ENMAT Launches new Meter Reading Entry Service

Envantage have just launched a new service allowing customers’ meter readings to be entered into the ENMAT Energy Management System. 

Users can enter Actual, Customer or Estimated meter readings for electricity or gas supplies. The kWh usage is then reported on with Enmat Energy dashboards, charts and graphs allowing the user to see energy usage in a similar way to an Automatic Meter Read (AMR) in ENMAT from a smart meter. ENMAT uses the same dashboard interfaces for manual meter reads as with AMR’s for simplicity. Energy related data can also be accessed through a number of ENMAT Apps including Android and IOS

The ENMAT Meter Reading Entry Service is an affordable way to manage periodic meter readings and energy billing.

ENMAT Document Library

Alongside this service users can  add supporting documents such as Energy bills, re-bills, and credit notes.

Demo Available

A live demo of this service is available on request.

Click for larger view:

Autumn Statement 2013 CRC And CCLA Update

Climate Change Agreements: Data Centres

The Chancellor George Osborne has granted a concession to Britain’s data centre industry by allowing it to step outside other green taxes and form its own agreement to reduce emissions, while still remaining competitive against the industry in other nations.

The government intends to introduce a climate change agreement for the data centres sector by the end of this year.Data centres will now join over 50 other energy intensive sectors in the scheme, which has been running since 2001.

The climate change agreement (CCA) will reduce taxes on the sector, in exchange for meeting agree efficiency targets. The idea is that high taxes would have made it harder for Britain’s data centres to compete against foreign rivals. The British tech industry body, techUK, welcomed the decision, having fought for a CCA for the industry for some time.

Under the CCA, the sector agrees efficiency targets, at levels where the cost won’t make the businesses uncompetitive. There are around 50 CCAs in operation to date, but the data centre industry’s is the first CCA in a sector which does not manufacture physical objects, techUK pointed out today. The argument took a long time, even though to techUK it has been obvious that data centres face even greater competition since “data is the most mobile commodity on earth”.

The government will also introduce a mixed use exemption from the climate change levy for solid fuels used in certain gasification processes.

Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC): Allowance Prices For 2014-15 – CRC

The CRC Energy Efficiency scheme has published a note on the confirmation of allowance prices and information regarding the Phase 2 April forecast sale. We have reproduced this note below.

Confirmation of allowance prices for 2014-15

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was announced yesterday on Thursday 5 December. In the statement the Chancellor confirmed the cost of CRC allowances for 2014-15 will be priced at £15.60 per tonne of carbon dioxide in the forecast sale and £16.40 per tonne of carbon dioxide in the buy to comply sale.

Registration for Phase 2 window is now open.

Register by 31 January 2014 Registration for Phase 2 is now open. Organisations which qualify for Phase 2 of the scheme must register by 31 January 2014.

Contact Envantage Ltd today for more information www.envantage.co.uk

ENMAT Releases New Smart Meter Range

ENMAT has just released a new range of Smart Meter Solutions to its ecommerce store.

The IP enabled meters with digital inputs/outputs are designed to meet the requirements of both energy managers and electrical engineers.

The ENMAT metering solutions provide a powerful platform to anaylise the power quality yet allows for an extremely flexible communications output to send data to ENMAT Cloud Server Software energy reporting tools.

The useful auto-rotation feature, enables the meters to detect and correct any current transformers that may have been installed the wrong way round.

The various TCP/IP protocols make this the ideal metering solution to interface directly with the ENMAT cloud energy management software and building control solutions.

Go to:http://www.en-mat.com/store/enmat-smart-meters  for more information. 

“You Can’t Manage Energy Costs You Don’t Measure”

ENMAT energy management solutions allows companies to track energy cost, usage and demand to automatically generate reports and identify savings opportunities.

Companies are able to compare and evaluate power usage efficiency across multiple sites, with the aim of reducing costs and minimizing risk. The service can also help building owners validate the results of energy reduction projects.

Monitor energy costs your costs by comparing your previous consumption figures against current and averages. ENMAT calculates usage against site(s) energy supplier tariff costs in many different formats to provide you with enhanced variance reporting graph dashboards.

ENMAT also predicts your Energy Bills based on your consumption data from your Smart Meter before your energy supplier sends you the bill. Allowing you to set budgets and targets throughout your financial year.

Click to view detailed energy bill example:

 http://www.en-mat.com/you-cant-manage-energy-costs-you-dont-measure

Non-invasive/intrusive energy data logger

Easily connect the ENMAT Lite Data Logger to an existing pulse output meter.

