Customer Update
Thank you for taking the time to read the July version of the customer update. As mentioned last month, the aim of these updates is to keep you informed of changes in the energy market that may affect you going forward. As you know, at Zenergi we cover a wide range of sectors from Schools, Healthcare, Property Management, Housing, Industrial, Commercial and much more! We understand that not all the content in these updates will be relevant to everyone. However, each month we will try to tailor the information to ensure every industry is kept up to date.
School Holiday and Availability
With the summer holiday fast approaching we are asking all schools to contact your Relationship Manager with your availability over the next 6 weeks. Some of you may still have renewals outstanding that we are required to complete before you return in September, and if not sorted on time you risk falling into expensive out of contract rates with your supplier. We will also need to know who we should contact you if we experience problems with billing or with your supply over this period, when we know some of you will be enjoying a well-earned break.
Energy Markets
We’ve seen a continuous rise in the energy markets over the past few months with Oil, Gas and Carbon prices rising almost every day. Many factors are playing a part in the increases such as unplanned outages and unexpected rise in demand for gas at this point in the year. Unfortunately, due to these rises, contracts across the industry have experienced larger increases at renewal.
We hope to see a positive change in the market in the near term with the OPEC nations agreeing to increase the supply of oil to 400,000/barrels a day. That said, we believe the markets will likely remain volatile until certainty on supply is restored.
For further information and regular updates on changes in the market please visit our Market Watch website.
Flex Purchasing
Many customers have decided to join our flex purchasing framework to enable them to purchase their energy in smaller tranches, as an alternative to accepting a large fixed increase for the next 12 months or more.
The flex baskets enable any company, of any size or sector to join and fix the non-commodity cost for the contract period. We optimise the purchase of your energy in smaller tranches to take advantage of the movement of the markets.
You do remain in control by agreeing a realistic target cost we will then aim to achieve throughout your contract period. We will always aim to improve on this cost, but it is market dependent of course. That said, you will receive quarterly updates on what has been purchased and how we are performing towards the expected budgeted cost.
For further information on the flex purchasing products we offer, you can read an overview here. If you are interested to discuss flex at your next renewal, please contact your RM.
Debt with the suppliers
In recent weeks we’ve seen suppliers actively chasing customers for debt on their accounts. At Zenergi we do our very best to protect all our customers from being hounded by the suppliers for payment. That said, customers do have a legal obligation having used the energy to make payment on time and keep their accounts up to date.
Your Relationship Manager is always on hand to help with ensuring your account is up to date. They can help provide statements or accounts and copy invoices for you to make payment quickly. By providing your RM with a copy of your remittance they can pass to the supplier for a swift allocation.
Water
Since the water market was deregulated in 2017, businesses and schools have been able to actively contract and change water suppliers. If you are yet to do this, the good news is that we are likely to be able to save you around 5% off your water spend (compared to the standard tariffs available).
Not only will this save you money compared to the published tariff, but Zenergi (approved partner to ISBL, ASCL, BESA and Care England) will support you along the way with chasing missing bills, validating invoices, resolving billing queries, spotting unexpected usage trends, logging meter readings, and installing automatic meter reading (AMR) devices where possible.
How to make the switch
The process is quick, easy, and hassle-free. We simply require a copy of each of your water invoices showing each of your meters, and we can offer you a free and no obligation comparison for you to consider. That’s it – once signed off, we do the rest!
Concerned about high water usage?
We can also help you with some benchmarking to identify if there are any unusual trends in your water consumption. If your usage appears higher than expected, it may be worth investing in a full site water audit review; one of our water experts will observe all water-consuming equipment within your building, and will detail recommendations for how to save water, including costs; financial savings; and implementation advice. Our experience shows these audits often pay for themselves in one year through the savings offered.
Please refer to the attached on how our customers find the water service we provide.
For further insight you can also read the following Case Studies:
The Chase Residential Care Home and Eastbourne Grange
If you are interest to know more, please contact your RM.
Introduction to the Specialist Teams
Whilst your Relationship Manager will remain your point of contact, they are also supported by various teams internally who are specialists in the service delivery areas for any customers on our full service package. They support supplier relationships to ensure you are receiving the highest level of service from timely ‘go live’ dates for your contracts, accurate invoicing, to query resolution, with your Relationship Manager fighting on your behalf every step of the way.
The specialist department is made up internally of 3 key areas;
Operational Support – Support with the administrative processes we undertake with the suppliers on your behalf, ensuring the smooth running of your account
Bill Validation – Processing all invoices received from suppliers and sending these on behalf of the Relationship Manager, notifying your RM of any issues for investigation
Query Resolution – Support with the investigation and resolution of a variety of issues raised by suppliers or as a direct result of our validation process.
Important changes!
Billing
From August, you may notice changes to the way you receive your invoices, for speed all invoices will now be sent automatically by the Bill Validation team on behalf of your Relationship Manager.
You will notice changes to the email you will receive along with the new simplified validation stamps on the invoice. Example stamp below:
If you receive a bill with a ‘failed validation’ stamp, we do encourage all customers to continue with payment to avoid penalty charges or breaching the terms and conditions of your supplier contract. Rest assured we are working on the issue on your behalf and will keep you informed throughout the process within 3 working days for non-critical issues and within 24 hours for anything urgent and requiring your action. Should the resolution result in a credit balance this will be applied to your account.
In several cases, the validation fail will require no action from you and your RM can take the lead with getting this resolved. In these instances, you will be notified of the action taken and provided with a realistic resolution time frame for completion.
Meter Reads
For us to ensure your invoicing is as accurate as possible we ask that you provide regular meter reads for meters that don’t have a communication link. We have a number of ways for you to provide these to us;
The MyZenPortal is the most reliable and efficient way for you to supply us this information, as you are able to check that the reads follow on and have the option to submit a picture of your meter. Please contact your RM for advice on how to use the MyZenPortal.
Alternatively, you can send your meter reads over to us using the following email address support@zenergi.co.uk. Your Relationship Manager will make contact if we notice any issues with the reading received, but to avoid this please include the following information;
- Site name
- Postcode of site
- Meter reading
- Meter serial number
- All registers
We require these readings to be supplied by the 28th of each month but no earlier than the 20th, so we can get these sent over to your suppliers in good time. Any meter reads submitted after the 28th may not be used in billing but will be used to ensure your estimates are appropriate.
Finally, we would like to thank you for your continued support, and we hope you found this update useful. If you would like to know more about anything we have mentioned, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
Positive Regards,
The Zenergi Team
