Electric Ireland has announced the development of industry leading technology that enables businesses across a broad range of sectors in Northern Ireland to analyse their energy consumption data and gain an in–depth understanding of how their costs relate to competitors and the industry as a whole.

Electric Ireland launched the new SME Premium insights tool at the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce’s annual Networking Conference alongside Google, Hostelworld, BT and Ryanair to build a better understanding with business across Northern Ireland on the impact that the power of data analytics can have.

Investing in innovation underpins Electric Ireland’s approach to supporting customers who are increasingly keen to work with their respective utility and supply chain partners to enhance the evolving future of work. Big data adoption in UK businesses soared from 17% in 2015 to 59% in 2018 and by the year 2020, it is estimated that data will benefit the UK economy by up to £241 billion by 2020.

Dermot McArdle, Head of Business Markets for Electric Ireland commented, “The SME Premium Insights tool was developed in response to customers’ research and feedback. A key comment we hear from SMEs is that they want to be in control and have an insight into how their energy consumption compares to other businesses and with that in mind we looked at how the latest data technology could help us to enhance our products and services.”

Unique in the Northern Ireland marketplace, the new tool is accessible 24/7 to customers free of charge through Electric Ireland’s existing Business Online platform and it is believed that the ability to control and review the micro aspects of energy consumption will help reduce the carbon footprint of many businesses.

Dermot McArdle continued, “We’re all aware of general advice on how companies can cut down on electricity usage, but these recommendations are a lot more specific than that. They come right down to the individual characteristics of each business. We know that more and more of our business customers want to reduce their carbon footprint. While we are helping directly in this regard by making renewably sourced power available to them, the SME Premium Insights Tool is another example of how we work hard to put our customers in control of their energy choices and their energy consumption.”