking for a complete Building Energy Management System which offers control of equipment and appliances? These solutions can often be over-specified, very expensive and sometimes complex for many people to use. A solution that is intuitive to use, allows you to monitor energy use in the areas you want and facilitates reporting & analysis may be a better option for your business.

5 – Label circuits before installation

Make sure that all energy flows to be monitored are correctly labelled before any works have started, as this is very important to ensure data for particular circuits or areas is reliable.

6 – Understand installation requirements

Ask the supplier if there will be any disruption to business operations during the installation and ensure that the works are carried out by a certified installer.

7 – Plan to engage with the solution

The success of most energy management solutions are determined by the level of user engagement with the solution. Will the users have time to use the solution? Will the users understand energy data or will they need support? Will the users be energy aware and capable of findings energy savings?

Choose an energy monitoring solution that saves time by pushing only relevant information to the users. Not all users will be energy experts so choosing a solution that provides energy analysis support will help those who are not capable of finding energy savings on their own. The appointment of an energy team or energy champion will also promote ownership of energy saving targets or goals and help overall engagement with the solution.