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This resulted in the campuses reducing their electricity
costs by 15 per cent. Subsequently, these savings have
been used for further energy management activities.
Recent wins have been both diverse and technical in
nature. Examples include –
• Project managing the replacement of Lord Howe
Island’s $400,000 powerhouse control system for
future development of energy demand requirements
• Standby generation management and audit plan for
18 regionally-based State Emergency Services control
centres
• Implementing efficiency measures at Wollongbar
TAFE, which resulted in 13 per cent reduction
in energy use in first six months – campus now
recognised as a benchmark for others.
energy answers is also assisting retail sales in
increasing gross margin, by leveraging energy efficiency
services when retaining and acquiring retail contracts,
and is implementing a purpose-built customer
relationship management system to provide the
highest possible customer and supplier services.
Future goals – build on relationships with retail
account managers to increase customer numbers and
retain existing clients. Expand into Uninterrupted Power
Supply (UPS), stand-by generation and co-generation
markets.
Environmentally friendly hot water
In conjunction with the Local Government and Shires
Association (LGSA), energy answers has promoted a
competitive offer for Quantum hot water heat pump
systems. The systems significantly reduce water and
heating costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and to
date, more than 900 contracts for their installation have
been secured.
Unlike other solar water heating systems that rely on
heat from direct sunlight, the Quantum system uses
heat pump technology that recovers solar energy from
the warmth in the air, so it can heat water 24 hours a
day, rain, hail or shine. Each unit can produce up to
2,800 litres of hot water every day and uses less than
one third of the energy of conventional electric hot
water systems, significantly reducing running costs.
Future goals – realise the Quantum hot water
product’s benefits by promoting it to more local
councils, TAFE campuses and other education facilities.
Electronic billing
Country Energy heralded a new era in billing for
business customers by launching an online electronic
billing service in June 2005. The hassle-free, one-stop
account management system enables customers to
receive and download their account information via the
web, potentially replacing paper bills.
Designed initially with the needs of large business in
mind – particularly those managing multiple sites – the
service is quick and user-friendly. It allows customers
to view and print tax invoices, download information for
analysis and upload data electronically into their own
financial system. Gone are the days of time-consuming
administrative processes and manual data uploads.
Future goals – expand service to meet growing
demand in the residential market.
Some things just go together
Bundling of products is a selling point sought by many
customers. To meet this demand, we launched a new
dual-fuel campaign to promote the company as a
provider of electricity, gas and LPG – attributes that add
value to the Country Energy brand. The campaign plays
on the idea that ‘some things just go together’, like a
shoe and sock, knife and fork and gas and electricity.
Positioning ourselves as a dual fuel supplier has
become an important goal, with research indicating
that customers prefer to deal with one supplier.
We also conducted a natural gas direct mail campaign
in a number of townships to increase the number of
dual fuel customers.
Roll out of LPG gas
Our LPG customer base continues to grow and now
stands at 3,600. For the year ending 30 June 2005,
Country Energy had acquired 2,178 new customers.
Future goals – continue to expand the LPG business.
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COUNTRY ENERGY ANNUAL REPORT 2004–2005