How Townsend Energy increases operational efficiency and reduces costs through advanced
tank monitoring
Situation
Founded in 1931, Townsend Energy is a fourth-generation heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) provider that delivers heating oil and propane to homes and small businesses throughout Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. Serving more than twenty-five thousand customers, the Townsend Energy team is a recognized and highly respected family-owned and operated energy marketer.
Knowing how much gas is in the tanks of homes and businesses is critical to Townsend Energy’s ability to keep customers happy. Since propane consumption isn’t entirely weather-driven, it’s difficult to forecast usage and estimate the amount of fuel remaining in a tank. Consequently, the company uses remote tank monitors to stay informed about the fuel levels in the tanks out in the field.
“We started our tank monitoring relationship with a different provider, but we had some fairly significant issues with the battery life of that company’s monitors,” said Jim Townsend, Chief Executive Officer of Townsend Energy. “The battery life did not end up being as long as we expected. We needed a better solution.”
Jim was dealing with the battery life issue when the Service Insight team reached out to him. Jim’s plan was to work with multiple tank monitoring providers, so he was open to speaking with the team. Service Insight piqued Jim’s interest; it was clear to him that the team understood the tank monitoring marketplace and was aware of the issues with battery life and reliability
"The Service Insight team is smart. They know the business, they’ve done their homework, and they’ve produced a tank monitor that performs well and has excellent battery life.”
Solution
Service Insight specializes in providing Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence solutions that enable businesses to detect and predict customer demand for home heating oil and propane. The Service Insight team contacted Townsend Energy when they were working on a new concept for tank monitors.
“I met with the Service Insight team over lunch, and we talked about our business and their plans for developing a new tank monitor,” said Jim. “They were clearly doing due diligence to identify the needs of the industry and what problems needed to be overcome.”
Jim worked with Service Insight for a year while the company developed a prototype for a new tank monitor. Once the prototype was designed, the monitor quickly went through its beta testing stage and into production.
“Not willing to put all our eggs in one provider’s basket, I decided to keep using the monitors from our existing provider while also deploying the new tank monitors manufactured by Service Insight,” said Jim. “As expected, the newly designed tank monitors performed very well when it came to reliable connectivity and battery life.”
Results
“For those accounts with new monitors on their tanks, we have significantly improved delivery efficiency,” said Jim. “We’re making larger deliveries. Consequently, our cost per delivered gallon is lower.”
“We’re able to better monitor tanks that have volatile usage,” said Jim. “That means we can track usage without there being a disruption of the product to the customer.”
“Not only do we simply get information from the monitor regarding how much product is in a tank, but we also get information about how we’ve improved from one delivery period to the next,” said Jim. “This reporting allows us to make better strategic decisions and improve our return on investment.