ESBIE Customers in running for Sustainable Energy Award

ESB Independent Energy (ESBIE) drive to deliver greater energy efficiency, and reduce electricity costs has seen a number of its customers been short listed in this year's Sustainable Energy Awards.

Established in January 2000 to operate as ESB Group's competitive electricity supply business to compete in the liberalised electricity market, ESBIE retails the full output of Synergen Dublin Bay Power in the Republic of Ireland and Coolkeeragh in Northern Ireland totalling 780 MW and the company is the only electricity supplier with access to base-load generation in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In addition, ESBIE also retails renewable energy, but it's for the companies other value-added services that aim at improving clients' energy efficiency that a number of ESBIE customers have been short listed for a Sustainable Energy Award.

These value-added services include: energy audits; lighting audits; HV and MV substation design, installation and maintenance; energy management review workshops; EBIS, an electronic billing information system, and Energytracked, an energy and environmental monitoring system. These services are considered crucial to the company's offering, because most of ESBIE's contracts are for a one year period and a high level of customer service and excellent customer relationships are needed to ensure that contracts are renewed.

ESBIE has offices in Dublin, Belfast and Derry and has a staff of 77 full time employees, of whom 16 are dedicated Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs), who are the main point of contact for the company's industrial and commercial customers. The CRMs are located throughout the island to provide a one-to-one individual service to this customer segment with CRMs visiting their clients sites and premises on a regular basis to deliver or support value added services.

ESBIE wants its customers to enhance the performance of their business and to reduce their energy consumption and therefore their CO2 emissions. Through their value-added services ESBIE identify areas where their customers can generate considerable energy savings in euros, kWh and gCO2 output. Some services provided e.g. energy audits, energy monitoring systems and lighting audits - deliver quantifiable savings; other services - HV & MV maintenance works and power quality services - improve the efficiency of a plant and have an indirect impact on the energy consumption and reduction.

Last year, ESBIE participated in Energy Awareness Week. Customers were encouraged to take part and were supported by ESBIE through issuing them with energy awareness packs.

Although ESBIE is a whole owned subsidiary of ESBI, ESBIE is completely ring fenced from other regulated parts of ESB and operates as an independent company with its own management and accounting structure. All ESBIE's electricity supply associated activities are carried out "in-house" from their offices in Dublin.