To help customers take swift action on energy efficient upgrades through its innovative ‘As a Service’ business model, Journey Energy Solutions has partnered with specialist energy financing company Capitas Finance.
Journey Energy Solutions (Journey) is a specialist energy solutions company. It is one of only a handful of low carbon services businesses to offer customers a truly turnkey Energy as a Service (EaaS) solution.
What does EaaS mean for Journey’s customers? It’s a holistic offering that helps to accelerate decarbonisation and operational cost savings. Journey takes care of the design, installation and maintenance of low carbon technologies – such as LED lighting, EV charging, energy storage, heat pumps and solar – without the need of upfront capital expenditure from the customer. Customers’ carbon reduction goals can be achieved in a way that is predictable, hassle-free and cost-efficient.
By partnering with Capitas Finance, Journey can put funding mechanisms in place that allow customers to take swift action on energy efficient upgrades. As well as helping to reduce carbon emissions, this new approach can unlock significant cost savings – often in excess of 60% – over the term of a contract.
Engaging with Capitas helps Journey provide customers with an alternative to traditional capital expenditure and reduced barrier to investment. The partnership means Journey doesn’t have to wait for a customer’s annual budget to be released in order to implement the required energy efficiency improvements. Deployment of low carbon technology can be operational in the shortest possible time, thereby optimising customer carbon and energy savings.
Journey’s requirements of its finance partner were threefold: it wanted to work with a company that was: fully aware of the intricacies of the energy sector; fully conversant with the benefits of low-carbon technologies; and able to provide commercial support to help sell the benefits of the EaaS model.
As specialists in financing energy solutions, Capitas offers a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to its partners. It was clear from the outset that Capitas understood the issues and complexities faced by Journey’s customers – and the challenges they face.
The two companies share the view that it is important to provide the right solution for a customer’s individual needs, whether it is a multi-national conglomerate or a small business. Journey found that the customised and competitive finance options offered by Capitas could not be rivalled. In turn, this is backed up by a range of dedicated resources to help Journey engage with customers during the buy-in process.
Demonstrating the success of this partnership is a project with Rygor – the largest dedicated dealer group for Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles in the UK. Thanks to the partnership with Capitas Finance, Journey has equipped eight of Rygor’s commercial retail sites with the latest LED lighting systems.
The starting point for the project was the realisation by the auto dealership that the existing lighting needed to be upgraded to reduce operational costs and carbon emissions. The project originally covered three of its sites, but during the course of conversations with Journey, the scope of the scheme was expanded. Each of the eight Rygor sites now features a complementary blend of the latest LED lighting products. As well as carrying out all of the design and installation work, Journey has also been contracted for six years to provide ongoing service and maintenance support.
Energy and carbon savings over the term of the contract are estimated to be £648,514 and 980 tonnes respectively. In addition, the improved quality of the lighting has been widely commented upon by employees and visitors.
Terry Reeves, Operations Director at Journey, comments:
“We needed a partner that understood our business and our customers, and was capable of delivering solutions at pace – without unnecessary complexity. Capitas Finance delivered on all of this – and more. Their financing solutions cannot be matched. We’ve undertaken market due-diligence and concluded that they stand ‘head and shoulders’ above anything else that is available. Having a funding mechanism in place means we can get projects rolling extremely quickly. From a customer perspective, the ability to kick-start projects that will lead to reduced operational costs, energy savings and decarbonisation will be hugely welcomed.”
Darren Riva, CEO at Capitas Finance, says:
“It’s very rewarding to work in close partnership with a like-minded business that shares our values. We’re fully aware of the challenges that Journey’s customers are facing. So, we’ve structured a bespoke finance solution that enables their team to accelerate decarbonisation projects in a way that is swift, uncomplicated and totally transparent. As so many companies look for new routes to achieve their Net Zero goals, we look forward to many more projects with the Journey team.”