Data + Analytics: Connecting Energy Usage to Your Business Goals
After you understand the different types of organizational emissions, and you have begun to set your sustainability goals, it is time to develop an actionable strategy to achieve those goals. However, you can only proactively manage utility costs, understand trends, and develop strategies to optimize spend once you take control of your most significant asset: your energy consumption data.
Analyzing data can be time-consuming, costly and challenging–and very few companies are equipped to handle this in-house. Utility bill management platforms have become increasingly important tools for understanding energy expenses, finding areas of efficiency, and streamlining and reducing operating costs.
Utility bill management platforms provide detailed insights into energy usage. This allows companies to identify areas of high energy usage and to take steps to streamline and reduce operating costs in those areas. At a high level, these platforms allow companies to aggregate, simplify and ultimately optimize their energy usage and identify trends including:
- Aggregate and verify utility bills: Manually reviewing utility bills across multiple providers creates room for errors. These platforms can compile all line items on energy bills to create a standardized review and analysis of usage, as well as verify each line item for accuracy. These platforms should compare and verify the utility tariffs for a company’s facility.
- Simplify user experience. The best utility bill management platforms provide an intuitive user experience. Standardizing energy bills across multiple utilities provides a simpler review and analysis of energy usage and expenses. Further, the platforms can create a comprehensive expense profile with custom reporting on data based on tailored goals.
- Generate detailed reports and analytics. Beyond simplifying the user experience, utility bill management platforms provide that baseline and insights into areas for improvement or energy efficiency opportunities, especially for a franchise, university or other organization with large-footprint and widespread energy consumption. Data insights can compare various facilities to identify trends, changes or anomalies in energy usage, then inform strategies for optimization.
Among these increasingly popular utility management platforms is Constellation Navigator’s Utility Bill Management Platform (UBM), which is a fully automated solution, proactively managing utility costs, understanding trends, and developing strategies to optimize spend. For example, a company could leverage Constellation Navigator’s UBM platform to identify areas where lighting is left on unnecessarily and implement a policy of turning off lights when they are not needed.
Constellation Navigator’s UBM platform can help companies benchmark their energy usage against those of similar-sized companies in their industry. Companies can identify areas where they are using more energy than their peers and take steps to reduce their usage.
Utility bill management platforms provide a range of benefits for companies looking to manage their energy usage. These platforms give companies power to take control and turn your utility data into one of your most valuable assets, proactively manage utility costs, understand trends, and develop strategies to optimize spend across the entire billing and payment lifecycle.
To start proactively taking control of your energy data with Constellation Navigator’s UBM platform, contact us today.
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Ready to work with energy experts who have the tools to easily connect your energy usage to your sustainability goals? Constellation can help your organization set a pathway to a more sustainable future.
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