The chief executive of Onzo, which provides utility companies with customer intelligence solutions, has responded to plans announced by the Government yesterday to offer consumers “green loans” to fund the installation of loft and cavity wall insulation, solar panels and other energy-saving measures.
Joel Hagan, the chief executive of Onzo, said:
“We welcome the Government’s ambition to change fundamentally the way that people use energy in their homes. We hope that the roll-out of the Government’s plans is accompanied by an increased commitment to making available to consumers a wider range of information through a greater number of channels to engage them and help them reduce energy consumption, saving on their bills and reducing carbon emissions.
“In particular we are pleased that the Government has accepted Onzo’s argument that loans that attach to a property rather than an individual, which are already being used in America, are a key enabler.”
The green loans scheme, announced by Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, aims to overcome the financial barriers and upfront costs people face when trying to make their homes green.
With around a quarter of UK emissions coming from energy used in homes the Warm Homes, Greener Homes Strategy is aimed at cutting emissions from the UK’s homes by 29% by 2020.
The strategy will be implemented in three stages:
- To insulate 6 million homes by the end of 2011
- To have insulated all practical lofts and cavity walls by 2015
- To have offered up to 7 million eco upgrades by 2020
Onzo provides utility companies with customer intelligence solutions. Those solutions enable utilities to achieve their business objectives and meet regulatory requirements: attracting and retaining customers, shifting usage off peak, improving energy efficiency, improving customer satisfaction, reducing the cost to serve, and increasing non-core revenue.
Onzo’s solutions include hardware and software that can increase the amount of valuable data that is gathered, process data to maximise its value to the utility, and increase the number and effectiveness of the utility’s consumer touchpoints.
