By Leading residential property consultancy Ringley Group has partnered with independent utility broker 001 Ltd to supply the firm’s managed portfolio of 12,000 homes with cheaper electricity, gas and water.
001 Ltd source and identify economies of scale and use their purchasing power to bulk buy, getting the best deal available for landlords and their properties’ communal areas.
001 Ltd are also able to detect if a client is overpaying. For example, landlords in Ringley’s residential managed portfolio could be paying charges that do not apply to them, such as the Climate Change Levy, an environmental tax that only applies to businesses in the industrial, public services, commercial and agricultural sectors.
As part of this service, Ringely has developed an innovative algorithm to process utility bills. Unseen before in the industry, this technology is at the forefront of ‘e-billing’.
The algorithm takes key information from utility providers, such as VAT rate, supply address, contract end date, and the estimated bill to create a notional or ‘face-value’ bill.
This sum will generally not need to be changed, providing customers with an accurate representation of what they should be paying.
Ringley will then run data tests and authorise 90 percent of the bills automatically.
If customers would like to receive the original bill from their utility provider, a link on their notional bill will direct them to contact their provider, who will then download it for them.
The utility market is highly inefficient and organisations risk losing sizable amounts of money right under their noses each month. Recent studies show businesses could be overpaying as much as 44 percent on electricity alone.
Utility providers can often over-estimate monthly payments, where meter reads are not taken or applied incorrectly. The rollout of smart meters will help improve the accuracy of all billing, so clients only pay for their actual usage.
Meanwhile, construction sites could be left to run rates opportunistically once the developer has left, forgetting to switch to residential VAT beyond construction and intentionally failing to renew contracts, allowing suppliers to profit from out of contract rates.
The new partnership allows cases such as these to be identified and saves customers from having to deal with the perils of utility providers.
This streamlined service could potentially save customers thousands of pounds worth of utility bills in the run-up to Christmas.
Mary-Anne Bowring, group managing director at Ringley, said:
“We’re delighted to announce our partnership with 001 Ltd, which will ultimately save our customers substantial amounts of money.”
“We’re very proud to have developed the algorithm which has not been seen in the industry before.”
“It’s clear the utility market has its problems, so we hope the new service makes it just that bit easier for our customers to navigate the market.”
Ringley, which has a headquarters in London and a Manchester office, manages thousands of homes across the UK and has invested over £2 million in creating a range of new tech products.
Developed in-house, Ringely’s latest AI-led algorithm adds to their impressive suite of tech-led initiatives and services for the residential market.
Just last year, Ringley-developed PlanetRent launched its native tenant app that gives renters greater the ability to sort any issues at the click of a button.
Sunny Glasson, commercial director of 001 Ltd, said:
“We’re very happy to be assisting Ringley with their impressive managed residential portfolio.”
“Ringley’s tech track record speaks for itself, and their latest algorithm is both innovative and forward-thinking.”
“We’re excited to start working with such a figure in the industry and looking forward to a positive relationship.”
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