Enviro Shop – Rory Gutterson
Enviro Shop is one of Melbourne’s best known retail outlets for environmental products. They have an active and growing projects division which installs and designs solar PV and solar hot water for commercial and domestic customers. Their Energy Auditors are active in the new Federal Government Green Loans program across Melbourne, giving advice to a wide range of clients. In 2009 their team of over 40 staff will have installed Solar PV, Energy Efficient Lighting Systems, Solar Hot Water, Rainwater systems, and Insulation all over Victoria. In all the Environment Shop will have generated/abated well over a 500 MegaWatt hours of Energy – the equivalent of 500,000 kg of CO2.
Rory Gutterson, Manager of Projects says that one of the reasons behind the success of Enviro Shop is that they simplify the process for their customers, “Making the whole process smooth from start to finish is utterly crucial.” The company relies on the support of Green Energy Trading to simplify their REC and VEEC transactions. Gutterson states, “RECs in particular are hideously complicated and we want to make that invisible to the customer. We do that by using Green Energy Trading, who make this invisible by providing us with paperwork that is ready to go. We fill that out with the customers’ details and it just gets sent off and it’s done, its invisible and the customers get their money. They should never hear about RECs again, and they don’t. The reason I love working with Green Energy Trading is that the customer signs the paperwork and it disappears and they get their money. And that’s how it should be - easy. They just make it so easy for us.”
Enviro Shop have employed the services of Green Energy Trading to simplify and streamline their business since the company began. Over this time they have enjoyed a smooth and profitable working relationship, “If ever we have any questions we can just pick up the phone and call. And questions do come up with RECs and VEECs. It’s such a complicated area that we can’t keep up to date with all of the changes and we don’t want to. We leave that role to people who are really good at it. I really enjoy working with Green Energy Trading because I trust the people I work with.”
Gutterson states that Enviro Shop benefits from the straightforward transactions with Green Energy Trading, “Also things are quick, we put our forms in and within a few weeks it’s all done. That kind of service and knowing you can get what you need out of your supplier is really important. And that’s what we get.”
http://envirogroup.com.au
Going Solar – Jo Bradley
Going Solar has been in the business of supplying and installing solar electricity and solar water heating for 32 years. They also operate in retail, consulting, sustainable transport and environmentally sustainable design. As Going Solar only supply the highest quality products they tend to attract higher end customers who are not purely driven by price. Their typical projects are for commercial sites, councils and universities, as well as some domestic work for larger clients.
RECs are very valuable to Going Solar’s business; particularly when it comes to solar water heating as RECs represent a large component of the overall capital cost for the customer. Any price fluctuations and variations are felt very keenly and quickly. Green Energy Trading help to minimise the price risk for Going Solar. Jo Bradley, administration and projects manager says, “They give us flexibility and time to get the paperwork for our customers processed ensuring they won’t be affected by the change in REC price”.
Bradley values the Talking Green Energy monthly newsletter which is sent to all clients, “I enjoy reading the monthly updates. It’s always good for us to have a feel for what is affecting REC prices, how many RECs are being generated in particular areas and where the market is heading. It’s really good actually as we have to do a lot of education to our customers about RECs, and having some hard facts and figures helps show that you’re keeping up to date.”
Green Energy Trading helps to make the process as simple as possible for Going Solar. As one of the company’s first clients, Going Solar began using Green Energy Trading due to director Ric Brazzale’s reputation in the industry. From the start the process went smoothly Jo says, “Green Energy Trading have always processed RECs efficiently and without any trouble. If they ever need any paperwork from us, like an invoice, one of the girls just rings, we send it through then it’s all done. Having friendly and efficient staff really helps. We’re in the business of actually selling and installing systems. We want all the paperwork and processing to be as easy possible and without the support of Green Energy Trading it would just be too time consuming”.
www.goingsolar.com.au
|
