ESCOs’ Perspective on Smart Energy Services: APES’s Insights into Customer Engagement

From the perspective of Slovak ESCOs, represented by APES – Association of Energy Services Providers, customer engagement has so far not been a standalone component of Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) projects. In the Slovak market, EPC projects have traditionally focused on guaranteed technical and energy performance, with behavioral aspects treated primarily as a risk factor rather than as an opportunity for value creation.

In practice, EPC contracts in Slovakia address potential problems arising from user behavior through specific contractual provisions. These clauses typically limit the ESCO’s responsibility when unwanted or non-compliant behavior on the customer’s side negatively affects the savings achieved. As a result, motivation, education, or other forms of structured user engagement are usually not defined as dedicated services within EPC projects.

Despite this, some valuable experience with user engagement does exist. Notably, in EPC projects implemented in schools, ESCOs have organized competitions among classes aimed at reducing energy consumption. These simple but effective initiatives demonstrated that behavioral measures can significantly support technical solutions and contribute to Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Energy (ESIE) outcomes by increasing awareness, ownership, and acceptance among end users.

Based on these experiences, Slovak ESCOs increasingly recognize active customer engagement as an important area for improvement of EPC projects. From the APES perspective, future smart energy services should move beyond contractual risk mitigation and integrate engagement, education, and feedback tools as part of holistic, digital-enabled ESIE service packages, in line with the ambitions of the FORTESIE project.