Reducing waste costs is a crucial goal for many businesses. And the good news is, you don’t have to wait until your waste contract ends to reduce costs. Here are some effective strategies to help achieve this:
Conduct Waste Audits: Regularly analyse your waste streams to identify areas where waste can be minimised. This helps set reduction targets and track progress
Implement Recycling and Composting Programs: Incorporate recycling and composting practices into your daily operations. This reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and can lower disposal costs
Reduce Packaging Waste: Choose products with minimal and recyclable packaging. This prevents waste from being created in the first place and can significantly cut costs
Switch to Reusable Products: Use reusable bags, bottles, containers, and other products to prevent waste from disposables. This not only reduces waste but also saves money in the long run
Optimise Processes: Focus on minimizing resource usage, such as energy, water, and raw materials, by optimising processes and adopting lean production methods
Promote Reuse: Encourage the reuse of materials, equipment, and packaging within your operations. This can reduce the need for new purchases and lower waste generation
Engage Employees: Educate and engage employees in waste reduction efforts. A company-wide culture of sustainability can lead to more effective waste management practices
Invest in Technology: Consider technological advancements such as waste-to-energy systems and eco-friendly materials for more efficient waste management
Review and Refine Strategies: Continuously assess and refine your waste reduction strategies to adapt to evolving regulations and best practices
By implementing these strategies, businesses can not only reduce waste costs but also contribute to a more sustainable future.
How Total Utilities Can Help
In 2024, the team at Total Utilities successfully managed $13.7 million worth of Waste and Recycling tenders, achieving impressive savings of $3.5 million for our clients. These savings ranged from as high as 59% to an average of 26% and were made up of better contract terms as well as increased landfill diversion.
If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that unpredictability is the new norm. From gas shortages and hydro lake levels nearing rock bottom to record highs and lows in pricing, the year had it all.
One thing is clear: the current market structure isn’t serving commercial and industrial customers well. Short-term issues have impacted long-term pricing, forcing customers to pay a premium for future energy, even when conditions might improve.
In a previous article, I delved deeper into how coal sets the overall price in a largely renewable energy grid. You can read more about it here.
Looking Ahead to 2025
As we step into 2025, hydro storage levels are at 85% capacity, which is 22% higher than usual for this time of year. Wholesale electricity spot pricing remains low, with thermal generation contributing only about 3-5% to the grid. Current prices are around 4-5c/kWh, a significant drop from last January’s 25c/kWh. However, with limited natural gas availability and coal firming the market, price volatility is more pronounced, especially during dry periods when wind generation drops.
Average Daily Wholesale Spot Pricing
The ASX Energy Futures Market
Forward market pricing remains stubbornly high on the ASX Energy Futures market, which sets the overall forward price for retail contracts for large commercial and industrial customers. The current quarter (Jan-Mar 2025) is priced around 12c/kWh in the North Island and 7.4c/kWh in the South Island.
The ASX Energy Futures market is dominated by the big four generators: Contact, Genesis, Mercury, and Meridian. These generators offer volume into the market for participants, which can include other generators, retailers, major energy users, or investment houses.
Long-Term Pricing Trends
Over the past year, long-term pricing on the ASX has steadily increased as natural gas supplies dwindle. The market seems to be factoring in more risk as coal becomes the dominant fuel for managing limited hydro storage.
North Island pricing for 2026, 2027, and 2028 has risen by 19%, 26%, and 11% respectively since January last year. Similarly, South Island prices have increased by 28%, 35%, and 14%. Notably, pricing for 2028 only became available on the market from October 1st last year. The forward price curve has also shifted from a staggered reducing price to an almost flat price within any given year.
North Island Pricing ASX Energy Futures
The Future of Firming Fuels
This trend suggests that coal will remain the firming fuel of choice for the foreseeable future, despite calls for liquid natural gas imports as a lower carbon emission option. The industry appears divided on future firming solutions, adding to the uncertainty.
As we navigate through 2025, staying informed and adaptable will be key to managing the ever-changing energy landscape.
