Energitjänster - med kunden i centrum.pdf - Svensk Fjärrvärme

13
ENERGITJÄ NSTER – MED KUNDEN I
CENTRUM
climate to its tenants where 21 degrees Celsius were included in the rent. If the
tenants would like to have it warmer, they would have to pay more and if they could
keep a lower temperature they would have to pay less rent. A managed service of
lighting was also discussed, but homeowners and condominium associations were not
so interested in this because lighting was considered to be an important part of the
interior which they wanted to influence themselves.
When it comes to education the homeowners and condominium associations
thought it could be good to get more information of how to adjust the district heating
substation. The condominium associations were interested in letting the energy
company come and visit them and talk about how to save energy in daily life. They
were also interested in courses in how to run housing and how to think strategically
about economic issues in the condominium association. The real estate companies
emphasized that the utilities have an important role to disseminate information on its
activities to the tenants, that is, to the customer’s customers. They also showed
interest in education or information about new energy technologies and information
to tenants in how to save energy in daily life.
The interest in financial service in connection with energy efficiency - for example
loans or leasing technical equipment - was largest among homeowners and to some
extent to the condominium associations. Not all homeowners do have the possibility
to borrow on their house. The possibility to lease equipment could eventually make
homeowners more likely to dare try new technologies. It was not seen as
controversial by any of the target groups that energy companies offer financial
solutions to energy related investments. The real estate companies did not appear to
have any greater need for financial services in the energy company’s management,
though.
The question of whether a district heating company is credible as an ESCO or not
was raised at the end of each interview. The study showed that arguments for low
credibility exists, but that these were more pronounced in the associations of SABO
and Fastighetsägarna Göteborg Första Regionen and by the energy adviser who
worked at the Energy Authority in Skåne, than in the interviewed homeowners,
condominium associations and real estate companies involved in the interview study.
Perhaps this discrepancy shows that these associations also have to make their case
from a political perspective.
The problem of credibility can be divided into three different arguments:
Questioning of the energy utilities’ motives for offering services which aim to
improve energy efficiency among customers when they live by selling energy.
Questioning of he district heating companies’ expertise in the energy service sector,
especially in areas outside the district heating companies’ core business such as
property management or energy efficiency measures. It was also considered a risk
that the energy company would have a vested interest in what energy measures to
suggest, thinking more from the benefit for the whole energy system than for the
customer.
On the other hand there were also arguments that indicated that an energy
company would be a very reliable energy service provider. One thing that several