Spokane-based energy and sustainability management service provider Ecova Inc. has expanded its services to include European markets, through its parent company ENGIE. 

Along with its European expansion, company officials say it’s continuing to invest in technology that will develop its digital analytics platforms further.

Based on consumption, cost, and carbon footprint data, Ecova provides utilities and commercial clients with techniques for reducing energy usage and saving utility costs. The company serves a variety of industries, including retail, dining, education, entertainment, fast food, government, grocery, health care, hospitality, manufacturing, and transportation.  

This past March, ENGIE moved Power Efficiency Limited, a European energy procurement and carbon reduction consultancy, under Ecova’s management and brand, creating a new U.K. branch that is now known as Ecova Inc. Limited. 

Both companies were acquired by ENGIE, which decided to combine the two because of similarities in their offerings and the potential for Ecova’s expansion into European markets. 

In a recent press release, Ecova President and CEO Jana Schmidt indicated the move was a smart decision for both companies.  

 “I’m excited that Ecova’s first step outside North America has been to add capabilities in Europe,” says Schmidt. “This integration helps us prioritize markets that provide the greatest business benefits to our clients around cost and risk management.”

The expansion increases Ecova’s client base to 900 multisite clients, and over 710,000 sites under management in North America and Europe. Ecova’s clients now include 50 of the nation’s largest utilities, as well as many international companies. 

Shannon Scheiwiller, vice president of marketing for Ecova, says the company now employs about 1,400 people, 800 of whom are based in Spokane.

“In addition to our new U.K. offices, Ecova continues to expand its digital platform, giving our clients more accurate data in a shorter amount of time,” says Scheiwiller. 

Following its acquisition of the efficiency intelligence company Retroficiency Inc. in October, Ecova developed a software-as-a-service offering called a digital engagement solution platform. 

This new service was based on Retroficiency’s analytics platform and is mainly designed to assist utilities in meeting their service goals, which generally focus on being able to provide customers reliable sources of energy at reasonable rates. 

 The platform features an end-user customer portal that gives businesses specific insights about their energy use and recommendations for improvements. It also includes a multichannel marketing campaign tool that targets customers based on energy-saving opportunities, and an online marketplace to connect customers interested in certain projects with the appropriate contractors. 

Scheiwiller says most data used in the platform is collected from area utilities’ customer data, but also can be augmented through other sources such as building inspection databases. 

Retroficiency’s platform uses data to make what is called a virtual energy assessment. This tool studies meter data and uses it to create virtual models of buildings or households, then identify potential energy savings. Ecova then follows up with a plan to reduce energy use, selling efficiency programs to the residential or commercial clients of utilities.

“Retroficiency’s software enables utilities to engage with their customers through virtual energy audit technology, helping them to pinpoint inefficiencies and drive down energy consumption,” says Scheiwiller. 

She says this technology also represents a shift from in-person visits and consultations, to a data-based analysis that is accurate in half the time.

Ecova claims its digital engagement platform has already provided customers at least two times more energy savings opportunities and has increased adoption of utility efficiency programs by four times more than before.

Scheiwiller says that while utilities previously helped their customers save energy through programs like campaigns promoting energy-efficient light bulbs, the rate at which they are seeing improvement from those efforts is slowing.

She says Ecova’s efficiency tracking tools can now track those same programs and marketing campaigns, determining which are most effective, for which utility customer populations.

“Going forward, this new method of data analytics is the only way to really capture more significant energy savings,” she says. 

Last month Ecova announced that, in partnership with its utility clients, it has delivered 129 terawatt hours of energy savings over the last 12 years—the lifetime of its programs—including 21 terawatt hours of savings in 2015 alone.

The company says this lifetime savings of 129 terawatt hours is equivalent to displacing the production from 51 power plants for one year, averting the greenhouse gas emissions from 207 million barrels of oil consumed, or preventing 89 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Ecova estimates that altogether its programs have resulted in $15 billion in savings for utilities customers.

“We see the digital engagement model as a valuable tool in the future for both households and businesses. This technology walks a customer through lifestyle patterns, viewing energy consumption in real time, and allowing them to focus on their individual journey,” says Scheiwiller. 

Ecova has a separate digital platform for its multisite clients, called the energy and sustainability platform. 

“With multisite commercial or industrial clients, we can use that same utilities data to analyze each location and determine which sites have the highest utility bills or energy consumption rates,” she says. 

Depending on where those inefficiencies lie, whether its waste, water, or energy consumption, Ecova will suggest improvements. 

“We might be able to manage inefficiencies that are rooted in human behavior or machine operations, which can sometimes be controlled through efforts like better recycling or waste diversions,” Scheiwiller says. 

Part of Ecova’s services include helping businesses understand how to use their energy consumption data to inform their company’s capital investments. 

“We’re able to suggest specific solutions for each location, upgrading an HVAC system here, or adding energy efficient lighting there. These are improvements that end up generating long-term savings overall, so businesses can invest that money in other areas,” says Scheiwiller. 

In February, Ecova also invested in Trove Predictive Data Science, a data analytics company, whose technology it hopes to use to provide companies with even deeper insights into how to use energy data to save on resources. 

“The recent investment in Trove will help us to further isolate savings opportunities for our clients,” Scheiwiller says. 

She says Ecova also tracks its own energy footprint, wanting to hold itself accountable to the same energy saving goals it helps its clients to achieve.

 “We’ve reduced our greenhouse gas emissions for our Pacific Northwest offices, which include Portland, Seattle, and Spokane, by 8 percent from our 2012 baseline,” she says. 

Scheiwiller says the company also increased its volunteer efforts within the community, giving back nearly 5,100 volunteer hours to the Pacific Northwest region, and benefiting 170 nonprofit and educational organizations. 

Previously a subsidiary of Spokane-based utility company Avista Corp., Ecova was sold for $335 million in 2013 to Cofely USA Inc., a brand of French multinational utility company GDF Suez Energy Services. 

Last year GDF Suez rebranded itself, changing its name to ENGIE. ENGIE’s website lists it as being the 37th largest company in the world, employing about 155,000 people across 70 countries. The company reported 2015 revenues of almost $70 billion.