Simplifying the journey to net zero carbon

Sarah Bateman, Unify Energy CEO

Our CEO, Sarah Bateman, recently spoke with Place North West to explain what Unify Energy brings to the energy market, how to dissect the noise around sustainable energy providers and why it’s easy to get overwhelmed about the road to net zero carbon. 

A unique energy market entrant

“Unify Energy is the first fully regulated energy company on the market to offer a new and specialist product to landlords. We take full responsibility for the energy supply to multi tenanted buildings, offering tenants a more accurate, transparent bill. 

“We bring the energy directly into the main fiscal metre and use a unique and proprietary system we’ve developed ourselves to build a hierarchy of metres in the building to bill all customers directly. We’re the first supplier to offer that end-to-end solution for landlords, meaning they can forget about the hassle that comes with individual invoicing and spreading costs for communal areas. 

“Occupiers receive an invoice from us, a fully regulated company with complete energy licence, and they have a direct relationship with us.

A challenging period 

“The price of energy rising by – in some cases – more than 200 per cent has been widespread in the news and for anyone operating in this sector, it’s been an unsettling time. We’re financially robust so the challenges in the market haven’t been an existential threat for us which is something we’re really proud of – we’re not a big player so to be stable is testament to who we are as a business.

“But what’s happened highlights a bigger issue – if you’re selling commodity energy at low margins to high volumes to gobble up some of the market, it only takes a slight amount of destabilisation to send a business under. This is something that customers should think about when they select their company, because price certainly isn’t the only indicator of value. 

“As a customer, you should be thinking about what’s important to you. Perhaps it is cost, but you should be looking at service, sustainability and much more. Question what’s important and what you can get for every KWh you’re paying for in terms of added value.

“As a supplier, we help our customers with more than just energy; yes, we supply it but we also help people understand the changes they need to make to reach net zero carbon, we explain how to understand your invoice and offer that whole package to landlords which in turn supports all occupiers in that building. 

“Users of multi-tenanted buildings are often forgotten, because of the way traditional infrastructure works. Yes, there’s legislation in place to protect small companies should the energy market completely destabilise, but they’re usually found in multi tenanted buildings and if they’ve not got a direct relationship with their energy supplier and it’s with their landlord, then essentially the landlord is the supplier, and there’s no protection in place for that. 

Sustainable energy services

“You can see there’s a genuine intention to do something across society and the industry to do something to create more sustainable processes, but there is a lot of noise about sustainability and therefore people aren’t always choosing the right thing; it’s become over complicated. 

“Reuse, recycle, reduce is 30 years old, but it’s still easily applicable, for example. But there’s so much change in technology, which is really driving the green energy market, that people have no idea what to invest in for the best outcomes. 

“You must start with data – how much energy are you using, where, how often, what’s the wastage – and start there. Landlords especially need to know that – unmetered energy makes it hard to quantify bills, so landlords must start making the move to sub metred infrastructure in coming years.   

“There is a lot of technology out there worth pursuing, but companies need to be realistic about what it will help them achieve today, in the immediate future and in the long term and strike a balance.  

“Wastage is really important to understand, rather than just looking at consumption. As we start to use more electric vehicles and automation technology, our energy needs will increase, not decrease, so businesses should consider how their decisions benefit both. You might need to use more energy to install electric vehicle chargers in your car park for example, so you should offset this by improving the fabric of your building, like getting new windows to stop heat escaping, or using motion activation sensors for your lighting. It’s about doing the most sustainable thing for society in the long term. 

The road to net zero carbon

“I’m really passionate about the general evolution that will happen to decarbonise the grids and produce truly green energy. But there’s so much hype around net zero carbon that we’re in danger of it becoming an expensive marketing activity; businesses want to keep up with each other but in reality, this isn’t something that can be achieved overnight. If it could, we’d have done it already. 

“My real bug bear is the marketing of ‘green energy’ when it’s not actually green, and people should know not to take that claim at face value. Only around 40 per cent of energy is actually green, and you should be suspicious of any company claiming otherwise at this point in time – it doesn’t exist in the first place. There is a lot of green washing that goes on because companies can buy certificates that state they’re totally green when in fact they’ve just paid to make that claim. 

“Equally, people shouldn’t be put off by companies who say they want to become 100 per cent green – you just need to invest time to understand that journey and how they’re going to achieve that. You might think buying from a ‘100 per cent green energy’ supplier means your job is done but that’s not the case at all, you can’t sit back and let your energy supplier do the hard work, it’s down to you as a person, as a business owner, as a colleague, too. 

“And there’s no doubt that the journey to net zero carbon is going to hit the pocket, and cost is a huge cause for concern for landlords and any other corporate organisation. There have been studies done by the IOD which show commitment to sustainability and going green starts to waiver when cost is introduced. It feels a stark time because society has to catch up a bit – some will pay more for green, some wont. Until more do, green energy won’t become commoditised, so business leaders have to be speculative and become part of the movement. My advice is to take it back to basics, analyse what’s available, what you can do now that doesn’t cost anything, and add to what you do gradually over time.