FAQ

Optimal Monitoring is a team of software and data engineers specialising in the design, creation and delivery of Energy Monitoring, Analytics and Reporting Software. With over twenty years of industry experience, UK based Optimal Monitoring enables organisations to make smarter decisions about utilities, energy consumption and the impact on corporate and environmental responsibilities.

With the help of Innovate UK funding, and collaboration with leading academics from Reading University, we have created EMMA AI, a product which uses artificial intelligence to analyse half hour utility consumption data. EMMA AI turns the results of this analysis into suggestions as to where and what the anomaly is which can be automated as work tickets to go straight to the appropriate resource for each utility or facility.

Optimal Monitoring is part of the Optimal Group, which was established in 1993, and is headquartered in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

EMMA AI® monitors your utilities so you don’t have to. It automatically checks your estate, finds problems and shows/tells you how to fix them. As it works, it learns through Artificial Intelligence, so its solutions constantly improve. The award-winning EMMA AI® is the world’s most advanced energy monitoring system and is the perfect partner to reduce your company’s carbon footprint on the road to net zero.
EMMA AI® will identify consumption waste, across all utilities, and provide recommended actions to prevent or reduce it, often at no capital cost.  As a result, you will have a lower utility bill, and save money.

EMMA AI will identify waste in Gas and electricity, providing recommended actions to prevent or reduce it, often at no capital cost.  By optimising your consumption, you reduce your carbon footprint.

Additionally, EMMA AI will help you understand your utility needs better, ensuring the technology choices you make to decarbonise are sustainable and cost efficient.

EMMA AI is constantly analysing your utility consumption for anomalous consumption patterns. Anomalies are classified as consumption which breaks the trend when viewed in relation to external factors such as time, working patterns, environmental conditions, and activity levels.

Using the characteristics of identified anomalies EMMA AI can determine the probable cause, as well as the best course of action to resolve the issue.

Further EMMA AI learns from your feedback, learning new causes and resolutions specific to your operation.

Setting up EMMA AI is very simple. All EMMA AI needs is the Half-Hour data from your smart meter, and the location of your building. That is, it.

An EMMA pilot costs nothing!

Well, it costs £5,000, for up to 10 buildings. But if EMMA AI does not find at least £5,000pa of savings we will give you a full refund.

EMMA AI typically costs less than 2% of your utility spend.
No, EMMA AI needs no capital expenditure on equipment. Providing you have a smart meter EMMA AI can get all the data it needs to work from your utility provider.
EMMA AI is designed to operate on a building-by-building bases. If you have metering at the building level EMMA AI will work very well.
If you do not have extensive building level metering, EMMA AI will still be able to identify and quantify anomalies. If you find and fix them great, but if you cannot, you will be able to use EMMA AI’s findings to justify the spend on more metering to help you pinpoint the anomalies found.
EMMA AI uses ‘driving factor’ data to understand your consumption. Driving Factor data is the measure which influences utility consumption. In your case this will be customers. EMMA AI can import your customer data (footfall, covers, sales), to influence its decisions, and to provide measures of consumption by customer.

Providing you have AMR (automatic meter read) meters covering these areas EMMA AI will have no problem analysing this consumption and providing you will valuable advice.

Often Sub-Meters are installed for the common areas and connected back to the building management system (BMS). If this is the case it should be possible to have the BMS send EMMA AI the data it needs. Otherwise, it may be possible to add AMR to you existing meters at relatively low cost (£100s).

EMMA AI is designed to view every building as unique, applying Energy Management and AI backed analysis using the specific characteristics of your buildings. EMMA AI knows that even similar buildings performing the same function are not the same.

Using the characteristics of identified anomalies EMMA AI can determine the probable cause, as well as the best course of action to resolve the issue. Further EMMA AI learns from your feedback, learning new causes and resolutions specific to your operation.

EMMA AI is designed to assist you in the mondain aspects of your job. Collecting and analysing utility data for you, so you can focus on resolving the big value items, getting kudos for the saving you make.

Further EMMA AI will give you access to analysis you can use to build a case for capital expenditure where EMMA AI finds significant individual or reoccurring anomalies. EMMA AI not only provides evidence, but also the cost of these, for easy inclusion in your case.

Yes: Because EMMA AI is reviewing and analysing your consumption 24/7 365 days a year, it will identify issues quickly and efficiently, even where it is not cost effective for a person to do it.

Using EMMA AI means an end to nasty surprises in your utility bills because the heating was accidentally set to manual, or the warehouse lights were left on at night, or one of the toilets has been continuously flushing all weekend.

It will also ensure that your Net Zero Carbon strategy is based on facts not assumptions. It will help you build the most effective strategy and ensure that where unit costs inevitably increase by going green, you are only using what you need too to operate comfortably and efficiently.