The built environment touches all aspects of our lives, from our homes and offices to places of instruction and entertainment, shopping centres, and factories.

Words Frikkie Malan, Chief Commercial Officer, Remote Metering Solutions (RMS)

The future of utility management in the built environment

The built environment touches all aspects of our lives, from our homes and offices to places of instruction and entertainment, shopping centres, and factories. These spaces, alongside supporting infrastructure like water supply and energy networks, set the stage for all human activity.  

Historically, the built environment has been mostly about buildings and their physical use, with less attention given to adopting digital tools and utilising data to track and systematically enhance the energy performance of buildings.  

Accelerating decarbonisation in the built environment proves crucial for a sustainable future, compelling players in this ecosystem to invest significantly in decarbonisation measures.

As a critical enabler of this transformation, the utility management landscape experiences change at an unprecedented pace.  Currently, much emphasis is placed on innovation and aiding property owners in embracing the transition to clean energy, thereby reducing the “operational” carbon emissions of their buildings – those emissions stemming from heating, cooling, and lighting. 

This evolution, driven by technological advancements, reshapes consumer expectations, shifting the utility management industry from its traditional focus on meter readings and straightforward billing towards a more integrated, dynamic, and sustainable model.

Smart metering drives actionable intelligence

The age-old practice of monthly meter readings is drawing to a close in the face of the modern world’s dynamic and fluctuating energy demands.

Traditional methods and legacy systems no longer suffice to capture the complete picture of energy consumption and building operations, necessitating a shift towards real-time load profile consumption data enabled by smart metering.  

The transition to smart metering isn’t solely about collecting more data; it’s about ensuring accurate, transparent billing and leveraging actionable intelligence to optimise energy usage, reduce costs and downtime, and improve decision-making.   

Real-time analytics of energy consumption data facilitate predictive maintenance by identifying concerns before they escalate.

Valuable consumption data delivered by smart metering enables both effective energy management and streamlined maintenance processes. Decision-making is accelerated, and outcomes are of higher quality.

RMS leads this shift by designing and installing smart metering solutions for retail, commercial, industrial and residential properties as a vital aspect of our advanced utility management solutions. We harness the value of real-time data, offering property owners and managers a detailed view of their energy consumption patterns and enabling proactive and informed decisions.

This represents a fundamental shift in utility management, transitioning from a reactive to a proactive, real-time model, prioritising efficiency and sustainability.

The energy mix of the future is diversified

Reliance on a single grid is outdated, and energy diversification, or using different energy sources to meet demand, has become imperative.  The challenges of load shedding, the urgency of decarbonisation, and the volatility of energy markets demand a more flexible, resilient approach.

Today, the new normal consists of a blend of generators, embedded solar panels, and energy wheeling and storage solutions.  This mix characterises the modern energy landscape, enabling property owners to meet supply needs consistently, smoothing fluctuations, decarbonising their operations and meeting the energy needs of their tenants.

Integrating renewable energy sources with existing systems requires meticulous planning and management and adequate infrastructure and business processes to ensure grid flexibility, demand response, reliability, and efficiency.

RMS designs systems and business processes to seamlessly integrate these diverse energy sources, ensuring property owners have a comprehensive view of their energy infrastructure.  This integration accelerates sustainability efforts and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global endeavours to combat climate change.

Empowering tenants through active participation

Investing in the latest technology alone is insufficient when managing energy usage in buildings, and success often relies on behavioural factors.  The International Energy Agency (IEA) calculated that changing human behaviour and creating awareness can realise up to 25% of energy efficiency potential, and smart metering is an essential technology to provide the information to motivate people to reassess their habits.

The role of tenants in energy management is crucial and undergoing a significant shift.  Most of today’s tenants are informed, environmentally conscious, and financially savvy.  They demand a say in their buildings’ energy sources, with a keen interest in the environmental benefits and financial savings of alternative energy sources.  Investments in the requisite smart metering technology are required to empower tenants to participate and actively take ownership of their usage habits.

Recognising this shift, RMS offers solutions to facilitate tenant participation in energy management decisions, aligning the interests of property owners and tenants in the pursuit of efficiency and sustainability.  This fosters a sense of community and shared responsibility towards energy consumption.

The evolution of utility management

Utility management continues to evolve from a straightforward process of meter reading and bill processing to a complex ecosystem of transaction management.

Navigating this complexity necessitates significant investment in system development, skills enhancement, and business process optimisation.

RMS stands at the forefront of this evolution, offering the technology and expertise necessary to manage the intricacies of modern utility management, redefining the utility management landscape to become more efficient, sustainable, and aligned with contemporary needs.

Uncovering new value propositions

The wealth of consumption data available today presents a goldmine of untapped potential.  However, data remains useless unless it becomes actionable intelligence that provides insight into consumption patterns, behaviour, and system response.

Beyond billing and recovery, data-driven insights are key to unlocking enhanced customer experiences and new value propositions and insights to drive the transition from traditional utility management to a converged solution.  By adopting integrated smart systems, property owners can optimise utility recovery, drive sustainability and benefit from remote, real-time asset management.

RMS leverages data to offer property owners insights into energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, and optimised use of energy-consuming infrastructure, transforming utility management into a strategic asset that drives efficiency, sustainability, and profitability.

The future is now

The built environment is rich with opportunities for innovation and growth, and the utility manager of the future is no longer a distant concept; it’s a reality.

Through the strategic adoption of technology, utility managers redefine the value of their offerings and continue to add unparalleled value to the lives of property owners.  In this new era, utility management is about more than just billing tenants; it’s about driving efficiency, embracing sustainability, and unlocking new opportunities for growth and profitability.

As the industry evolves, RMS remains at the forefront, offering innovative solutions that cater to current needs while anticipating future demands.  Whether a property owner, manager, or tenant, partnering with RMS enables stakeholders to transform their approach to utility management, ensuring efficiency, sustainability, and profitability in an ever-changing world.

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