Using Planet Footprint as an EPC watchdog at Blue Mountains City Council
(CAS01)
Summary
Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) are a great way for organisations to reduce energy and greenhouse emissions and save money with no capital outlay. But customers can be at financial risk if actual savings are less than those predicted by the EPC contractor. Do you really want your energy contractor to verify their own performance? If you've entered into an Energy Performance Contract (EPC) for one or more properties you will be contracted to pay the contractor the first few years of the estimated savings. It makes very good sense to independently verify these claimed savings against what you are actually saving. The difference can be alarming.
Applies to
Any facility with yearly energy consumption costs of $5,000 or more.
Blue Mountains City Council has entered into two energy performance contracts over the past 7 years. The EPCs were applied to Council's top ten energy consuming properties, and involved the upgrade of lighting, air conditioning and heating infrastructure with the aim of substantially reducing Council's energy consumption and spend for these properties.
The EPC works were completed as scheduled, and Council made payments to the EPC firm based on savings calculated in advance by that organisation. Within a few months of commencing these payment instalments, Council staff expressed concern over their inability to objectively verify if the EPC had in fact achieved the level of energy and financial savings stated by the contractors.
"Our staff were confident that we were saving as a result of the EPC. We just couldn't independently verifiy the exact savings for our senior management team and elected members" said Rosemary Dillon, Manager of Corporate and Community Services.
Council turned to its Planet Footprint service and reports and with support from Planet Footprint's team, undertook a review of the savings reported by the contractors against those actually achieved by Council, as shown in the Planet Footprint reports. In particular, Council analysed the precise performance data and trends displayed in the Planet Footprint Property Footprint Reports (Energy) for each of its EPC properties.
Council quickly identified the savings it has made through the EPC, and has been able to develop clearer options for future actions. This includes consideration of a revolving energy fund for the organisation. Council's confidence has been boosted by the fact that past and future savings can be independently measured by an objective third party - Planet Footprint.
"We got the evidence we needed from our Planet Footprint Reports, and were able to demonstrate these savings to our elected members" said Rosemary Dillon.
Planet Footprint's analysis also enabled Council to quickly identify any discrepancies between the savings forecast to be achieved by the contractors, and the actual savings achieved as reported by Planet Footprint.
The success of the review also prompted Blue Mountains City Council staff to implement a process where Planet Footprint's reports are used in an ongoing way to monitor the accuracy of quarterly EPC contractor savings claims.
"As well as meeting our EPC requirements, it is also reassuring to know that these savings are automatically showing up on Planet Footprint Reports that are used by other parts of our organisation to make other decisions and meet other reporting requirements".
Reports used by Blue Mountains City Council to verify the success of their EPC included:
- Service Detail Data Reports - Electricity and Gas
- Property Footprint Reports for each property under an EPC
- Organisation Footprint Report - Energy
See also
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