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10 | 17TH - 23RD MARCH 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Water brokers Inenco Inenco has been in operation since 1968, and was formerly known as Saturn Energy. Its focus is pri- marily on small and medium- sized enterprise businesses in the UK energy market. It has approximately 16,000 clients and more than 1,500 employees. When speaking to a current or prospec- tive client, Inenco says it always makes sure it talks about "utilities" as a whole, rather than just "water" or "energy", and has been for more than a year. In the water market, Inenco will focus on multi-site customers because this is where it believes the high- est interest and the biggest opportunities lie, as well as where the biggest benefits will be for customers. In that vein, the broker will offer customers a service to help them prepare for the water market. Inenco does not believe there will be much of an opportunity for procurement-led brokers, at least for the first few years, due in part to the low margins expected. Therefore, its service offering for water customers is focused on getting their house in order. This includes desktop analysis and a site comparison to identify which sites are using what amount of water. If these analyses throw up anomalies then an on-site visit may be neces- sary and, if there are obvious issues with a site, Inenco will resolve those through measures such as installing leak detection equipment. It operates on a fee or com- mission basis, depending on the customer. Inenco chief commercial officer Dave Cockshott (pic- tured) says the company's offering is primarily about encouraging a customer to manage all their utilities properly. The broker would recommend that everybody engages with the market, and says it wants to help cus- tomers identify what it is they want from their retailer. When pitching a client's business to a water retailer, Inenco says it will not only look for a good level of ser- vice but also good access to a company's billing infor- mation. There is currently a lack of electronic data interchange billing in water, it says, and much of the data is still manual key-in (unlike in the electricity and gas industries), so fundamental factors in choosing a retailer is its approach to how it invoices customers, and the data it provides. Inprova Energy Inprova Energy was created in 2015 when Inprova Group acquired three well-estab- lished brokers: Energyteam; ENER-G Pro- curement; and UES Energy. They were rebranded to form a large energy broker division within the wider group, which already provided procurement outsourcing, consultancy and technology services for clients in the logistics, private equity, health, local government and housing markets. Inprova has been active in the water market since 2013, including the undertaking of brokerage procurement in Scotland. It brokered the first three contracts with a single UK retailer for multi-site clients in 2016. The company sees the opening of the water market as an oppor- tunity in its own right, but it is of particular interest to the company because its core business is in energy. Therefore, it views water as primarily an added-value service for existing energy clients. It considers its unique selling point to be independence. It works with whole market but is not tied to any individual retailer. The com- pany offers a full end-to-end service, and is insistent on attention to detail and transparency. Inprova has no plans to create a separate water division. How- ever, it feels water is an important addition and fits with the holistic approach it hopes to take to utility management. Inprova says it is talking to its 1,500 energy clients to identify their needs for water. Some customers have approached the firm themselves to ask about its water offering, and the company plans to speak to all remaining customers at "an appropriate time". The company says that although it sees value in the procurement side of brokering, it has big growth aspirations in both energy and water services. In some cases, added-value services will be provided by retailers as part of contracts brokered by Inprova, and it recommends clients take those services through the retailers. In other cases it will deliver added-value services directly to customers, either through its own energy services engineers, who have some experience in water, or through partnership arrangements with specialist third parties. Inprova recommends that business customers take three steps to get prepared for market changes: • Conduct a review of current water spend to ensure the accurate specification of water arrangements, and identify historic errors and opportunities to reduce charges and wastage. • Formulate a water procurement strategy to be ready for the ten- dering process in order to secure the best deals. • Improve water management and efficiency to capitalise on sav- ings now and aer market reform. FACT FILE Founded: 2015 (formed from 3 independent consultancies founded from 1976) Headquarters: Warrington, England Employees: 100+ Target market: Inprova Energy serves a diverse client base with an emphasis on multi-site clients. Clients: 1,500+ CEO: Paul Kennedy, Inprova Group (pictured) CFO: Mohammed Ramzan, Inprova Group Managing Director: Michael Dent, Inprova Energy Revenue (2016): £2.8 million Pre-tax profit (2016): £0.8 million Fee or commission: depends on the client needs and level of support required. Fees are transparent and agreed with client. FACT FILE Founded: 1968 Headquarters: Lytham, Lancashire Employees: 379 Target market: all businesses: Inenco work with major energy users, medium and small organisations, and those with pan-European portfolios Clients: 800 active customers for Inenco Corporate and 8,000 active for Inenco Direct (so circa 9,000 for the group) Chair: Patrick Macdonald CEO: Gary Stokes CFO: currently recruiting Revenue (2016): £35.5 million Pre-tax profit (2016): £6.3 million Fee or commission: both – to suit customer requirements