CLIENT: KEXGILL
SECTOR: STUDENT HOUSING
PRODUCT/SERVICE: SMART HARDWARE
& ENERGY MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
4 month ROI and 19% reduction in energy usage across multiple HMOs
KexGill saw a 19% decrease in energy usage across HMOs in Hull. Energenie Solutions smart hardware and energy management solution paid for itself in 4 months between November and February. We now have a plan to roll out the solution across the whole KexGill estate.
KexGill is one of the largest privately owned student accommodation providers in the UK. Headquartered in Hull, it has over 3000 student rooms under ownership.
The Problem
With increasing energy costs and a focus on sustainability, KexGill were looking for a retrofit solution to reduce their exposure to energy costs within their bills inclusive business model.
KexGill were looking for a retrofit solution that could be installed by their in-house maintenance team as a non-intrusive solution, without affecting day to day activities. KexGill also wanted a solution that would provide a way to control energy usage and deliver data that could help educate students and staff longer term.
The solution also needed to be part of their long term sustainability drive – click here to read more.
The Solution
We started by surveying several locations and multiple properties. From these surveys we were able to provide a proposal with an estimated energy saving. We identified that the key savings would be made by utilising our heating control products.
We installed an Energenie Thermostat, Radiator Valves and Motion Sensors across the HMOs to provide the control that was needed.
After a deep dive with the KexGill team, we built a bespoke KexGill server and dashboard to keep all KexGill data within its own environment – this allows us to provide additional solutions to any unique future requirements they may have.
We have also worked with them closely to implement automations to drive out wasteful energy usage. KexGill now has a hardware and software solution which provides tenants manual control while giving KexGill management data insights about energy usage and the ability to implement automations, rules and ad-hoc control.
The Results
Between November and March 2023 of the initial install, the product paid for itself with the savings it achieved. We demonstrated a 19% energy saving in that period and we continue to work with KexGill to improve these results, for example, the next installations will use the automations implemented during the first period and therefore provide savings faster. The beauty of having a connected heating system is that we can continue to identify areas and automations to increase savings.
Furthermore, the increased insights and data provided about properties has highlighted opportunities to educate the tenants regarding energy usage and also to benchmark tenants to improve decision making and allow for incentivisation.
