Overview
Established in 1994, Auditel is a leading specialist cost management consultancy. Auditel has helped thousands of organisations throughout the UK and Ireland to reduce financial waste and improve bottom line profits across all areas of business expenditure.
Auditel’s clients range from small businesses to global brands such as the YMCA, Oxford University and Calvin Klein Jeans,managing expenses as diverse as utilities, office supplies, transport, premises and waste.
The company was asked by the Gondola Group, market leader in the UK for the casual dining sector, operating PizzaExpress, Zizzi and ASK as well as BYRON and Kettners, to review how the Group could reduce its energy consumption.
The Gondola Group employs approximately 16,500 people, serving almost 40 million meals a year and has over 700 restaurants, each with individual requirements for energy management.
David Lowe, Auditel Consultant for Gondola for over ten years, explains the motivation for monitoring the Group’s energy consumption, “There was significant fluctuation in Gondola’s energy bills year on year due to estimated readings, and this caused a major headache. Monitoring energy consumption accurately was also an important aspect in being able to comply with CRC legislation and reap the benefits of early action metrics.”
Finding the right partner
In order to gain greater insight into the energy usage of individual restaurants, Auditel needed to work with a partner that could install meters, collect the data, aggregate it and analyse individual restaurant profiles to reduce energy consumption. The company reviewed the market and shortlisted four companies, choosing IMServ,one of the UK’s largest independent energy management providers.
David said, “We chose IMServ over the competition as the company is independent, with an established reputation within the industry, and offers very competitive prices. IMServ has also been a partner of Auditel since 2010 and over the years has impressed us with the first class service it provides.”
IMServ works closely with many FTSE 250 organisations and companies within the commercial and industrial sectors, advising on effective energy management solutions. The company offers a range of monitoring, visualisation and control services that allow businesses to gain greater insight into their water and electricity usage.
Metering Insight
David explains “Gondola has various initiatives in hand to address energy reduction. These range from investing in new and more efficient equipment such as modern fridges and top-end Dyson air hand driers, to changing everyday behaviour, for example only running dishwashers when they’re properly full and only using extractors, fans and air-conditioning when necessary. The Group is particularly keen to focus on minimising consumption out of hours, and the installation of smart meters into every restaurant was fundamental to this goal.”
Now with the help of IMServ, the Gondola Group receives accurate on-line energy information with smart metering and non-half hourly automated meter reading (NHH AMR), making energy management and long term strategies to reduce energy consumption more measureable.
NHH AMR (Non Half Hourly Automated Meter Reading) has enabled the Group to visualise the energy usage of its entire portfolio. Initially energy was monitored on-line by David and head office, however the Group has been keen to give individual restaurant managers full ownership of their energy consumption and management. David explains, “Restaurant managers now have login details allowing them to monitor and review energy trends.
Managers are incentivised to reduce energy cost so it’s in their interest to login and proactively monitor their energy consumption. Understanding these trends has played a big part in reducing consumption.”
AMR offers many benefits. Not only has it improved Gondola Group’s ability to forecast with accurate estimations of future energy demands but it has also provided greater flexibility for tariffs and virtually eliminated the need to query supplier invoices.
Today Gondola Group has access to accurate energy data for almost all of its 700 restaurants. The services that IMServ has provided have helped the Group towards its environmental targets in emission reduction and carbon control, enjoying an 8% electricity consumption reduction year-on-year.