Navigating the Future of Renewable Energy and Market Volatility
The announcement of new renewable generation projects is exciting, but it comes with its own set of challenges. Much of the new capacity is in solar and wind, both of which are intermittent and cannot be relied upon for firming. While battery storage is becoming more economically viable, it hasn’t reached the point where it can fully replace traditional firming methods. New hydro or geothermal developments, which could provide the necessary baseload generation to support intermittent sources, are facing lower priority due to high costs and resource consent issues.
What to Expect in the Coming Year
As we look ahead, the energy market is expected to remain volatile. Both Transpower and the Gas Industry Company have warned that natural gas production may fall below demand during the upcoming winter. This shortfall will likely keep energy prices unstable. Additionally, the commissioning of new generation projects is progressing slowly, meaning the reliance on fossil fuels for firming will continue in the short term.
Preparing for Contract Expiry in 2025
If your electricity contract is set to expire in 2025, it’s crucial to start planning early. Seeking market pricing well in advance of your contract’s expiry date allows you to set realistic budgets and mitigate the impact of short-term volatility.
Consider exploring solar options, whether on-site or off-site. Both approaches enable you to purchase solar energy as a commodity, reducing your exposure to price fluctuations in the broader energy market.
How Total Utilities Can Help
Total Utilities is here to assist you in navigating these complexities. We offer advisory services to help you evaluate your options and make informed decisions about your energy contracts and renewable energy investments. For more detailed advice, you can read our article on managing utility contract expirations here.
By staying proactive and informed, you can better manage the uncertainties of the energy market and make strategic decisions for your business’s future.
Manufacturers can maximise energy and operational efficiency by leveraging the Panoramic Power end-to-end energy intelligence platform. This platform combines wireless sensor technology with advanced analytics software to provide real-time energy insights, enabling optimisation of energy and operational performance across an entire site, down to the device and equipment level.
Real-time energy data at your fingertips
By simply clipping wireless IoT sensors to energy-intensive assets at a circuit level, the captured data is analysed and visualised using an advanced energy management platform. This provides a 360-degree view of site-wide power usage at the required level of detail. Additionally, it is possible to monitor gas, heat, air flow, and water consumption, as well as on-site generators like solar systems.
Six Ways Smart Sensors Can Drive Manufacturing Efficiency Savings
1. Detect Energy Waste to Drive Efficiency and Cost Savings
By understanding what’s happening beyond metered data at a device and process level, hidden energy waste can be identified, driving efficiency improvements that can reduce skyrocketing bills. For example, unnecessary out-of-hours consumption, idling equipment, incorrect operation timetables, or opportunities to improve compressor cycling or production/process line sequencing can be detected. Benchmarking against other comparable sites or areas can also help detect anomalies and drive best practices. IoT energy insights can further inform and influence employee behaviour change to improve energy performance.
2. Improve Operational Efficiency
With on-demand access to real-time equipment and process performance data, new insights into operational improvement opportunities can be gained. Often, the resulting operational cost savings are higher than the energy savings. For instance, energy insights can detect air leaks from compressors and diagnose performance issues with cooling equipment or production lines. The technology can support the verification of manufacturer default settings and equipment controls, while also tracking operational trends from adjusting equipment controls in real-time.
3. Predict Equipment Failure and Trigger Maintenance Protocols
Energy analytics software can detect anomalies and faulty equipment or process vulnerabilities that could affect output or product quality. Smart technology facilitates the transition from scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance by providing 24/7 alerts about potential issues, preventing them before they become points of failure. This reduces downtime, increases productivity, and extends asset life.
4. Decarbonise Your Business
Improving energy and operational efficiency also delivers carbon savings, helping achieve net zero ambitions cost-effectively. This allows manufacturers to stay ahead of increasing environmental regulation and carbon taxation while meeting the sustainability expectations of customers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders.
5. Make Compliance & Reporting Easy
A data-driven energy monitoring strategy provides a clear view of energy and carbon performance. Accurate data is available at the required level of detail to support increasing regulatory and legislative oversight of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Device-level data also allows quantification of the energy or carbon intensity of production, such as how many kWh or t/CO2-e it takes to produce one widget. Similarly, if upgrading process heat requirements to heat pumps, device-level data can verify the carbon reduction impact of these upgrades.
