Background
Scottish Power is one of the UKs largest energy companies supporting over 5 million businesses and households across the country. They are responsible for the provision of gas & electricity in many homes and offices, but also have products in boiler care, plumbing, drain services and electric cars.
Today, they have a sustainable brand. They will soon generate 100% green energy whilst empowering consumers and giving competitive rates. So, it was natural that in 2010 Scottish Power approached Intamac to discuss a connected home product for reducing energy consumption. They could see the future of their company was green, and wanted to ensure they had the technology to deliver on their brand promise.
Today, they have a sustainable brand. They will soon generate 100% green energy whilst empowering consumers and giving competitive rates. So, it was natural that in 2010 Scottish Power approached Intamac to discuss a connected home product for reducing energy consumption. They could see the future of their company was green, and wanted to ensure they had the technology to deliver on their brand promise.
The opportunity
ScottishPower had a vision of a sustainable future. The question was, how could they use existing technologies to help their consumers reduce their carbon footprint? They had already developed products that provided in home display of energy consumption; a meter clamp and a series of smart plugs. These devices could provide information on your energy consumption, but there was no way for their customers to receive timely and actionable insights from anywhere and at any time.
There was a lot of potential to make the data smart. ScottishPower wanted to give their customers the tools to make clever decisions about their energy use. This would empower their customer, and also would position them as a forward-thinking brand who cares about energy conservation.
This was incredibly innovative as ScottishPower were the first to make moves in a digital energy-efficient home. They wanted to do this with a partner who would reduce their risk and increase their speed to market. The faster they had a product, the faster they could understand the core needs of their customers. Using this energy usage data, they could design new tariffs and make other business-critical decisions.
Intamac was a natural choice. We know how to connect products to the cloud at scale and how to derive intelligence from the data. ScottishPower decided to work with us to leverage our platform capabilities and learn from our IoT knowledge.
“ScottishPower were the first to make moves in a digital energy-efficient home.They wanted a partner who could reduce their risk and increase their speed to market.”
There was a lot of potential to make the data smart. ScottishPower wanted to give their customers the tools to make clever decisions about their energy use. This would empower their customer, and also would position them as a forward-thinking brand who cares about energy conservation.
This was incredibly innovative as ScottishPower were the first to make moves in a digital energy-efficient home. They wanted to do this with a partner who would reduce their risk and increase their speed to market. The faster they had a product, the faster they could understand the core needs of their customers. Using this energy usage data, they could design new tariffs and make other business-critical decisions.
Intamac was a natural choice. We know how to connect products to the cloud at scale and how to derive intelligence from the data. ScottishPower decided to work with us to leverage our platform capabilities and learn from our IoT knowledge.
“ScottishPower were the first to make moves in a digital energy-efficient home.They wanted a partner who could reduce their risk and increase their speed to market.”
The solution
This was an exciting challenge. Intamac was keen to find a solution which empowered ScottishPower’s customers and reduced their carbon footprint. To start, we worked with a hardware manufacturer to design a gateway that the clamp and smart plugs could communicate with. This means the data produced from the electricity meter and the devices connected to the smart plugs is easily viewed. In addition, the plugs were controlled remotely from one app.
We wanted to make sure the information provided to the consumer was intuitive to use. This solution produced better insights because it combined device & customer specific data. For example, the engine included billing and tariff data to ensure that ScottishPower users had accurate measurements of the energy consumed, and the costs associated with that. We provided energy usage and insights via a website and mobile applications.
Users didn’t just see energy consumption for the whole home, but they could see their energy consumption breakdown by device. Customers could also set and track their budget. They could proactively monitor their usage to reduce wastage, save money and positively impact the environment on many different levels. This was a unique proposition for the market.
The impact
This was a cutting-edge project for ScottishPower. In 2010, it was the start of the green energy revolution. Companies were looking for different technologies to empower their consumers and reduce energy waste. Through a partnership with Intamac, ScottishPower could provide transparent and personalised actionable insights to consumers whilst increasing trust in their brand through sustainability goals.
This solution was a forerunner to the smart-meters we see some energy companies using today. They had a head-start designing effective ways to provide energy monitoring and insights for energy savings. This meant they could develop new services and appropriate tariffs.
There are many people in the UK who have non-smart meters. ScottishPower are able to help these customers find ways to reduce their bills and their carbon footprint. This particularly affects vulnerable pay-as-you-go energy users, who should also be able to monitor their energy usage to keep their bills down.
Vamshi Lingampally, Chief Commercial Officer at Intamac says: “it was a privilege to work with ScottishPower on this innovative smart-home energy-monitoring solution. I am delighted that after all this time, the solution we developed is still relevant, and helping the end-user.”
This solution was a forerunner to the smart-meters we see some energy companies using today. They had a head-start designing effective ways to provide energy monitoring and insights for energy savings. This meant they could develop new services and appropriate tariffs.
There are many people in the UK who have non-smart meters. ScottishPower are able to help these customers find ways to reduce their bills and their carbon footprint. This particularly affects vulnerable pay-as-you-go energy users, who should also be able to monitor their energy usage to keep their bills down.
Vamshi Lingampally, Chief Commercial Officer at Intamac says: “it was a privilege to work with ScottishPower on this innovative smart-home energy-monitoring solution. I am delighted that after all this time, the solution we developed is still relevant, and helping the end-user.”