For meters with a pulse output, an LED sensor which detects the flashing
usage light on the meter can be supplied with the ENMAT Lite Data Logger and connects directly into the
logger. This effectively turns any electricity meter into a ‘smart meter’.

• Non-invasive/non-intrusive
• No need to cut electricity supply for installation
• No need for additional Smart Meters
• Turns any electricity meter to a “smart meter”

Product Description

The ENMAT Lite Data Logger is a small but powerful Ethernet Data Logger unit supporting pulse outputs for a total of 3x meters. The unit support various energy types such as Electricity, Gas and Water simultaneously.

The data logger has a built in SMTP Email Server to send a daily report of 30 minute readings to ENMAT Cloud based software via  a CSV file which is emailed once daily.

Time Synchronisation with a built in battery which allows  the data logger to synchronise via SNTP to a time server to keep it in sync.

For more information please click here

ENMAT now provides more support for BMS (Building Management Systems)

ENMAT’s Energy and Carbon Monitoring solution now provides more support for BMS (Building Management Systems), other Smart Meter brands and Energy Data Collection and Aggregation.

ENMAT’ are continuously developing seamless integration solutions with BMS (Building Management Systems).

A Building Management System (BMS) is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and security systems. A BMS consists of software and hardware; the software program, usually configured in a hierarchical manner, can be proprietary, using such protocols as C-bus, Profibus, and so on. Vendors are also producing BMSs that integrate using Internet protocols and open standards such as DeviceNet, SOAP, XML, BACnet, LonWorks and Modbus.

ENMAT BMS Integration Solutions

ENMAT provides easy, noninvasive integration solutions where existing BMS systems are installed, allowing the customer to save further money by reducing further hardware and installation costs.

Existing Smart Metering Integration

If you have Smart Metering installed already, but are looking for a powerful software reporting tool then ENMAT can help.

ENMAT provide integration solutions for many existing Smart Meter types including Modbus, Analog, Digital and Pulse output meters to name a few.

ENMAT also has it’s own range of Smart Meters and Data Logging Equipment and therefore can integrate solutions at many levels.

Data Collector/Aggregation and Energy Supplier Integration

ENMAT not only provides sub metering solutions and systems integration with BMS (Building Management Systems), ENMAT also provide many Main metering (MPAN and MPR) solutions and integration with your Energy Supplier and or appointed Data Collector/Aggregation.

Monitoring your main Electricity and or Gas supply is an important step to understand your site’s total electricity/gas usage.

Contact ENMAT today to discuss your monitoring needs

Smart meter warning to business

By April 2014, all Profile Class 05-08 electricity meters and all gas meters that annually use over 732,000 kWh must be replaced by a smart meter (AMR). Around 170,000 electricity meters and 40,000 gas meters will be affected by this UK legislation.

Businesses should take steps now to get smart meters in place rather than leaving it to the last minute. Making informed choices now not only avoids a last minute panic, but potentially also avoids businesses encountering some of the pitfalls attached to smart meters, particularly those offered for ‘free’. These could include paying four times as much for a smart meter solution, by not knowing which offers to take up and which to refuse.

However, businesses must remember there is no such thing as a free smart meter and there could be longer-term implications. Energy suppliers have to pay a metering company for the meter and recover the cost from the customer via the standing charge or unit rates. In reality, the customer may end up paying more than double the equivalent ‘purchase’ cost that the supplier pays.

Additionally, the customer may become locked into a contract with their energy supplier if they accept a free smart meter. The asset is owned by the supplier in this scenario and this could lead to problems if they wish to change supplier. Some energy companies may not take on other suppliers’ AMRs and there could be service issues. Some suppliers will not quote for new supply contracts if they have to take on existing smart meter liabilities. This reduces a business’s options within the energy supply market.

Some suppliers will also mark up the cost of providing data, not only passing on the charges that they incur from the meter operator, but also sometimes doubling them.

Other disadvantages are that the customer does not qualify for Enhanced Capital Allowances if their supplier owns the meter and any problems that they have need to be resolved by firstly the supplier and then the metering company, which can lead to delays in getting resolutions.

It is also more complicated to accept a supplier’s smart meter offer where there is a multi-site operation involved and where supply contracts may be in place with multiple suppliers at different sites operated by an individual company.




Visit the ENMAT Store http://www.en-mat.com/store for more information on our Smart Metering Solutions.

