verdantix report: urjanet unravels utility billing with big energy data service

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URJANET UNRAVELS UTILITY BILLING WITH BIG ENERGY DATA SERVICE

Verdantix Ltd © 2007-2013. Reproduction Prohibited. 2

July 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report provides VPs of strategy and VPs of product development within energy software

and services firms, as well as heads of energy and procurement within corporates with an

overview of Urjanet’s energy data as a service proposition. Verdantix spoke with Sanjoy Malik,

CEO; Erik Becker, VP Sales and Business Development; and Erik Gabrielson, Director of

Marketing to find out more about Urjanet’s services. Urjanet, founded in 2009, uses proprietary

technology to capture near real-time data on energy prices and consumption directly from

utilities before aggregating the data into a standardized format and delivering it through a

cloud-based subscription model. Verdantix heard that Urjanet’s vision is to become the number

one supplier of utility data to a broad range of customers and partners, including energy

management software firms, energy services firms and large corporates.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

URJANET UNRAVELS UTILITY BILLING

WITH BIG ENERGY DATA SERVICE

Urjanet’s Proprietary Data Capture And

Aggregation Technology Takes The Pain

Out Of Managing Utility Bills And Interval

Meter Data

Urjanet Is To Expand Its Customer And

Partner Base Outside Of North America

ENERGY DATA AS A SERVICE IS AN

EMERGING BUSINESS MODEL

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Figure 1: Functionality Requirements For

Energy Management Software

Figure 2: Utility Bill Management Tops List

Of Outsourced Energy Management

Processes

ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED

ABB, Accenture, Acclaim Energy, Air2Web,

AtSite, Capgemini, CenterPoint Energy,

Costco, Cox Enterprises, Ecova, Fellon-

McCord, Flowers Foods, GameStop, Georgia

Institute of Technology, IHS, Johnson

Controls, Logi Analytics, Lucid, Noesis,

Nokia, OSIsoft, RockTenn, SAP, SAS,

Schneider Electric, Siemens, Synchrologic,

UPS, Urjanet, Velti

FIGURES & REFERENCES


Licensed Content



Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Atlanta, Urjanet is a cloud-based provider of energy

data that uses proprietary technology to capture and aggregate near real-time data on energy

prices and consumption directly from utilities and interval meters. Urjanet is the third start-

up to be launched by co-founder Sanjoy Malik out of Georgia Institute of Technology, his first

venture Synchrologic launched in 1995 and is now part of Nokia. It was followed by Air2Web

launched in 1999 and acquired by Velti in 2011. Since 2009, Urjanet has grown to over 45

employees, raised $8.2 million in venture capital funding and a second office in Chennai,

India. Verdantix spoke with Sanjoy Malik, CEO; Erik Becker, VP Sales and Business

Development; and Erik Gabrielson, Director of Marketing to find out more about Urjanet and

its services.

Urjanet’s Proprietary Data Capture And Aggregation Technology Takes The

Pain Out Of Managing Utility Bills And Interval Meter Data

Utility bill management includes energy supplier management, account tracking, bill

validation, bill accruals, multi-tenant billing, energy rebate validation and chargebacks. All

rely upon capturing and analysing data from utilities. This can be challenging as multimillion

dollar revenue firms typically work with hundreds of utilities, each offering a variety of

tariffs. Urjanet believes that it has identified a gap in the market for firms to streamline the

data capture and management process required for utility bill management. Verdantix heard

that Urjanet:

Captures multi-site energy cost and consumption data from disparate sources in one

central repository. Utilities do not adopt a standardized approach for firms to capture

their data as each has its own tariff and bill structure. Urjanet uses a number of different

approaches, including electronic data interchange (EDI), HTML, processing of PDFs and

XML, to collect data directly from each utility. In some instances it is not possible to

capture data electronically (less than 10% of all bills). To ensure that 100% of the data are

available to its customers, Urjanet processes scanned images of paper bills using optical

character recognition (OCR). Once captured from the scanned image the data are

indistinguishable from any other data source. Urjanet already gathers data directly from

over 800 utilities in North America.

Aggregates data into a standardized format. As a result of the multitude of bill

structures, interval information, service charges and tariffs that exist, no two utility bills

are the same, even from the same utility. Urjanet standardizes these different data sets

into one manageable format. Urjanet’s proprietary technology uses a federated data

model that can be thought of as a virtual database – to connect different data sources

together through a common data access approach. By using a federated data model

Urjanet can consolidate data without having to “merge” the different data sets together.

This method delivers data in a standardized format, while still preserving the richness

of each individual database.

Integrates with third-party business and energy management applications. Urjanet

provides data in a standardized format, through pre-built connectors to a number of

VERDANTIX — URJANET UNRAVELS UTILITY BILLING WITH BIG ENERGY DATA SERVICE


energy management software and accounting applications, or in CSV and XML format.

Urjanet’s solution does not come with a user interface; instead it is the source of data for

whatever application end users intend to use for managing energy and utility bill data.

