SCOPE: New business with smart imbalance prices

Energy prices vary a lot during the day. If we can manage the energy consumption of SME users to match the price curve, the gains from reduced energy pricing can be shared with them. This potentially brings a lot of new business to our customer Nieuwe Stroom.

Nieuwe Stroom is challenger at the energy retail market in the Netherlands. They increase their market share swiftly due to the adaption of new profit sharing models and a very focused customer segmentation.

DEFINE: Finding flexible assets for SME customers

For customers to leverage imbalance price differences, we needed to identify electricity consumption which can be managed: switching off assets when prices are high and activate assets when prices are low. A continuous and reliable operation of the SME business could not be sacrificed.

DEVELOP: Adding EV charging for customers and guests

Promoting electric mobility to the SME customer created a strong synergy: overall costs for customers would reduce (EV driving is cheaper per km than petrol) and the charging of their vehicles can be managed in a smart way: only charging at low prices. Since many of Nieuwe Stroom’s customers operate in the hospitality business, we could as well offer guest charging to their services, thus increasing the overall availability of flexibility.

IDENTIFY: partnership  to maximize returns for customers

Finding a partner company was all about the perfect operational and commercial fit with Nieuwe Stroom and its customer. We identified a supplier and shaped a partnership to ensure the provisioning of electric mobility infrastructure for Nieuwe Stroom’s customers while bringing a commercially attractive offer, allowing for a maximum gain from imbalance pricing.

EMBED: Operational excellence through lean commercial process

In the energy retail market, ROI comes from efficiency in sales and delivery processes. Complicating factor with electric mobility is the newness of the topic and lack of knowledge in most of the value chain. With Nieuwe Stroom we embedded the electric mobility offer in all commercial steps, including the support to customers for engaging with their clientele on the topic of electric mobility.