Save energy with monitoring and targeting

You can’t control what you can’t measure, so effective monitoring and targeting is typically an important step in any campaign to save energy.

Many steam users are on the lookout for new ways to save energy as fuel bills and climate change legislation continue to bite. But saving energy isn’t rocket science. Just think about how people and processes manage their energy consumption. It can be an extremely effective strategy. Significant savings can be achieved when users are able to see exactly where energy is being used.

Many organizations find that effective monitoring and targeting (M&T) schemes can shave up to 5% off their energy bills. That’s because simply making an organization’s individual departments or cost centers accountable for their energy consumption puts the impetus for saving onto the users.

Making sense of M&T

Once they’re up and running, M&T schemes typically take factors such as the changing weather or production levels into account to check trends and spot avoidable waste. M&T also helps to highlight promising areas for further investigation, raise staff awareness and encourage the spread of best practices.

Accurate measurements; fast payback

The first step in making users pay for the energy they use is to measure their consumption. The more accurate their metering, the better the control over consumption, and that applies to steam as much as it does to other utilities, such as gas and electricity. The improved energy efficiency that often results from proper metering means that new metering installations typically pay for themselves within two years.

For the most accurate and efficient steam metering installation, the right meter needs to be selected. Steam is a relatively slow-flowing, high-temperature fluid with variable density, often feeding variable demand and with entrained moisture that can damage unsuitable meter types.

Accuracy is obviously important, but turndown—which is the ratio of the maximum and minimum flow rate that the meter can measure—is often an even bigger consideration. Choosing a meter with the largest possible turndown minimizes the chance of ending up with a meter that can’t measure accurately across the required flow range.

http://www.en-mat.com/save-energy-with-monitoring-and-targeting

ENMAT working on new Wireless Integrated Energy Data Logger

The ENMAT team are working on a new Data Logger that will support built in wireless technology.

The new logger will support standard Ethernet, just like the existing ENMAT Data Logger range, however this new unit will also support built in 3G/GRPS connectivity as standard, eliminating the need for additional bolt-on adapters to support 3G functionality.

The new wireless data logger unit will support a ZigBee Pro adoption of this protocol using Modbus.

ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols used to create personal area networks built from small, low-power digital radios. ZigBee is based on an IEEE 802.15 standard. Though low-powered, ZigBee devices often transmit data over longer distances by passing data through intermediate devices to reach more distant ones, creating a mesh network; i.e., a network with no centralized control or high-power transmitter/receiver able to reach all of the networked devices. The decentralized nature of such wireless ad hoc networks make them suitable for applications where a central node can’t be relied upon.

http://www.en-mat.com/enmat-working-on-new-wireless-integrated-energy-data-logger

Mandatory carbon reporting: the implications for business

Some five years ago, Ed Miliband, then climate change secretary, set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 on 1990 baselines. Since then, measures such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) have encouraged British businesses to contribute to the cause.

The introduction of mandatory carbon reporting for quoted companies, announced in June 2012, is the latest initiative. Although some ambiguities are yet to be sorted out, we now know one thing for sure: from October, companies will have to report their global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in their financial reports.

Other questions have been answered too. Additional legislation in the Companies Act makes it the legal responsibility of the board of directors to “state the annual quantity of emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from activities for which that company is responsible”, with severe penalties (up to six months in prison) for any director who makes a misleading or false statement. “Carbon dioxide equivalent” (CO2e) is defined as emissions data from the six main Kyoto gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and hydrofluorocarbons). Defra has also released a methodology for converting, for example, litres of fuel used, number of miles driven or tonnes of waste into kilograms of CO2e.

But what impact will this have? The challenges of data collection, particularly for companies that operate across multiple premises scattered throughout different regions, Can be huge. This is where ENMATCan help.

Because ENMAT is a cloud based software platform it allows us to aggregate energy consumption from multiple sites, even if they are not in the same country.

ENMAT is a single application shared by many companies, allowing us to apply system updates globally simultaneously.

So, to calculate carbon emissions, for example ENMAT uses the DECC Carbon Emissions Factors to provide a more accurate reading of a site’s carbon emissions.

Key to Reducing Energy Costs? Real-Time Energy Monitoring Information

Energy makes up as much as 60 percent of the operating costs of batch and continuous-process plants. Many industrial companies interested in lowering energy consumption have already tackled much of the low-hanging fruit in their facilities, such as putting in more energy-efficient lighting, fixing compressed air leaks, tuning boilers or adding variable speed drives and energy-efficient motors. A more significant opportunity for savings, however, lies in better managing the energy consumed by production processes.

