B2B Energy Ltd
English
Become An Energy Expert
Speak to an energy expert01268 931001
Book A Call With Paul
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Paul Webb
    • Find an Energy Expert
  • Energy Process
    • Review
    • Realign
    • Reduce
    • Report
  • Insights
  • Resources
    • Knowledge
    • B2B Podcasts
    • Energy Expert Books
    • Energy Expert Training
  • Case Studies
  • Events
  • Contact
01268 931001
Back To Insights
Energy Management
Next Insights

Data Collection

By Paul Webb

When delivering an energy management strategy or just simply saving utility costs, this is the most important part of our ...

25 Nov 20

When delivering an energy management strategy or just simply saving utility costs, this is the most important part of our process and in most cases the most difficult. Data often makes people feel unsure, fearing that it is too complex. However, it is essential for visibility of your energy consumption and processes.

You will always hear me say “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”, a phrase often attributed to American engineer W. Edwards Deming. How can you manage energy consumption of a building without understanding what the current consumption actually is? I rest my point.

W Edwards Deming was a leader in quality improvement and responsible for recommending other tools we apply in energy management and these tools are utilised with the ISO 50001 process Plan, Do, Check, Act.

Data is critical when doing energy assessments. But a desire to gather data should not slow the process down. But you should also use your experience and intuition, as an expert. Often when you attend site it is so obvious what is going on and the trends can be identified just through walking the property. The data just provides evidence to back up what you are seeing. In some cases when we look at trends of the history, we ca highlight what the issues are and when did they occurred.

When starting the process of energy management, we need to seek the data. If there is no data available at the time, we need to request indicative annual costs or budgets and backward engineer, the consumption. In this case also you could look at CIBSE Guides[1]. These guides are dated, and many people feel that do not provide good accurate guides. However, they are a good start, especially if you have no data to start with and they are being improved.

Data can come from various places. But you need to make sure it is of good quality data and it is important that the data has been verified.

Below are some of the areas that you can get data from, and the pros and cons of each.

DataPros Cons
Meter readingsAccurate readings and actuals from the site source.Meter not always read consistently. Not easy to find. Sometimes misread.
Half hourly dataDaily access to data and visibility.Data collector not always on top of the collection and Faulty Meter or poor comms.
Bills and invoicesVisibility to how the site is consuming and being billed.Billing not always representative of actuals and shows estimated. Beware of billing errors

In the UK gaining access to data can be difficult but when you are aligned with service ‘partners’ that can gain access to data for example Telex UK who are an energy broker or IMServ Europe a simple letter of authority can enable you to gain access to two Years of data. This may vary based on how many supplier switches the client has made over the two years and would vary from country to country throughout the world.

Data is so important we have developed relationships with software providers to help us gain access to this this data and present it in a format that makes complete sense and understanding to our clients.

For example, if you present an organisation with a list of numbers it will be hard for them to understand what is happening but once you convert the data into a graph it is easier to read and makes much more sense, enabling decisions to be made on the back of it.

The below graph shows a week of Half Hourly, interval data where it has been embedded into a software system.

Once your strategy is implemented ensure that all data is collected monthly and documented on to a data collection document.

I have created many MS Excel reports over my time to assist in collecting the data and many documents to help present into management information. But when you consider daily presentation it is always best to utilise software.


About Paul Webb

Related Insights

11 Oct 21
£1Million Energy Spend = Energy Manager
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
Training plan for the year ahead
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
Goal Setting for ‘Energy Experts’
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
Is this years energy data worth reviewing?
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
Circular economy for renewables – Is this being addressed?
By Kian Thorpe
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
Lockdown
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
11 Oct 21
B2B Energy Crisis – Rescue Pack
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
22 Apr 21
With kWh savings, you do not need ‘Sales’
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
29 Nov 20
Open Mindedness with regards to Energy Management
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
27 Nov 20
Measurement and Verification
By Paul Webb
Energy ManagementMisc
26 Nov 20
Action Plans
By Paul Webb
Energy Management
26 Nov 20
Energy is your 3rd largest expense after buildings and people!
By Paul Webb
Energy Management

Become a Certified Global Energy Expert 

Group 5Created with Sketch. Find out more

If you want to discuss your energy career book a call with Paul.

Back ArrowCreated with Sketch. Book here
B2B Energy Ltd
/

Join Other Energy & Building Managers Getting Monthly Energy Insights By Email​

01268 931001
info@b2benergy.co.uk
Get In Touch
Linkedin-in Facebook-f Youtube
  • About B2B
    • Meet Paul Webb
    • Find an Energy Expert
  • Review
    • Contract Reviews
    • Management Strategy
    • Utility Billing Reviews
  • Realign
    • Energy Assessments
    • Culture and Behaviour
    • Realigning Existing Systems
    • Education
    • Tariff
  • Reduce
    • Project Implementation
    • Action Plan
  • Report
    • Reports
    • Software
  • Insights
  • Knowledge
  • Contact B2B

B2B Energy Limited
Independent utility and energy management consultancy

Company Reg: 05524279
Registered Address: Matrix House, 12-16 Lionel Road, Canvey Island, Essex, England, SS8 9DE>

© B2B Energy Ltd 2022

  • Privacy Policy

website design by Impact Media ® Impact Media

  • EnglishClose
  • Home
  • About B2B
    • BackClose
    • About B2B
    • Meet Paul Webb
    • Find an Energy Expert
  • Review
  • Realign
  • Reduce
  • Report
  • Insights
  • Resources
    • BackClose
    • Resources
    • Knowledge
    • B2B Podcasts
    • Energy Expert Books
    • Energy Expert Training
  • Events
  • Case Studies
  • Contact B2B

SCHEDULE A 30 MIN
FREE ENERGY STRATEGY CALL WITH PAUL OUR GLOBAL ENERGY EXPERT

Book A Call With Paul
Paul