The new single-year contract sees Insite taking over the management, operation, maintenance and administration of the residential development’s secondary heating infrastructure on a flexible, fixed-fee basis. It is Telford Homes’ second ESCo Manager contract with Insite Energy, following its recent adoption of the service at Stone Studios in East London.
Heat and hot water for The Lock is provided by a district heating scheme serving the whole Greenford Quay development. From this, a primary feed of low temperature hot water (LTHW) enters a plate heat exchanger in the basement of the development. A secondary heat network will draw heat from the plate heat exchanger to deliver hot water and heat to the scheme’s 278 residential and two commercial units.
The ESCo management services Insite will be providing at The Lock include metering, billing, customer services, secondary network operation, asset maintenance and life-cycle management, bulk heating supply procurement, tariff setting and reviewing, administration of residential heat supply agreements, subcontractor management and auditing, reporting, regulatory compliance, and financial administration, including management of cashflow and a sinking fund for asset replacement.
An Energy Service Company (ESCo) is a commercial structure created specifically to produce, supply and manage the local delivery of decentralised energy to a ‘whole site’ development. Typical ESCo contracts last for the expected asset life of the main plant – between 10 and 25 years – to enable the ESCo to recoup its capital expenditure. This can lead to dissatisfied residents being shackled indefinitely to high prices and poor service. ESCo Manager, launched in November 2021, offers housing providers the same services as traditional Energy Service Companies (ESCos), but on a single-year contract and with a fixed and transparent service fee based on actual costs.
“Insite’s ESCo Manager service means that we can centralise the administration and management of a large and complex communal heating system,” said Anthony Atkinson, estates and customer service director at Telford Homes. “It also enables us to ensure a high quality of service for our residents while keeping everyone’s costs down. We’ve been working with Insite for a number of years, so we know we can rely on them to do a good job.”