Taking that next step has long been a challenge because of process complexity and the lack of actionable information, but ENMAT is making the job easier. By providing a window into production processes and energy consumption patterns the ENMAT system gives plant personnel new tools to manage energy use in the same way they manage other resources.

Batch and continuous process operations can also use ENMAT to reduce utility charges by avoiding peak demand penalties, using the most cost-effective sources of energy, and generating reliable consumption forecast models.

Managing the demand side According to the U.S. Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS), the process itself uses 84 process of all energy consumed by a process facility, on average. The proportion is even greater in certain industries, such as mining, metals and mineral processing, and water treatment.

What’s more, true process energy optimization often goes hand-in-hand with reduced maintenance costs, less downtime and increased throughput. After all, machines that run less frequently and at lower temperatures tend to break down less often, which essentially yields higher ROI.

Reducing energy costs from production processes requires managing the five most important factors that determine both utility charges and total energy consumption,

These factors are:

1. Energy Event Management. Detection and analysis of process changes that cause consumption to exceed forecast
2. Peak Demand Management. Minimizing peak demand, which triggers higher utility rates or penalties.
3. Scheduled Demand Management. Minimizing costs by shifting demand to lower cost time periods.
4. Idle State Management. Minimizing energy draw during idle process conditions.
5. Demand/Response Management. Offering energy capacity back to the grid per request in exchange for incentives.

ENMAT launches new Energy Management Partner Network

ENMAT have just launched some very exciting changes and benefits to its Worldwide Energy Management Partner Network.

The ENMAT Partner Programme allows resellers to provide their customers with a full suite of Energy and Carbon Management Monitoring tools at affordable prices.

A presentation of the offerings can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDXGTOEB0cc

One of the most notable new features is the Partner Discount option providing 25% discount on all hardware provided on the ENMAT Store as well as discounted prices off ENMAT Editions Subscription Software

Key benefits of the ENMAT Partner Programme include:

• Partnership Profit Sharing – Provides significant cost reductions on list prices.
• ENMAT shares profits made from the end customer with you, the partner. Up to 50% off retail purchase prices!
• Custom branding (your logo) and custom domain name http://yourcompanyname.en-mat.com
• ENMAT Partner Management Portal to manage all your customers collectively.
• Your customers gain worldwide access to ENMAT allowing you to resell anywhere in the world.
• Significant cost reductions on any purchased hardware such as Smart Meters or Data Loggers purchased from the ENMAT Store

ENMAT Pricing:

Software
ENMAT Edition	List Price	Reseller purchase price
Bronze	£200.0	£100.0
Silver	£1,000.0	£500.0
Gold	£2,000.0	£1,000.0
Platinum	Bespoke treated on an ad-hoc basis	Bespoke treated on an ad-hoc basis
Hardware		25% discount on all hardware
ENMAT Apps
ENMAT for Android Phones	Free	Free
ENMAT for Android Tablets	Free	Free
ENMAT for IPhone	Free	Free
ENMAT for Ipad	Free	Free
Optional White Label Branging		One off fee £500 per reseller
*NB prices above are for up to 10 channels. . For sites with 10 or more channels please contact us directly. http://www.en-mat.com/enmat-launches-new-energy-management-partner-network

Energy Management Systems Are Critical for Industrial Companies to Remain Competitive

Industrial energy management systems (IEMSs), which comprise software, upfront services, and ongoing monitoring and management, enable industrial companies to advance their initiatives with regard to cost reduction and improved efficiency. In order to remain competitive or gain a competitive advantage, it is increasingly necessary for large energy users to actively manage their energy consumption and energy procurement activities. This requires detailed knowledge of ongoing energy use patterns and present and future energy consumption requirements, as well as the internal capability to act on that data.

Energy usage is now considered an important data source that can be combined with other business intelligence to provide a more holistic and complete picture of overall business performance.

An Energy Management system enables companies to bring information and knowledge of all aspects of energy-related matters into the present, where cost-effective tactics can be employed before high charges or inefficient usage occurs.

The depth of the capabilities of Energy Management solutions can vary widely. Some solutions are passive and perform only a monitoring and analysis function.

Although an Energy Management Solutions rarely control all or even major portions of an industrial process, it can provide significant input into the control processes themselves.

http://www.en-mat.com/energy-management-systems-are-critical-for-industrial-companies-to-remain-competitive