Whenever we poll energy buyers about their biggest concerns about energy, the responses are “controlling costs”, “managing out-of-control costs” or a general concern about “rising costs”. There is always a concern that energy costs are completely out of control, and are impossible to predict and manage. That doesn’t have to be true.

The Megawatt Hour has developed a verified 3 step process that delivers predictable, reliable energy expense management results. We explain the first step in the process, below. But first, some analysis as to why energy cost management has been so challenging.

What’s the problem?

Data Access. In the past, it has been difficult to get access to actionable information for your facilities. There is a data management problem. Some customers have hundreds of utility accounts to manage– and that largely takes place in Excel.

It is nearly impossible to actually derive information from data if you have to spend all your time manipulating it in spreadsheets or digging it out of filing cabinets.

The Federal Government took a step in the right direction and worked with utilities to put a “Green Button” program in place that seems to be more effective for residential customers and isn’t as well suited to large customers with multiple accounts. Utilities are not information companies, they have pipes, wires, billing systems to manage. It can be challenging to get anything from utilities other than paper or pdf documents.

What can be done?

Step 1. IlluminatedInfo

The first step, called IlluminatedInfo, involves getting out of spreadsheets and paper bills and getting into the world of automated, regularly-updated information (and not just raw data). You have to find a way to transform spreadsheet data into actionable information. Get access to your usage and cost forecasts in a way that supports a decision making process. That will allow you to quantify the benefit of making various energy investments and decisions, and will set you up to continuously manage and lower your costs.

Next week… Step 2 in the MWh process…

Bottom line for businesses: There is a simple process for bringing reliable, predictable results to your energy costs. This is not rocket science. It starts with good, reliable, updated information.