Strata Plus Apartment Energy Initiative

Saving energy costs in strata buildings

It is no longer fresh news that energy prices have more than doubled over the last few years. This has affected all Australians, whether it be personally, in business or in other capacities.

It’s important to note that as strata managing agents we are certainly not experts in energy procurement. So in 2018 Strata Plus engaged with different specialists in energy procurement to address the rising prices relating to common property energy.  After explaining our specific criteria around strata, we sought the best ideas for energy savings.

Due diligence was conducted on Strata Energy Services (SES) a company that focuses on strata.

The three key metrics required from them were:

• achieving maximum savings;
• certainty in the delivery of the savings;
• providing an ongoing mechanism to continue analysis and enable future savings.

The process followed involved the collation of information for SES analysts. This consisted of hundreds of bills that covered thousands of data points. Our clients were divided into two categories: small market sites and large market sites.

Small market sites (<100MWh pa)

SES ran a competitive combined tender encouraging Australia’s top retailers to compete for your business.

We are pleased to report that the identified energy savings equate to in excess of $300,000 per annum.

SES requested that each physical meter be read.  This occurred in April. Noting that meter reading cycles vary between 1 to 8 weeks, we will shortly be able to report on each involved scheme’s individual saving.

Large market sites (>100MWh pa)

Large schemes can participate on their own. As their energy contracts expire SES runs a similar tender practice. Over the last few months, the combined savings for only a handful of schemes has been in excess of $80,000 per annum.  There will be more to come.

Next Steps

Please know that there is support to install smart meters where and if the technology is cost-effective.

The additional good news is that ongoing Bill Validation is part of the service offering. The service has a number of components, including a review of every plan’s bill over the quarterly billing cycle and checking the bill adheres to the savings agreed within the contract.  This removes any unexplained surprises. Missing or late bills are also managed and unnecessary fees are removed wherever possible.

Please be aware that a fee applies for the bill validation service only if your scheme has achieved a cost-saving from this initiative.

Where further savings or initiatives are found, a report is prepared and provided for your consideration via your strata manager. The intent is to seek further savings where applicable. Their analysts are experienced in this area and we look forward to sharing their suggestions.

Any questions, just ask your accredited Strata Plus strata manager.