Helping landlords become more active in the management of their energy
For way too long, landlords have struggled to quantify the amount of energy their individual tenants use. Harder still, they’ve never been equipped with the tools required to make billing them for their individual usage a streamlined, efficient and accurate process.
Until now, there simply hasn’t been an end to end solution which has enabled a landlord to create individual invoices for each customer – benefiting both parties. As a result, many have shied away from taking an active role in the management of the energy distributed in their building, leaving it to the supplier, causing headaches for tenants and landlords alike.
The root cause of this is a lack of clear data being made available to landlords – data which identifies who’s using what, when and where withing a multi tenanted building.
To overcome this, Unify Energy has developed a unique sub-metering calculation and billion solution, which accurately calculates energy usage, giving landlords granularity and – therefore – greater control over how they bill tenants.
Building occupiers can be treated as the main customer with a direct relationship with their energy supplier, which means they receive a personalised invoice, accurately reflecting their usage – rather than a rough calculation based on their square footage within a building – so they benefit from greater transparency.
Unify Energy team
Additionally, as tenants continue to look to landlords to play a role in helping them achieve greater sustainability and net zero carbon, there is great value in landlords working with transparent energy suppliers. Though the majority of tenants expected to pay the Climate Change Levy, there are some exemptions. With access to clear, accurate data, landlords currently being billed by the energy provider will be able to fairly distribute the outstanding cost amongst the tenants who are subject to paying, rather than footing the bill themselves, making it fairer for all and less of a strain on landlords’ own pockets.
Additionally, changes due to effect DUoS (Distribution Use of System charges) will create a new obstacle for landlords who don’t opt to begin working with an end-to-end energy supplier. Up to now, electricity boards have charged landlords to use their networks on a variable rate based on usage. However, landlords will soon be subject to fixed costs based on bandwidth rather than usage, with buildings placed into bands decided by Distribution Network Operator.
Landlords who aren’t yet taking greater control over the energy supply of their buildings will need to soon if they’re to be able to continue offering tenants a fair price for their energy. Landlords will be expected to estimate the bandwidth require to power their building when it’s at full capacity but will be charged that same level even when the building is empty. By partnering with an intuitive supplier such as Unify Energy, smarter solutions can be put in place to mitigate the effect on both tenants and landlords.
Commercial property energy is a complex arena which is set to be faced with increased regulation and challenges for landlords. Unify Energy is made up of experts who’ve been landlords themselves and who now specialise in the supply of energy, to help create solutions that overcome all the challenges they’ve faced before. As a strategic end-to-end partner, our role is to make life for landlords easier, enabling them to become more active in the management of their buildings’ energy supply without having to commit even more time to it. The outcome is a stronger and more sustainable relationship between landlord and tenant, and landlord and supplier – and is therefore better for all.
