Bye Bye Standby

News

Domia has secured £106,000 worth of funding from the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network in a £409,000 funding round that will see the Worminghall-based company develop its Bye Bye Standby technology for businesses.

As part of a funding round totalling just under £409,000, business angels from Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION) have provided £106,000 of new funding to energy management specialist Domia.

This investment was matched with £106,000 under a co-investment programme arrangement between the Bank of Scotland and the OION Network.

The balance of the investment has come from existing Domia shareholders, including the company’s managing director, Darryl Mattocks.

Domia owns the Bye Bye Standby range of devices, which work by cutting the power to electrical appliances when they are not in use, thus saving the energy that would have been consumed while they were in standby mode.

The core Bye Bye Standby product consists of a device that connects between the wall socket, or other power source, and the appliance.

When the appliance is not in use, the power can be turned off by remote control.

Mattocks said: ‘Independent research indicates that for the average household, using three Bye Bye Standby devices saves £38 a year, meaning the product has paid for itself in less than 12 months.’

Domia is now developing a number of sophisticated online tools that co-ordinate with Bye Bye Standby devices and provide extensive energy cost breakdowns, which can identify major power drains and the areas of highest potential cost savings for business users.

Mattocks added: ‘According to the Carbon Trust, a typical computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day can use more than £45 of energy a year.

‘Using real time smart meters built into Bye Bye Standby devices, we aim to reduce the typical business user’s electricity bill by about 10 per cent.

‘When you consider that there are 168 hours in the week, and that typically only 38 of them are the working week, there are up to 130 hours when office equipment is providing no value yet may be draining power.

‘Energy Manager’s systems mean that departmental managers can shut off appliances when not required and also have access to precise energy costs for their team, which is a great incentive to really concentrate on cutting out unnecessary power use.’