Electricity Is Just the Start

Most organisations have some level of electricity monitoring - whether it's a basic meter or a full BMS. It's the utility that gets talked about most, especially when prices spike; but focusing on electricity alone means missing the bigger picture. In most industrial and commercial environments, the opportunity to reduce cost, waste and risk lies well beyond the power meter. If you're only tracking kilowatts, you're only seeing one dimension of performance.

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Enter Wages+

At ACTENIQ, we talk about WAGES+: Water, Air, Gas, Electricity, Steam - plus the operational and asset intelligence that brings context to consumption.

Usage data on its own tells you what happened. WAGES+ tells you why - and what to do next.

This approach brings clarity to complex systems. It allows you to not just track performance, but to understand it; and that understanding is what drives meaningful improvement.

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Why The Other Utilities Matter

Water

- Used in cleaning, cooling, batching and often wasted unnoticed

- Trade effluent charges add cost beyond supply

- Clean-in-Place systems alone can account for 30% of site use

- Monitoring supports ESG and compliance in food, beverage and pharma sectors

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Air

- Compressed air is an energy hog - and often leaking

- Losses of 20-30% are common without monitoring

- Critical for tools, valves, actuation - if it fails, so does production

- Air leaks are silent cost-drivers and performance risks

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Gas

- Often used for heat, steam generation or process control

- Oversized or inefficient combustion increases cost and emissions

- Monitoring gas burn profiles can reveal significant inefficiencies

- Helps organisations meet ESOS and SECR compliance more confidently

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Steam

- Vital in food, pharma and manufacturing - and expensive to waste

- Poor trap performance or distribution losses are hard to spot manually

- Steam systems are often over-supplied or run inefficiently during idle periods

- Monitoring gives early warnings and supports better shutdown/startup control

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Electricity

- Still central - but only part of the story

- When integrated with other WAGES data, you get full system visibility

- Offers a foundation for overlaying power quality and asset performance

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Each utility has a story to tell. ACTENIQ helps you read between the lines.

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The Case For Drainage

Monitoring clean resource use is important - but so is tracking what leaves the site.

Drainage and discharge can carry both financial and environmental costs. In sectors with trade effluent charges or environmental permits, unnoticed volumes can impact compliance.

CIP (Clean-in-Place) processes are especially relevant here. Overuse during rinse cycles can waste clean water, raise drainage volume and increase chemical residuals - all with financial consequences.

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Why It Matters

Cost

Utility waste hides in what you're not measuring - and drainage is a blind spot for many.

Sustainability

Net Zero targets demand full visibility, not selective insight.

Reliability

Asset and process issues often show up first in utility trends, not production reports.

Decision-Making

Clear utility data supports capital planning, system upgrades and better process control.

Safety & Risk

Excessive heat, pressure or leaks in utilities can create safety hazards before they become obvious operational problems.

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Closing Word

If you're only monitoring electricity, you're only seeing part of the picture.

The rest is flowing, leaking, heating, venting - and often going unnoticed.

At ACTENIQ, we believe in giving you the full view. WAGES+ is not just a framework - it's how we help clients uncover inefficiencies, reduce emissions and protect uptime.

In our next blog, we'll unpack what the "+" in WAGES+ really means - because insight isn't just about usage.

‍It's about context, consequences and action.