The UK subsidiary of Dutch energy company Eneco is to change its strategy and focus more on energy “as a service”, the firm has announced.
Eneco UK owns a number of renewable generation assets with a total capacity of 210MW with a substantial amount more in various stages of planning. Having established a base of assets, the company is to now focus on developing platforms and services for retail and business customers.
The company will work with “selected partners” on the transformation and its current UK director Guy Madgwick is to step down from the business. He will be replaced by Zoisa Walton on 1 January 2016 having previously served as Madgwick’s deputy.
Parent company Eneco operates a similar model in the Netherlands. There it partnered with Quby, a manufacturer of smart thermostats, and added a distribution chain to its business. Eneco offers customers the device, charges them for the technology and installation and offers various energy management services under a subscription model.
Since offering the services Eneco reported a substantial increase in customer satisfaction, while the new business also completed its operations as a utility. Margins on electricity supply are notoriously low, particularly in the UK where the ‘Big Six’ utilities report margins of between 2.5 and 5%.
This, Quby chief commercial officer Ronald Carpentier claimed, is driving many electricity suppliers and utility to investigate new, more lucrative business models such as service management.
