Härjeåns

We have chosen EdiLink Services because we trust Microsoft's Azure platform. Göran Gustafson, systems engineer, Härjeåns

EdiLink Services from EG Utility has enabled Swedish energy group Härjeåns to cut a third off the price of customer contact compared to the standard price. EdiLink also provides flexible cloud capacity, automatically gearing Härjeåns for large data extracts. When energy companies enter the deregulated energy market, they must be able to handle huge amounts of data related to meter readings, changes of supplier and data exchange between suppliers. Swedish energy group Härjeåns meets this challenge with the cloud solution EdiLink Services from EG Utility.

"With EdiLink Services, the necessary data resources are always available when we need them. We experience an intense peak in the beginning of each month in connection with meter readings, whereas we need far less capacity for the rest of the month. Also, EdiLink gives us a clear competitive advantage with a price of SEK 0.80 per customer contact compared to a standard price of SEK 1.25 from other suppliers," says Göran Gustafson, systems engineer at Härjeåns.

With EdiLink, Härjeåns is therefore able to use its resources far more efficiently and avoid unnecessary costs of a large server capacity.

"EdiLink heralds a new era for Härjeåns as we prepare for the increased competition on the energy trading market. We have chosen the most cost-effective solution and future-proofed our infrastructure at the same time as EdiLink Services is compatible with all systems on the energy market," says Göran Gustafson.

No more SMTP servers
Energy companies have traditionally used physical SMTP servers to handle the exchange of information between meters and companies. This solution, however, often results in superfluous capacity 80 % of the time and insufficient capacity 20 % of the time. Many companies therefore look to cloud technology to find a solution that eliminates the need for energy-consuming high-maintenance servers.

In the quest for the right solution, Härjeåns attached particular importance to the fact that EdiLink Services is based on a proven Microsoft Azure solution customised to the specific needs of the energy sector.

"One of our reasons for choosing EdiLink is that we trust Microsoft's Azure software. With EdiLink Services, EG Utility has customised this software and developed a user-friendly product that can be installed within an hour," says Göran Gustafson.

According to Göran Gustafson, EdiLink can be easily installed via the internet as no mail servers or other hardware is required.

Great potential for the energy sector
EG Utility currently experiences a huge demand for EdiLink Services – a demand that, in addition to the general interest in cloud computing, is driven by the desire to reduce risk exposure and achieve greater flexibility.

"EdiLink Services enables us to meet the energy sector's need for solutions that increase energy companies' competitiveness in that they avoid having to tie up capital in infrastructure, among other things. We offer EdiLink Services with a minimum contract period of only one month to allow new customers to test the advantages of EdiLink without risk," says Bo Sundström, development manager of EG Utility A/S.

EG Utility takes a great interest in the deregulated energy market in Sweden and other European countries. In order to strengthen its position as a market-leading supplier of cloud solutions, EG Utility intends to offer a number of new services and rapidly implement them for all customers via the Azure cloud platform.

"We can give all our customers access to new services in no time, and we will continue to develop new and valuable features. We are currently considering how our customers may benefit from our growing data material on energy habits and consumer behaviour," Bo Sundström concludes.