The bill went up, and nobody knows why
The energy bill arrives, higher than last quarter. Is it prices, the weather, the new chamber, the defrost settings, or the chiller door that the night shift props open to save time on the loading run? Nobody can say, because the only figure is the total for the site.
Meanwhile the freezer door on the dock side is held open during every trailer load. The strip curtain is torn. The evaporators ice up faster, the defrosts run more often and the compressors work harder, all of which shows up as one line on a bill three weeks later.
Why cold store energy is a black box
The data that would explain energy use exists in pieces: door switches, plant controllers, sub-meters, the rota. It is not brought together.
- Energy is measured for the site, not per chamber or plant item.
- Doors have sensors for the controller but the data is not kept.
- Plant controllers log data locally, visible only to the engineer.
- Operational patterns, such as loading runs, are not linked to energy use.
- Nobody owns energy on a day-to-day basis.
What the black box costs
Energy is one of the largest running costs of a cold store, and without visibility, avoidable waste continues. Doors held open also raise chamber temperatures and cause frost build-up, which affects product and plant. And when you want to decide on an investment, such as rapid-roll doors or better curtains, you have no data to base it on.
How we connect doors, plant and energy
- We read door open and close events from existing switches or fit wireless door sensors to each chamber door.
- Plant power use is read from sub-meters, where fitted, or from the refrigeration controller where the manufacturer allows it. We can suggest where sub-meters would help most.
- Chamber temperatures come from your existing monitoring, so door events, temperature and power are on one timeline.
- Doors held open beyond a time you set trigger an alert to the dock screen or the shift leader's phone.
- Daily and weekly views show door open time per chamber and shift, alongside energy use, so patterns stand out.
- Reports compare periods, so the effect of a change, such as new curtains or a new loading procedure, can be seen.
| Data | Source |
|---|---|
| Door open time | Door switches or wireless sensors |
| Plant power | Sub-meters or controller |
| Chamber temperature | Existing monitoring |
| Shift and activity | Rota and WMS movements |
We provide the data and alerts. Decisions on plant settings and equipment belong to you and your refrigeration engineer.
What you can see after
Which doors are open longest, on which shifts and during which activities. How energy use changes with door behaviour, weather and throughput. Alerts that stop a door being left open for an hour. A basis for discussing plant settings with your engineer and investments with your finance team.
The data is also useful for staff. When the night shift can see that their chamber's door was open for a fraction of the time it used to be, the change sticks, because it is visible and not just an instruction pinned to the wall.
Is your energy use a mystery?
- You only see energy use on the monthly bill.
- Doors are propped or held open during loading.
- Frost builds up faster in some chambers than others.
- You have no data to justify door or curtain upgrades.
- Plant data is only seen by the engineer.