It is applications such as energy management software that provide the end user

interface and data analytic capabilities.

Delivers data using a cloud-based subscription model. Urjanet offers its solution

through a cloud-based subscription model. Customers purchase data in blocks for use

over a 12 month period, offering discounts for volume purchases to encourage firms to

ramp up data usage as required. The cloud-based storage system means that firms can

access data as soon as Urjanet has collected and processed the information. Traditionally

bill payment cycles limit firms, as they have to wait until they receive a bill and enter the

data into a spreadsheet or application before analysing. By connecting directly with

utilities and making the data available via the cloud, Urjanet removes this limitation:

users can run an analysis outside of billing cycles. This provides end customers with a

more complete view of energy consumption and costs across their portfolio at a

particular moment in time, regardless of the billing cycles at each facility.

Alerts customers to potential billing errors. To ensure data accuracy, Urjanet performs

150 data quality audits before delivering data to customers. Urjanet initially developed

the audits to ensure that there were no mistakes in its data capture and processing, but

then realized it could use the same audits to help alert customers of potential billing

errors. Urjanet compares current data with historical data and alerts the customer if the

new data are outside of pre-determined thresholds. For example, bills from two

consecutive months may show that the price paid per unit of electricity has increased by

20%; this could be a billing error or a change in tariff. When anomalies occur, Urjanet

alerts customers, who can then contact their utility provider to determine the reason for

this increase.

Will capture energy-related data. Urjanet continues to increase the amount of data

sources and data types it captures within its solution, to make analysing energy data

easier. For example, Urjanet has added weather data and the option for customers to

input square footage data, to allow customers to normalize their energy bill and

consumption data. Urjanet can also capture information from utility contracts and

service level agreements, enabling customers to quickly reference this information if an

issue arises.

Urjanet Is To Expand Its Customer And Partner Base Outside Of North

America

Through its proprietary technology Urjanet captures and aggregates utility bill and interval

AMI data, and delivers it to customers in a standardized format through a subscription

service. Urjanet offers this data service to a broad range of end customers and partners,

specifically:



Energy management software firms responding to evolving customer requirements.

Twelve out of 15 customer panel respondents that Verdantix spoke with during its 2013

energy management software benchmarking study require utility bill management

capabilities from energy management software (see Figure 1) (see Verdantix Green

Quadrant Energy Management Software (Global) 2013). During the study Verdantix

heard from software suppliers on their struggles to capture and aggregate data directly

from utilities. Even if utilities can provide data in CSV or XML format, the lack of data

standardization across utilities can still make data aggregation a challenge. Energy

management software suppliers also lack an existing relationship with utilities to

develop connectors into their billing systems. Urjanet proposes removing this barrier,

allowing software suppliers to concentrate on developing and providing core energy

management capabilities. Urjanet has already established OEM relationships with

energy management software firms such as Johnson Controls, Noesis, SAP, Schneider

Electric and Siemens.

Energy services firms streamline utility bill processing and validation. Energy services

firms such as Ecova and Fellon-McCord offer a broad range of energy bureau services

including utility bill management. Twenty-five per cent of 250 energy leaders outsource

utility bill management to an external firm (see Figure 2) (see Verdantix Global Energy

Leaders Survey 2013: Data Tables). For example, US video game retailer GameStop

selected Ecova’s Utility Expense And Data Management platform to manage its 12,000

utility accounts in 2008; resulting in ongoing annual savings of $734,000. Urjanet’s value

proposition allows energy bureau services firms to shorten bill processing time, without

"To what extent do you require the following energy management software functionality?"

Utility bill management

Energy monitoring and targeting

Energy reporting and certification

Energy asset management

Energy project and portfolio management

Carbon reporting and certification

Energy procurement and risk management

Source: Verdantix Green Quadrant Energy Management Software (Global) 2013 N=15

Required Desirable Not Required Undecided

Figure 1. Functionality Requirements For Energy Management Software

40%

60%

60%

67%

73%

73%

80%

13%

20%

27%

7%

20%

27%

7%

40%

7%

7%

27%

7%

7%

13%

7%

7%

7%



compromising on data accuracy. Urjanet’s automated data capture and aggregation

solution replaces manual data entry and is more accurate than OCR; this streamlines the

traditionally lengthy data capture and quality control process. Urjanet states that it can

cut the costs of utility bill processing by 30-50% compared with traditional methods of

employing data entry analysts. Urjanet has established partnerships with energy

services firms including Acclaim Energy, AtSite and Lucid.

Technology services firms developing bespoke solutions. Corporates that do not have

sufficient capacity or expertise within internal IT departments to develop dashboards

and data management solutions turn to technology services and business intelligence

firms (see Verdantix Green Quadrant Sustainable Technology Services (Global) 2013).

