Managing Schools Energy with the Sigma Energy Viewer

Schools in Bedford are being introduced to the Sigma Energy Viewer (SEV) as part of an attempt to get them to pay less for their energy usage.

Bedford Borough Council wants to raise energy and water awareness amongst schools and believes the Sigma Energy Viewer is the way forward.

Samantha Guy, the council’s Senior Energy and Water Technical Officer uses Sigma Energy Management Software (which includes the Sigma Energy Viewer) to support 85 schools and academies, as well as 218 corporate buildings including offices, day centres and libraries.

“The Sigma Energy Viewer will help build on our relationship with schools. They will be able to see simply, at a glance how much energy and water they are using and how much it costs. We hope that the viewer will provide a useful way of accessing data quickly and easily to help discuss any queries and concerns the school might have, as well as ideas for energy saving.”

About the Sigma Energy Viewer

The Sigma Energy Viewer is an easy-to-use browser based software system which provides a quick overview of site and energy billing data. The software allows large multi-site organisations, like Bedford Borough Council, to share energy data with site contacts and enable them to enter meter readings, view bills and analyse data.

It not only allows for data input and analysis, but manipulation of data to report on trends in consumption. This should help managers to easily feedback to staff, governors and students alike on the progress being made on a daily, weekly monthly or yearly basis.

As well as proving useful for finance/office managers, Samantha believes that the Sigma Energy Viewer could also be used by schools as an educational resource.

“It would be great to see schools in Bedford using the Energy Viewer and the data contained within it as part of their curriculum. Not only would it provide ‘real’ data that could be used in subjects like Maths and Science, but it would also help to raise energy and water awareness,”

Schools in Bedford account for 43% of carbon emissions from building energy use across the local authority.

About Bedford Borough Council

Bedford Borough Council has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place with all schools in Bedford for gas and electricity, helping schools to obtain more competitive prices, as well as supporting them to resolve billing queries, validate invoices and assist with lowering energy consumption.

The council has used TEAM Sigma Monitoring and Targeting software since 2010 to manage the council’s utility contracts; validating and verifying bills and managing day-to-day queries with suppliers. The energy team, which is led by Samantha, process more than 500 gas and electricity invoices every month, as well as manually entering water bills every quarter. Samantha said:

“We work closely with schools to help them reduce their energy use. Our ultimate aim to get them to pay less for their energy usage – TEAM Sigma helps us to validate the bills on their behalf, run reports, monitor usage, collate data and query bills, as and when necessary.”

To find out more about how Bedford Borough Council uses TEAM Sigma Software please click here.

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