ENECHANGE Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Yohei Kiguchi, PhD) has entered into a business alliance with Visual Research Co. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Takahiro Ono; hereinafter ‘Visual Research’), a company promoting DX in rental management and property brokerage. Based on the property information linked from Visual Research, ENECHANGE’s services will be offered to tenants directly.

Background

When moving, tenants need to complete various procedures such as reviewing essential services such as electricity and gas, changing addresses and signing new contracts when moving. A service that allows these procedures to be carried out all at once reduces the burden on tenants and increases convenience.
In addition, rental management companies and real estate brokers may introduce similar proposals to help tenants with the contracts they need when they move out. In such cases, information such as moving address, name, and contact details are given to the service providers by fax or other means, which can be time-consuming to fill in and send.

Overview

In this business alliance, property and applicant information registered in SP-R, a leasing operations support system for rental management companies provided by Visual Research, will be linked to ENECHANGE, and ENECHANGE will approach tenants of properties who have given their consent via their rental management company in order to provide them with information on relevant service contracts (such as electricity, gas, internet connection, water, etc.) at the property they are moving into. This creates greater convenience for tenants, as they can easily apply for such contracts at the time of moving, as well as over the phone.

ENECHANGE is the most popular (*1) energy bill review website in terms of the number of users. It offers a service for people who are moving to a new home, the “Dedicated electricity connection service” (*2), which completes electricity move-in procedures with a single phone call. The service is available only through our energy price comparison website, which enables us to review electricity and gas prices and help tenants to reduce their utility bills. We also offer suggestions for other essential services necessary for the new location, such as internet access and water.

From next spring onwards, ENECHANGE and Visual Research plan to approach property management companies using Visual Research’s i-SP rental management system to start offering Vacancy Energy Connection Service. The Vacancy Energy Connection Service is a service for property management companies whereby ENECHANGE handles the entire application process for connecting or disconnecting vacant properties on their behalf, including paying the electricity bills of properties that meet the requirements during the period of vacancy (*3). In the future, we are also considering providing services such as supporting property management companies in managing tenants by analysing electricity data from smart meters and property information linked to Visual Research’s rental management system.

ENECHANGE will promote the efficient use of energy to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 by promoting DX in the industry.

*1. Refers to the number of UUs by six electricity bill review services (as of November 2023, according to Dockpit).
*2. ENECHANGE “Dedicated contact point for electricity start-up procedures”.
Contact: 050-8888-7806 / Opening hours: 9am – 7pm (also available on weekends and public holidays)
*3. Some conditions apply to the application of this service. For more information, please contact the ENECHANGE Division.

Comments by Kazuki Sakurai, Strategic Headquarters Manager, Visual Research Co.

We have entered into a business alliance with ENECHANGE and have decided to link the application information from our leasing business support system SP-R to the service provided by ENECHANGE. We feel that this connection is one of the major initiatives we are undertaking as a ‘data platform provider that leads the real estate business’, which is our aim.
We will continue to strengthen our collaboration with ENECHANGE in order to contribute to the healthy growth and development of the real estate industry.

Comments by Tatsuya Sogano, Senior Executive Officer, ENECHANGE Ltd.

We have recently formed a business alliance with Visual Research, which promotes DX for rental management and property brokerage, and will start offering our essential service proposals to tenants, based on property information registered on Visual Research’s SP-R. Further business alliances are planned in the future, such as the provision of the Vacancy Energy Connection Service and the development of new services for rental management companies that utilize tenants’ electricity data. ENECHANGE will play a role as a decarbonization tech company in order to achieve DX in decarbonized society by 2050.

• SP-R, a leasing operations support system

SP-R, provided by Visual Research, is a leasing operations support system. It was introduced to more than 1,000 outlets within one month of its release. Various optional functions are also available, enabling each company to use the required functions as much as necessary to find the optimum combination of plans for each company. In addition, property information is linked in real time with the i-SP and SP-II rental management systems from Visual Research, so the latest information can be quickly deployed in various media.

• i-SP rental management system

The i-SP rental management system developed by Visual Research is a packaged product that has been installed by more than 4,000 companies. It supports all aspects of management operations, from ledger management to contracts and operational management. As an on-premise system, it can be flexibly customized and enables fast processing even when the number of registered rooms exceeds 10,000 units. While the basic package covers all aspects of rental management, various options are also available to promote real estate DX.

• Overview of Vacancy Energy Connection Service

The Vacancy Energy Connection Service is for property management companies. Through this service, ENECHANGE handles the entire application process for connecting or disconnecting vacant properties on their behalf, including paying the electricity bills for the period the property is vacant if the conditions are met (*).
○Three advantages of Vacancy Energy Connection Service
ENECHANGE pays the electricity bill when the room is vacant
ENECHANGE reduces the burden of invoice processing work
Simplification of connection transfer procedures

* Some conditions apply to the application of this service. For more information, please contact the relevant ENECHANGE division.

• ENECHANGE, an electricity and gas comparison platform

Through the operation of a platform with approximately 2 million monthly unique users and 56 partner electricity and gas companies (*1), it provides the most popular(*2) platform in terms of the number of users of energy bill review websites, which allows users to compare and switch electricity and gas all in one place. electricity in 2016. This service was launched following the deregulation of electricity in 2016 and gas in 2017.

ENECHANGE division: ene_sales@enechange.co.jp
URL: https://enechange.jp/

*1. Total number of affiliated electricity and gas companies as at end-December 2021(excluding duplicated households and businesses).
*2. Refers to the number of UUs by six electricity bill review services(as of November 2023, according to Dockpit).

Visual Research Co.

Since its establishment, Visual Research has consistently developed systems specializing in rental management, rental brokerage and sales brokerage. Our aim is to accelerate the digital transformation (DX) of the real estate industry with the power of technology, evolve real estate transactions themselves and make people involved in real estate happy by providing customers with optimal solutions to their business issues through proposals for creating services that make the real estate business smoother. The aim is to make people involved in real estate happy.

Company name: Visual Research Co.
Representative: Takahiro Ono, Representative Director
URL: https://www.visualresearch.jp/
Address: 23F Akasaka Park Building, 5-2-20 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business activities: systems business, finance business, data center business

ENECHANGE Ltd.

ENECHANGE is an energy technology company that promotes a net zero society through digital technology with the mission of Changing Energy For A Better World. We offer services based on data utilisation in the field of the 4Ds of Energy: Deregulation, Digitalization, Decarbonization, and Decentralization. Our company’s roots come from an energy data lab at the University of Cambridge, UK, a country where liberalisation is mature. ENECHANGE has a UK subsidiary, ENECHANGE Innovation Limited, as well as a global network and analytical technology for energy data.

URL: https://enechange.co.jp/en/

■For inquiries
ENECHANGE Ltd.
pr@enechange.co.jp