Where funding is required, ENER-G Switch2 (acting as the ESCO) may be able to provide the initial capital investment in the boiler house plant through to the metering and consumer interface units installed in the apartments. The ESCO therefore owns part or all of the heating infrastructure and provides full life cycle operations and maintenance services as well as customer billing and administration functions. Financially, this involves the transfer of capital and operating costs, together with all the technical and operating risks of the plant, from the client to us, the ESCO provider. Initially, following a wide-ranging dialogue with our client partner, we deploy substantial resources to model the financial operation of the scheme over a given contract length. Drawing on our extensive experience in the group heating industry, this model illustrates indicative costs, investment ability, cash flows, tariffs and system efficiencies.

The aim of setting up ESCO projects through partnership arrangements is to deliver sustainable low carbon energy solutions to meet the increasing energy demands in the UK. The nature of the long-term contract delivers benefits to the customer through reduced maintenance spend in addition to lower energy costs. We develop an “energy efficiency partnership” with our customers, which involves educating our clients in their own energy use patterns.

The underlying advantage of an ESCO contract is that the energy services we provide represent the core business activities of ENER-G Switch2 . This has a number of benefits including the availability of technical and commercial expertise, trained and experienced staff, a proven track record and our ability to deliver high level service at low cost.