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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