Urjanet is developing its partnership network with technology services firms such as

Accenture and Capgemini and business intelligence firms such as Logi Analytics and

SAS. By partnering with these kind of firms and educating them on the data available

through the Urjanet solution, Urjanet hopes to accelerate its growth, tapping into these

firms existing customer bases and benefiting from reseller agreements.

Corporates with existing dashboards and systems. Corporates that have existing

dashboards or systems in place can connect into Urjanet’s solution to enable them to

manage their utility bills. The internal business intelligence team at Cox Enterprises

developed a dashboard that leverages Urjanet’s solution to manage $100 million of

utility spend across 30,000 accounts from 190 US utilities. Urjanet boasts an end

customer list that includes Costco, Flowers Foods, RockTenn and UPS.

"Which of the following energy management processes are managed for you (outsourced) on a day-to-day basis by an external firm?" (select all that apply)

None of the above

Utility bill management

Energy procurement and risk management

Energy data analytics and dashboards

Energy data collection and reporting

Automated energy monitoring and targeting

Energy project implementation and monitoring

Asset level energy management

Source: Verdantix Global Energy Leaders Survey 2013: Data Tables N=250

Figure 2. Utility Bill Management Tops List Of Outsourced Energy Management Processes


13%

16%

17%

17%

19%

21%

25%

61%


Target European and Australian markets. Urjanet plans to increase the number of

North American utilities that it directly captures data from, while also launching its

services in Europe and Australia. By 2015, Urjanet expects to increase the number of

utilities that it has direct data connections with from 800 utilities in North America, to

2,500 global utilities that will include all US utilities and major global utilities.

Opportunities lie in deregulated utility markets with open competition. Deregulated

markets provide customers with more freedom when contracting utilities, and this can

lead to complicated energy management and procurement strategies. The greater the

number of sites, utilities and tariffs that a customer has to manage, the greater the

challenge of managing utility bill data. As Urjanet’s subscription pricing model is based

on volume of data, firms operating in deregulated markets are the most attractive

customers for Urjanet.

ENERGY DATA AS A SERVICE IS AN EMERGING BUSINESS MODEL

Traditionally firms have stored energy data within siloed repositories linked to specific

software packages that allows users to access, process and analyse the data. As firms move

towards centralizing data and managing energy at the enterprise level, they have an

opportunity to do deeper levels of data analytics. Urjanet’s solution facilitates this by

capturing near real-time data on energy prices and consumption directly from utilities,

aggregating the data into a standardized format and delivering it to customers, and whatever

application they use to manage their energy and utility bill data. The value proposition of this

business model is:

Data suppliers eradicate the data capture and aggregation challenges firms face.

Software and business analytics firms struggle with energy data capture, as a result of

the multitude of legacy hardware and siloed data systems that exist within large

corporates. This challenge is an opportunity for firms that specialize in data capture and

aggregation. For example OSIsoft partners with firms such as ABB, IHS and Siemens

that leverage its data integration and management system (PI System) (see Verdantix

Energy Management Software And Services Partnership Map). The partnership

provides software and services firms with access to topline data for enterprise energy

management, and access to detailed data aimed for industrial intelligence solutions (see

Verdantix Market Overview: Industrial Energy Management). Using partners for data

capture and aggregation is attractive to software and business analytics firms as this is

not where their core area of expertise lies; they would have to invest in R&D to develop

these skills in house.

Data is the foundation of all analytics. Verdantix recommends that software and

business analytics firms invest in robust data capture methods, to ensure that customers

that use their applications make business decisions based on accurate data. Not only

does Urjanet’s solution decrease the risk of errors by capturing data directly, rather than

manually or by OCR processing, it also performs over 150 quality audits before

delivering data to customers. In 2010, US utility CenterPoint Energy overcharged 3,500

customers. The reason? The utility citied 5,200 inaccurate readings, caused by a

communication error in the software it uses for retrieving data from smart meters. When

Verdantix asked 250 energy leaders “How important is it for your firm to improve the



following energy management processes in the next 12 months?” 88% responded that

improving energy data collection and reporting was either very important or important

(see Verdantix Energy Leaders Survey 2012: Data Tables).

Data suppliers are enablers rather than competitors. Suppliers of data services such as

Urjanet intend to sell to software and services firms rather than compete with them. By

addressing the pain points around data capture and aggregation, data services firms

increase the volume and quality of data for customers and partners. Firms such as

OSIsoft are opening up the market by removing a significant barrier to entry – data

capture and aggregation – for smaller firms trying to offer energy management

solutions. By avoiding direct competition with suppliers of software and services

Urjanet’s vision is to become the go-to firm for utility bill and consumption data.

Building a broad partnership ecosystem will allow Urjanet to increase its market share

while benefiting from additional revenue streams through reseller agreements.


About Us Verdantix is an independent analyst firm. We provide authoritative data, analysis and advice to help our clients succeed in the world of sustainable business. Through our global primary research and deep domain expertise we provide our clients with strategic advice, revenue generating services, best practice frameworks, industry connections and competitive advantage.

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