6. Optimise and Monetise Energy Flexibility
Data gathered from wireless sensors can inform opportunities to use energy flexibly for cost reduction and revenue generation. By shifting loads to avoid peak time power costs, significant savings can be achieved by moving non-essential loads out of peak hours.
By implementing these strategies, manufacturers can significantly enhance their energy and operational efficiency, leading to substantial cost savings and improved sustainability.
How Total Utilities Can Help
Our expert team can help you unlock significant energy savings with a short-term return on investment (ROI). Typically, we can identify up to 25% savings with an ROI of less than 2 years.
We achieve this by conducting a comprehensive site-wide energy audit (Type 1), examining everything from lighting and HVAC systems to chillers, boilers, refrigeration and other energy-intensive systems. Additionally, we install Panoramic Power our non-intrusive energy intelligence system, providing real-time device-level energy data visibility. For more information check out a brief overview of our service here.
Ready to start saving? Contact us today to schedule your energy audit and begin your journey towards greater efficiency and cost savings!
If 2024 has taught us anything, waste costs are on a relentless rise. With fewer recycling options in New Zealand and the implementation of waste levies and local authority levies, managing waste has become increasingly challenging.
In 2024, the team at Total Utilities successfully managed $13.7 million worth of Waste and Recycling tenders, achieving impressive savings of $3.5 million for our clients. These savings ranged from as high as 59% to an average of 26%.
Looking ahead to 2025
However, the current cost trajectory is clear: expenses will continue to climb with another round of waste levies starting on July 1st, municipal landfill increases, and annual price hikes from service providers. For instance, the “waste collection” producer price index increased by 5.9% between November 2023 and 2024[1].
The closure of the OJI Fibre processing plant in Auckland has added another layer of complexity. All cardboard now needs to be exported, which incurs additional freight costs to recycling destinations offshore. This change has resulted in reduced returns for both processors and clients. Oji Fibre Solutions will continue to recycle around 90,000 tonnes of cardboard annually at its Kinleith Mill[2].
Despite these challenges, there is some positive movement in the industry. The expansion and acquisitions of waste and recycling providers foster competition, especially in regional locations. Globally the waste recycling services market is estimated to grow from USD 124.23 billion in 2024 to USD 155.55 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 4.60%[3].
How Total Utilities Can Help
Total Utilities is dedicated to assisting you in reviewing your current waste contracts, focusing on pricing, efficiencies, and diversion rates. We offer advisory services to help you evaluate your options and find solutions for increased diversions, enabling you to make informed decisions about your waste contracts.
By staying proactive and informed, you can better manage your waste contracts, optimise costs and efficiencies, and make strategic decisions for your business’s future.
Discover how Total Utilities can help you streamline your Waste Procurement, reduce costs, and provide comprehensive reporting.
In the past three to five years, legislative changes have prompted many New Zealand businesses to evaluate their contributions towards the country’s net carbon zero targets. Despite their commitment to sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions, many companies find themselves stuck at the implementation stage due to a lack of necessary data.
The Importance of Data in Sustainability
The journey towards sustainability is fundamentally dependent on data. Data is crucial, from setting decarbonisation goals to determining the actions needed to achieve those goals and monitoring progress. Most sustainability projects involve significant investments in onsite energy generation, transitioning to renewable energy sources, diversifying the energy mix, or investing in more efficient machinery.
Granular data collected at the machine, process, and facility levels empowers decision-makers to justify their investments and confidently implement sustainability initiatives.
Establishing Baselines and Monitoring Progress
Once an investment decision is made, organisations need to establish baselines and monitor progress. Highly accurate IoT devices can measure energy use and emissions across critical machinery, creating a baseline for tracking progress and identifying areas for improvement. Monitoring energy consumption, operational efficiency, and emission levels allows organisations to set realistic, data-backed sustainability targets, monitor initiatives over time, and collect the data needed to meet reporting obligations.
