There’s something important that Energy-Tec wants commercial property asset managers, residential strata managers and property owners to know and that is, as a highly innovative company with proven methods to account for energy in property, it could be saving them substantial costs on power, in addition to reducing their carbon footprint with green energy.
Energy-Tec has been operating for 28 years, founded by a former State Energy Commission of WA (SECWA) employee who started the company to fill a niche when SECWA progressively ceased reading sub meters and created the first embedded networks.
That service, with vastly updated technology, remains at heart of Energy-Tec; reconciling energy and water use in commercial and residential strata properties. In retail settings, (some of WA’s biggest regional shopping centres are among clients including Karrinyup and Cockburn Gateway), it means reconciling tenant and common area usage against the master account for the entire property. In the residential strata market the same premise applies, where tenants pay energy costs for their unit and the costs of energy use in the common areas is shared.
However, Energy-Tec Managing Director Damien Moran says the company has expanded to offer much more. It can facilitate big cost savings for clients through strategies like upgrading dated electrical and metering infrastructure, project managing the bulk purchase of energy and introducing renewables like solar to reduce overall costs while creating an income stream for both commercial clients and residential strata clients.
“Our technical division also deploys advanced metering systems into buildings. We've improved the accuracy and the transparency within those buildings and support them as they start generating renewables to allocate those costs appropriately,” he explains.
He says many commercial properties would benefit from Energy Tec’s Energy Roadmap which starts with an auditing process into replacing outdated metering infrastructure and switchboards if they are at ‘end of life’ to ensure accurate metering and billing. It then procures electricity economically and upgrades to incorporate renewable sources like solar.
“We are specialists in establishing if a property is sub metered correctly and support our clients with solutions that correctly allocate energy to the right end user,” Mr Moran explains.
He says in the residential strata sphere, hundreds of residential strata companies in WA currently take advantage of the costs savings arising from establishing an ‘embedded network’ however there are thousands more that could also benefit.
“Currently, if you have a ‘green title’ home you get an electricity retailer account; it’s the same for these multi-unit dwellings. However, the multi-unit developments have a choice under the Electricity Act to bulk buy power off any provider and save money. They can continue to sell to residents at the same tariff and apply the balance to their sinking funds for other capital works and upgrades,” Mr Moran explains.
An embedded network is a privately owned electricity network contracted to an energy retailer and supplying all lots within a strata scheme or commercial property. The strata company can own or lease the network hardware serving each lot and most importantly can take advantage of securing reduced energy costs via access to the deregulated energy market as a collective.
“When we go to market for pricing on behalf of a client, we then procure it and the client has a supplier end-user contract with the provider. Energy-Tec is not involved in that contract. We don't on-sell that electricity, we are simply the contract facilitator,” he says.
“Under that arrangement the strata company can buy energy for the entire property, which is cheaper than buying it under the tariff structure. It can appoint a third party like Energy-Tec, as a billing services agent to read and reconcile meters and generate the tenant statements. Then we can integrate electrical infrastructure upgrades and renewable energy solutions from suppliers who we know and trust.”
“In the case of solar power, we don't sell the solar infrastructure but rather project manage the installation; going out to the market on behalf of our clients and come back to them with the supplier who has the best solution and price.
“If you own the embedded network, the solar generation energy which sits behind the Western Power utility meter can offset the purchase of grid electricity.
“That is more sustainable and reduces the property’s energy footprint which is something consumers are calling for more than ever before.
“Embedded Networks can also introduce electric vehicle charging, which is an emerging market and can be supported by onsite renewable generation, not just grid generation.
“Here in Gwelup Shopping Centre, where our office is located, we've deployed solar, battery and EV charging for the Centre owners. We've got working examples that were deployed partly for the purpose of developing and refining billing solutions for our clients across these emerging technologies.”
