BUSINESS
elektrárny na střechu, v posledním roce
prudce vzrostla poptávka, výrazně jsme
rozšířili náš tým odborníků, kteří zákazníkům s jejich potřebami pomohou.
Přinese nám krize i něco pozitivního?
Energetická krize s sebou dnes přináší celou řadu negativních věcí, zejména zdražování cen energií. Na druhou stranu je
s ní spojena i obrovská příležitost. Obrov-
ská příležitost pro nás všechny, abychom
se zamysleli nad tím, jakým způsobem
energie spotřebováváme a zda nemůžeme nějakým způsobem lépe využívat
energie tam, kde bydlíme či pracujeme.
Měli bychom si uvědomit, že energie jsou
opravdu drahé, vzácné a je potřeba s nimi
nakládat co nejefektivněji.
I my se snažíme z krize poučit. Díky tomu,
že je Veolia globálně působící společnost,
jsme schopni se inspirovat tím, co dělají
kolegové v jiných zemích, a přinést ty nejlepší praktiky ať už v energetickém, či vodárenském průmyslu do České republiky,
abychom zákazníkům nabídli ta nejlepší
a nejúspornější řešení.
Pane Tobolo, děkujeme Vám za rozhovor.
How To Get Out of the Crisis?
Saving Energy, New Energetics Solutions
and Innovation in the Heating Industry
Energy companies are looking for ways in which they can mitigate the reflection of increased
energy prices on their customers. Veolia decided to follow the path of offering economical
solutions, new products and innovation in energetics and heating. “We continuously adapt our
strategy to current events and focus on risk prevention. Our goal is to offer the widest portfolio
of fuels, including biomethane and hydrogen, which we consider to be the fuels of the future, while
maintaining diverse input options,” Jakub Tobola, business director of Veolia, said.
What is Veolia doing in order to make
the current crisis as tolerable as possible
for the consumer?
The current energy crisis is placing a lot
of pressure not only on consumers, but
energy producers and providers as well.
Veolia makes an effort to purchase fuel, CO2
allowances and other inputs ahead of time.
We make our purchases up to three years
in advance in order to avoid exactly what
we are seeing on the energy market todaya rapid increase in energy prices. This is one
way in which we try to mitigate rising prices
and minimize the impact this would have on
our clients.
It is also important to mention that Veolia
purchases all of its input materials in
accordance with many experts that concern
themselves in this field daily. Thanks to
this, we are able to purchase at prices
unreachable by smaller consumers. This
means that we are able to produce heat at
expenditures that are fundamentally lower
than what, for example, a housing association
might reach. Consequently, many consumers
that parted ways with us in the past are
currently returning, as they have realized that
our approach and level of expertise in fuel
purchasing can save them money.
Natural gas prices have increased
significantly, are you working on
decreasing your dependence on it?
In our transfer away from coal, natural
gas is definitely not the only resource we
rely on. Our goal is to offer the widest
selection of fuels and maintain diverse
input options. Other than natural gas,
our fuel mix is also made up of biomass,
energy that is produced from waste and
other future oriented options, such as
biomethane or hydrogen.
Do you offer your customers other
options for energy saving and selfsufficiency?
We offer our customers a number of
options, not only to save energy, but
also money directly. We created an
energy saving program which offers
our customers advice on how they can
decrease their costs. We provide them
with economical solutions that drive
down their energy bills.
Housing
associations
are
among
the smallest, yet most plentiful entities
within our clientele. As far as they are
concerned, we can offer them, for
example, a means to produce their own
energy through photovoltaic power
plants, which we are also equipped to
install into apartment complexes.
Needless to say that our customers can
also take measures on their own. For
instance, by lowering the temperature in
their houses by a single degree celsius,
they will save around 6% on their heating
bill. This is but one example of how our
customers can begin saving on their
own. Similar measures, however, have
their limits, meaning that if we want to
save further, we will need to resort to
marginally more sophisticated solutions.
Seeing a demand for solutions such as the
aforementioned photovoltaic power plant
has skyrocketed in the past year, and we
have significantly expanded our team of
experts in this field in order to allow all of
our customer’s needs to be met.
Can this crisis also have a positive side?
The energy crisis carries with it a list of
negative effects, namely increased energy
costs, on the other hand, however, it is
also a great learning opportunity. Dealing
with these negative conditions is a chance
for all of us to carefully consider our use of
energy, and ways in which we can make
better use of it in our living and working
environments. Realizing the importance
of making effective use of precious energy
is a meaningful lesson to learn.
We are trying to learn as much as we can
from this crisis as well. Thanks to the fact
that Veolia is a global company, we can
use measures taken by our colleagues in
different countries as inspiration, which
allows us to harness the best practices
in not only the energy, but also water
industry, to provide our customers here
in the Czechia with the best and most
efficient solutions.
Mr Tobola, thank you for the interview.
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