Case Study: The Power of Data in Action
A national retail chain, a client of Total Utilities, demonstrates the power of data in action. The Panoramic Power Energy Intelligence solution helped identify out-of-hours energy waste equivalent to 51,000kg of Scope 2 CO2 emissions. By using Panoramic Power sensors to measure the energy consumption of their HVAC system, they identified an opportunity to optimise these assets during non-operational hours, achieving $105,000 per year in total energy cost savings.
Criteria for Effective Data Utilisation
For data to successfully drive sustainability initiatives forward, it must meet the following criteria:
Generate Insights: Organisations striving for net zero need more than just raw data; they need actionable insights. A robust data tool is required to generate these insights, allowing key stakeholders to visualise the full energy picture, identify sources of waste, and determine where interventions will have the most significant economic and environmental impact.
Be Readily Shareable: Companies worldwide often suffer from data silos, where relevant data does not reach those who need it for daily operations. A data tool that facilitates easy sharing across departments and stakeholders empowers both site and management levels to carry out their tasks efficiently and accurately.
Ease Reporting Obligations: Organisations face increasing pressure to collect and maintain accurate emissions and resource consumption data and report on decarbonisation efforts. A data-driven energy monitoring strategy provides a clear view of energy and carbon performance and generates detailed reports required for regulatory and legislative compliance with Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
Harness Energy Intelligence and Boost Your Sustainability Initiatives
When organisations have confidence in their data, they can better manage their energy use. Data will be the cornerstone of successful sustainability journeys going forward. By collecting, analysing, and acting on data-driven insights, manufacturing organisations can bridge the gap between commitments and implementation, achieve net-zero goals, and build a more sustainable future.
How Total Utilities Can Help
Our expert team can help you unlock significant energy savings with a short-term return on investment (ROI). Typically, we can identify up to 25% savings with an ROI of less than 2 years.
We offer the easiest-to-install, and fastest for ROI energy management solution, that scales effortlessly from a few devices to full-site or multi-site operations. Experience actionable insights and real-time analytics that drive efficiency and sustainability. Our solutions work for everyone, helping your organisation kickstart cultural transformation towards a sustainable future.
We’re delighted to welcome Dave Booker to the Total Utilities team as our new Process Improvement Engineer. His expertise will undoubtedly enhance our commitment to delivering exceptional service.
Dave brings decades of experience from industries like pulp, paper and steel, where he’s known for his hands-on approach to solving complex technical problems.
His background in troubleshooting and strategic process improvements makes him the perfect fit for our goal of delivering smarter, more efficient energy solutions.
At Total Utilities, Dave will focus on optimising our Panoramic Power energy monitoring and intelligence platform, a key tool in tracking energy consumption for our clients.
His job? To make sure the data captured by these units doesn’t just sit in spreadsheets but becomes a powerful tool to cut costs and improve efficiency.
Turning Data into Action
“It’s not just about collecting data,” Dave says, “It’s about transforming that data into insights that show clients exactly where they can reduce energy and put their resources to best use.”
With rising power prices and operational costs becoming a major concern for businesses, Dave’s role is more crucial than ever. “What we’re aiming for is visibility,” he adds. “We want to give clients a clear understanding of how their systems are performing, where inefficiencies lie, and what can be done about them—before small issues turn into costly problems.”
By analysing mechanical performance and predicting failures before they happen, Dave is confident that his work with Panoramic Power will not only prevent breakdowns but also boost long-term sustainability and operational savings.
His practical, methodical approach to problem-solving has been honed through years of experience. His previous roles as a Process Engineer and Technical Superintendent have sharpened his ability to instinctively find solutions, often before the problem fully reveals itself.
Driving Efficiency, Cutting Costs
Whether it’s transforming raw energy data into useful information or strategically planning capital investments, Dave is always looking for ways to get more with less, ensuring that any investment in technology delivers real, tangible results.
When he’s not busy turning data into action, he’s a keen Harley Davidson enthusiast and also enjoys turning his hand to home improvements.
We welcome Dave to the team, and look forward to seeing the impact he will make as he applies his expertise to help our clients navigate the challenges of rising operational costs and energy consumption.
Ready to optimise your energy usage and cut operational costs? Connect with Dave and the team today to discover how our data-driven solutions can work for you.
