Building an online participation platform for municipalities and residents
An increasing number of municipalities in The Netherlands want to involve residents in their transition to renewable energy and lower energy costs.
Omons is an online participation platform for municipalities and residents who really want to work towards a future-proof energy supply in a neighborhood. With Omons, residents in every neighborhood can be involved in decision-making about renewable energy solutions. Understanding the consequences of individual and collective energy choices ensures a supported solution by and for both the municipality, the neighborhood and its residents. The Omons platform is customized for each municipality who wants to start using it, which made this a stimulating challenge for Luminis.
Insight into energy usage for each individual within the community
Residents gain insight into their own energy usage, and the options to reduce it. For example, through cavity wall insulation, solar panels, a gas-free heat supply, but also by taking shorter showers.
“Omons is there for the community, but is always offered through the municipality,” says Shira Hollanders, Productmanager at Omons. “Residents of a particular neighborhood or district are given access to the platform for a certain period of time.
“There are a number of reasons for neighborhood-oriented approach,” explains Hollanders. “A collective approach offers opportunities in terms of collective purchasing of electricity or gas and, for example, connection to a heat network. In addition, it can help individual residents to see that neighbors are also taking or have already taken certain measures.”
The Luminis team is very capable of thinking along with Omons' business and proposition. They are driven people and this is reflected in the platform. Together with Luminis we are constantly working to improve the performance of the platform.
A flexible platform that is customized for each community
Omons has been able to create a much bigger engagement for their platform than competitors. Residents and municipalities are attracted to the platform because it is made to fit their needs through flexibility and customization.
Municipalities clearly struggle with involving residents in the energy transition. It is customary to organize an evening to get a neighborhood involved, but experience shows that only 1 to 5% of the people attend. Omons achieves a significantly better response rate. Hollanders: “After sending 1 letter we already have 15-20% of the residents involved.
The attractiveness of the platform was achieved thanks to its flexibility in customizing it for each neighborhood. So when a residents logs in to the platform, he or she can immediately see the actual neighborhood data such as; who has taken what measures, and how are those measures contributing to making the neighborhood more sustainable. Luminis chose to build a flexible platform because every neighborhood in every municipality is different. As a result the Omons staff, in consultation with the relevant municipality, can write the business rules for a specific neighborhood in order to created a customized platform for each neighborhood.
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