CEO MESSAGE: GAVIN DIETZ
Welcome to a new (big) financial year.
This is the year the Wattwatchers team (most of whom are pictured above) will be really hitting our stride in terms of product development and deployment, international expansion and digital leadership – with several large announcements coming your way.
These will include:
- A new-generation product line-up, the first major overhaul of our product in many years, taking it to the forefront of data-driven solutions for the grid edge
- Compelling case studies with customers on how they are using the Wattwatchers technology to optimise energy, reduce carbon and ‘electrify’.
Flexibility enables diverse use cases
As our products take a leap forward in capability we are seeing a much broader set of customers and applications:
- From major real estate owners now capturing real time energy data by tenant, by floor, by machine
- To energy utilities wanting to digitise the grid
- To communities looking to optimise their overall electricity consumption and especially their solar use
- To energy efficiency companies selling innovative software, and the list goes on.
Projects end and others begin
We’ll also be updating you on the major projects we closed out in FY23 and those coming up in FY24. In particular:
- Our world-leading ethical data initiative, My Energy Marketplace (MEM), a $9.5 million project with ARENA (ended June 30 after nearly 4 years, with our final public knowledge report to be published later this year, and our energy data as a service offerings now activated through the MEM)
- Heyfield MyTown Microgrid, which also ended on June 30 after 3 years, in one of the best examples of a community-focused local energy solutions project with a legacy for other communities starting their energy transition journeys (videos can be found here)
- New commercial and grant projects already underway, or to be announced soon, with partners including network business Essential Energy for the Smart Energy Communities trial, and an exciting C&I demand flexibility project (more on this soon, including opportunities for existing and new customers to participate).
Shaped by challenges, set for growth
Thinking through the last couple of years, and like many others, we’ve come through lockdowns, staff shortages and component supply issues. Each one of these challenges has shaped how we approach the future, influencing our product design and go-to market strategies, while reinforcing the importance of our role as an ‘enabler’ for a wide range of energy transition use cases.
This year we are increasing our team by 25%, boosting our support to you by bringing on more engineers, support and salespeople. This continues our strong commitment to building a sustainable Australian business that is deeply entrenched in solving energy and carbon challenges with our partners and customers.
Doubling down on ‘Australian Made’
We were super proud to get the official ‘Australian Made’ status in May, and we look forward to investing more into Australian-based product manufacture, supply and teams.
We are expanding our international exports year on year, and this year we will be telling you about the great companies that are taking our technology, implementing in overseas markets, and solving energy problems globally.
In the 2023 financial year just passed, we increased our exports to nearly a quarter of our total trading revenue for the first time, and we’re projecting this to keep going in the 2024 financial year, with overall sales doubling.
Streamlining our processes to serve you better
As always we will continue to streamline our internal processes to ensure the best customer service we can offer, to support you as we scale-up together.
Every month we see new blue chip customers join our ranks – seeking solutions for Net Zero, decarbonisation and electrification – and we continue to love working with the many grid edge implementers and innovators who we enable with our devices, data and tools.
As you can see, we are pumped up about the year ahead, and excited to keep you informed about what we are doing, announcing and planning.
Gavin Dietz has been Wattwatchers CEO since 2016.
