Before the introduction of epilot, the network processes in Stadtwerke Erkrath's technical customer service were organised exclusively manually. ‘Customers or installers had to download forms from our website, fill them out and then send them to us by post or email,’ says Igor Kobets, Digitalisation Manager at Stadtwerke Erkrath, describing the situation. The information received was then manually transferred to other systems for further processing. The processes were tracked using a complex folder structure - a time-consuming and error-prone process.
Goals: Compliance with legal requirements and comprehensive digitalisation
The aim of introducing epilot was, on the one hand, to fulfil the legal requirements of Section 6 and Section 19 NAV for applying for grid connections via the website and Section 8 EEG for viewing grid connection applications via a web portal. In addition, the internal digitalisation goals should be achieved:
- Increase productivity through digital processes in a centralised system
- Gain insights from various data sources
- Eliminate isolated solutions and increase data quality
"Today, we can be proud to have mapped all network-related processes with epilot." Igor Kobets, Digitalisation Manager at Stadtwerke Erkrath
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Step-by-step implementation: from pilot project to comprehensive digitalisation
Stadtwerke Erkrath opted for a strategic implementation approach. ‘We started with smaller projects to familiarise ourselves with the system,’ explains Kobets. After initial successes with subsidy applications or the reduction of connected load, complex processes were also implemented with epilot:
- Registration of charging facilities
- Registration of PV systems
- Complete grid connection process for new buildings and extensions
- EEG registration with prospective customer and installer portal
Today, Stadtwerke Erkrath has 19 live application routes (‘jouneys’) and receives around 150 enquiries and applications every month.
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The advantages of energy XRM as a central platform
The use of epilot energy XRM as a central platform enables more efficient management of process responsibilities through greater transparency and clarity.
"Thanks to the direct communication between customers, clients, installers and the municipal utilities, we can keep the current processing status transparent and better understand it at all times," explains Kobets.
Having already fully digitalised its network issues, Stadtwerke Erkrath is now also implementing its first sales processes with epilot. They are already using the ‘Commodity Blueprint’ from the epilot Marketplace for this. These end-to-end templates can be installed in a test environment with a single click, easily customised to individual requirements and taken live within minutes. This allows complete use cases to be implemented in the shortest possible time.
The epilot commodity blueprint used by Stadtwerke Erkrath, for example, offers four different click paths for electricity, gas, heat flow (for heat pumps and night storage heaters) and charging current (for wallboxes and electric cars). These already include sample products and e-mail templates and document templates relevant to the sales process. Stadtwerke Erkrath only had to adapt the blueprint to their needs with little effort:
- remove the sections they don't need (heat electricity and charging electricity)
- insert their real products
- apply their own corporate design to all objects
The tariff calculator was then integrated directly into the municipal utility's website and now offers interested parties the opportunity to select and order the right tariff step by step. The data flows directly into the central epilot energy XRM of Stadtwerke.
"The ability to combine network and sales topics in one platform will bring us additional efficiency gains." Igor Kobets, Digitalisation Manager at Stadtwerke Erkrath
Of particular importance to Stadtwerke Erkrath is the continuous adaptation to regulatory and market developments in order to be able to react flexibly in the future as well as the support provided by AI functions in the epilot platform. Thanks to epilot's ecosystem approach, the functional scope of the epilot platform can be quickly and easily expanded with apps from the epilot Marketplace.
Stadtwerke Erkrath, for example, already uses the ZEREZ app, which is seamlessly integrated into epilot. This allows installers to access the ZEREZ database directly in epilot when registering systems and ensure that the components are correct.
‘We see potential for further projects and products that will help us to make our processes even more efficient and innovative,’ says Igor Kobets.
