Simble and Wattwatchers to target multiple markets

A collaboration between Simble Solutions (ASX:SIS) and digital energy group Wattwatchers should prove to be a formidable force.

The pair has joined forces to capture a significant proportion of market share in the home and commercial sectors in Australia and UK with their all-in-one energy efficiency solutions.

Building on five-plus years of strong collaboration in Australia’s increasingly competitive energy tech marketplace, Simble Solutions and Wattwatchers Digital Energy have upped the ante with a new targeted partnership announced today at All-Energy Australia.

In a multi-pronged approach Simble and Wattwatchers will target business, residential and utility metering in Australia and internationally, with a significant position already established in UK.

Wattwatchers will offer its award-winning energy meters together with Simble’s real-time energy management solution to homes and businesses nation-wide, using data and remote control to help consumers save money, reduce consumption and cut carbon pollution.

The group has an impressive background with Wattwatchers Digital Energy being an award-winning Australian technology company focused on devices, data and communications to make behind-the-meter energy management intelligent, connected, easy to install and operate, and cost-effective.

The company develops and markets ‘IoT for energy’ hardware, firmware and software solutions to accurately monitor, analyse and control electrical circuits in real-time through the cloud.

The internationally-certified Wattwatchers product suite is highly flexible, crossing over for residential, commercial and industrial, and utility use cases, while also working with an expanding choice of cloud platforms, software applications and consumer interfaces.

Simble to tap into 53 million smart meter rollout in UK

Approximately 53 million utility smart meters are scheduled to be rolled out in the UK by the end of 2024.

Simble Solutions has partnered with leading energy service provider Utiligroup to access all energy data via the government-owned Data Communications Company (DCC) to develop the Virtual Analytics App, a consumer-facing energy management application that can be white-labelled for electricity and gas retailers.

The DCC app also works with Wattwatchers, independently of utilities and regulated energy markets, with real-time, highly-granular data providing enhanced performance for home and business consumers, readily downloadable to mobile devices.

Under a Reseller Agreement announced at All-Energy Australia today, Simble will be Wattwatchers’ preferred energy management supplier in Australia as well as for its expanding presence in the UK.

In particular, Wattwatchers will own-brand Simble’s native apps - in IoS and Android versions, supported by the SimbleSense cloud platform and virtual analytics capabilities - for consumer-led energy management in homes and small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

This means that Wattwatchers, which traditionally has focused on devices and data streams for managing and controlling electricity in real-time through the cloud, will now bundle sophisticated end-user interfaces as a seamless extension of its offerings.

Simble and Wattwatchers monetising IOT technology

Simble, meanwhile, will strategically double-down on its marketing efforts in the high-potential UK marketplace, providing consumer-facing software solutions for utility applications, and also for independent energy IoT devices.

Fadi Geha, Simble founder and chief executive, said the new Reseller Agreement would allow each of the partners to maximise their respective strengths, while avoiding duplication of sales and marketing efforts.

Explaining the significance of this new arrangement, Geha said, "For Simble Solutions, it immediately gives us exposure to Wattwatchers’ accelerating growth in the Australian marketplace.

"This growth push includes selling direct to communities, consumers and electricians with data-driven energy management solutions targeting homes and small businesses, with Simble apps own-branded for Wattwatchers now being built into multi-year packages that include hardware, installation, communications and software.

"This is the Internet of Things for Energy at work, which is all about being intelligent, flexible, nimble and, above all, a focus on adding value for consumers."

Win-Win for service providers and consumers

Gavin Dietz, chief executive of Wattwatchers, said that the preferred partner model underpinning the Reseller Agreement with Simble recognised the rising level of competition in the energy tech space.

Highlighting the one plus one makes three benefits that will flow from the combined offering, Dietz said, "The logic for Simble and Wattwatchers to work together more closely just became ever more compelling.

"Wattwatchers is strong on the hardware side, and Simble’s greatest strengths have always been its software applications, but consumers just want a one-stop solution that does everything they need.

"This deeper relationship between Wattwatchers and Simble means that we’ve sorted out the integration issues between us, in the background, and the end consumers just see a full service that supports them to manage electricity better, backed by the power of data, which is what they want.

"It’s the kind of partnership that everyone wants, one in which everyone can win."

This is a timely development given that Simble and Wattwatchers are co-demonstrating their combined solutions at All-Energy Australia on October 23 and 24, the new Energy Efficiency Expo trade show and conference (the Wattwatchers Digital Energy stand is F135).