by Brianna Crandall — May 13, 2019 — Logical Buildings, an energy software company that provides commercial and multifamily owners real-time, data-driven insight into the operating performance of their properties, just announced the launch of EPAX: Energy Procurement, Advisory and Execution, said to be a first-of-its-kind energy risk management tool that provides new levels of insight into and control over energy procurement, creating new opportunities for intelligent planning and reducing costs.
EPAX empowers building owners and facilities managers (FMs) to break free of the status quo, where they must navigate complex energy markets and pay broker fees to mitigate energy price risks. It provides clarity on choices for forward energy purchases on the open market, making it easier to make excellent decisions when purchasing energy contracts.
EPAX is said to be unique in its ability to break down complex market data into simple choices for property owners and managers, allowing them to secure the best-possible contract terms, as well as organizing and managing energy utility accounts for large, diverse portfolios. The EPAX software platform monitors energy markets in real time for price changes and potential long-term cost savings and notifies FMs of these opportunities on a daily basis, providing a transparent platform to procure energy with optimal terms and covenants while also mitigating risk.
EPAX works with Logical Buildings’ SmartKit AI software and mobile apps, which provide data transparency and actionable demand management protocols that reduce supply side procurement costs. With EPAX incorporated into SmartKit AI, property managers can simultaneously change the temperature in the lobby of a New York City high-rise and measure their cumulative risk exposure if New York electricity prices were to rise by 10 percent this summer.
Logical Buildings ensures that decisions made at the individual building system and portfolio risk management levels are synergistic, maximize energy savings, and are both property-level and C-suite user friendly.
For a specific portfolio, EPAX analyzes data from thousands of utility accounts and smart meters, then uses machine learning and predictive analytics to precisely forecast energy consumption. The platform then synergizes that data with forward-traded energy markets to reveal multiple rate options with optimal term structures — and the estimated savings associated with each one — for purchasing energy in the future.
The platform delivers these insights via text, push notification, voice activation, and email. With its suite of intuitive analytical tools, EPAX puts property owners (including owners of large portfolios) and FMs in the driver’s seat of managing their energy risk profile across multiple markets.
Once EPAX determines the optimal term, rate structure and supply contract covenants, a user can quickly jump onto lower-priced contracts via competitive, transparent reverse auction, in which suppliers compete in real time, resulting in low-price bids that do not favor any individual supplier.
Energy risk transparency
Today’s emerging technologies are solving major energy risk management pain points for portfolio managers and providing unparalleled transparency to a market historically opaque and still dominated by brokers. EPAX summarizes and draws insights from thousands of utility accounts on a cloud-based application, measuring and indicating forward energy pricing, usage, expenditures, risk exposure, contract expirations — all tailored to a portfolio’s unique load profile.
EPAX also provides automated energy budgeting, bill auditing and measurement and verification of energy performance.
Comprehensive energy management by Logical Buildings
EPAX reportedly marks an important development for technology company Logical Buildings, a fast-growing smart building and energy management software company, as it expands its offerings to address the full suite of energy challenges faced by portfolio managers.
Jeff Hendler, CEO of Logical Buildings, stated:
We are fortunate to have spent a lot of time with portfolio managers over the years, listening to them describe how opaque and arbitrary their energy procurement process is. Every feature of EPAX is a response to specific pain points from our clients.
For more information, visit the Logical Buildings website. Logical Buildings (formerly Energy Technology Savings, Inc., or ETS) is a smart building technology software developer, IoT and DER systems integrator and smart building services provider.
