In 2026, energy management has fundamentally changed. What used to be a line item buried in operating expenses is now a strategic differentiator that separates industry leaders from laggards.
Volatile energy prices, ESG regulations such as CSRD and ISO 50001, and sustainability‑conscious customers mean that energy is no longer “just a bill to pay” but a lever for competitiveness. Companies that treat energy as pure overhead are losing margin; those that treat it as business intelligence are gaining an advantage.
Nextbitt sits at the centre of this shift with its Energy Intelligence platform, which combines IoT sensors for energy, water and fuel with physical asset management and sustainability in a single view.
In most organisations, energy is still managed largely through monthly utility bills. By the time the invoice arrives, consumption has already happened and any leak, inefficiency or misconfiguration has already hit the P&L.
Three structural issues explain why this model fails:
Data arrives too late. Monthly bills show the total, not when and where the anomaly happened.
Data is too aggregated. Without granularity per building, zone or equipment, “optimisation” is mostly guesswork.
Systems are disconnected. Energy is tracked in one place, assets in another, sustainability in a third. There is no explicit link between equipment degradation and rising consumption.
Recent analyses show that between 15% and 30% of potential energy savings are lost simply due to lack of visibility and data correlation.
Nextbitt’s approach starts from a simple idea: everything that can be measured in real time can be optimised in real time.
The Energy Intelligence platform brings together:
IoT meterization for electricity, water, gas and fuels, with continuous data capture.
An Energy Management System (EMS) aligned with ISO 50001 that turns data into KPIs and continuous‑improvement plans.
Native integration with the physical asset management platform, so consumption is correlated with asset status and maintenance plans.
Smart meters installed at main panels, sub‑circuits, water points or fuel tanks stream data to the platform within seconds. Dashboards for real‑time energy monitoring show consumption per site, per zone and per load type at any moment.
By integrating energy with the asset management module, the platform can show, for example, that chiller A in Hotel X is consuming 25% above its baseline while also recording more breakdowns and slightly higher outlet temperature. This is not “just” an energy issue; it is a clear case for preventive maintenance.
The Nextbitt EMS is designed to support ISO 50001 energy‑management cycles and to provide, automatically, the data required for sustainability reports (CSRD, ESG, emissions disclosures). Indicators such as kWh/m², kWh per occupied room, litres of water per guest or associated CO₂ emissions are available in one click.
Sector: Hospitality
Scope: 14 hotels + 5 golf courses in Portugal
Before Nextbitt, Discovery Hotel Management (DHM) had a mostly reactive approach: consumption monitoring depended on basic tools and invoice analysis, and maintenance was triggered mainly after failures or complaints.
With more than 33,000 assets spread across 14 properties, DHM lacked an integrated view connecting consumption, equipment and operations.
The Transformation
DHM deployed the Nextbitt IoT platform, installing 163 smart meters across its portfolio to monitor electricity, water and other key utilities in real time. All information is consolidated in the Energy Intelligence platform, with dashboards by hotel, by zone and by consumption type.
Results
20% reduction in energy and water consumption, measured directly by IoT meters.
15% reduction in maintenance and repair costs, by linking abnormal consumption to preventive interventions.
Real‑time visibility for central operations and local teams, with automatic alerts for significant deviations.
As Luís Mexia Alves, CEO of DHM, explains:
“Before partnering with Nextbitt, asset management and consumption monitoring were limited by basic tools. This reactive approach to maintenance resulted in high costs and operational inefficiency. With Nextbitt's solution, we were able to centralize all information on a single platform, access KPIs in real time and improve preventive maintenance planning. This not only optimized costs, but through improved efficiency also reinforced our commitment to sustainability.”
Get to know the full story here.
Sector: Banking
Scope: 450+ locations, 80,000+ assets
BPI – CaixaBank faced the classic challenge of large retail banking networks: high, dispersed energy consumption, heterogeneous local practices and heavy manual work to consolidate data and meet ESG objectives.
The Transformation
With the Nextbitt Energy Management System, the bank began monitoring electricity and other relevant parameters for efficiency at all branches, integrating this data with the physical asset management platform.
Impact
“Through Nextbitt's energy management system, we estimate an average annual saving of 5% on electricity. Given the reality and universe of the bank's facilities, it has a significant impact on the bank's operational footprint and on reducing energy costs.”
In addition to direct savings, BPI reduced internal emails and calls related to maintenance and energy issues by around 90%, thanks to workflow automation between requesters, facilities teams and suppliers.
Read the full case here.
Recent industry benchmarks show that organisations combining IoT, EMS and automated energy‑efficiency measures routinely achieve 20–30% reductions in consumption over 2–3 years, while those relying on isolated, manual initiatives rarely exceed 5–10%.
In a context of continued energy price volatility and rising regulatory pressure, the difference between having or not having Energy Intelligence translates directly into margin, competitiveness and the ability to hit decarbonisation targets without compromising operations.
If your organisation is still managing energy primarily through invoices and spreadsheets, now is the right moment to change.