Tiny Qonnectis is at present in an embryonic stage, but seems to have an interesting product with great potential. Their flagship product connects energy and water meters to the Internet via Qonnectis' own server and users' website, providing 24-hour real-time accessibility as well as the opportunity for instant data comparison and updates as frequently as every 15 minutes. This avoids the costs of traditional meter-reading methods (i.e. reading by eye or the more recent "drive-by" technology). The new technology has already saved one early customer a reported 180,000 after it spotted a water leak and alerted the user. Early adopters include utilities such as Scottish Water and Generale des Eaux Lyon, plus public sector clients such as the NHS, the RAF and various District Councils (the list is numerous, so please see QTI's press releases for the whole picture). In November 2005 QTI announced a distribution deal with Compteurs Farnier of France, providing potential access to the USA and Canada in addition to the French market.

The business case for QTI seems strong: the product is inexpensive and provides cost savings both in terms of labour-saving and of cutting wastage. Sales include an element of subscription on a five-year basis; it seems logical that satisfied customers will both increase their number of meters in use and come back for further subscriptions after the five-year period has elapsed. The potential market is huge. The real question is, when will QTI achieve break-even?

CEO Mike Tapia previously built up the Talisman remote/drive-by meter-reading business, which was then sold to Severn Trent Water Co around 1997.

Does anyone have any figures on the Talisman sale, or perhaps on Compteurs Farnier? It would be good to get some idea of the current market.


EDIT: New charts added, 21Dec2007.

Some general industry info, might eventually provide encouragement for QTI:

Severn Trent unable to confirm whether it has met 2006/7 leakage targets UPDATE
(adds comment from chief executive)LONDON (AFX) - Utility Severn Trent PLC has pledged to meet leakage targetsfor the next financial year, despite being unable to confirm that it had metthis years targets in todays trading update.Chief executive Colin Matthews told reporters that it was too early to saywhether the company had missed guidelines on how much capacity it is allowed towaste."Leakage is a complicated measurement and it will take us several weeks toknow in detail the leakage for the year as a whole," he said. "So I can neithersay today whether we definitely will or will not meet our target for the year."But we have devoted much more resources than previously, and it is clearthat leakage in March is down on a year ago."Ofwats target for 06/07 is 525 megalitres per day. Last year, it was 505 andSevern Trent recorded 542 megalitres, but missed a fine from Ofwat because ithad undertaken to invest 100 mln stg over what had been asked to improveinfrastructure.Matthews was keen to point out that last year was the first time the companyhad missed its targets and added that the Ofwat objective was already slightlymore than the companys "economic level of leakage" - beyond which reducing leaksbecomes uneconomic and not in the best interests of charges consumers have topay."Our customers already enjoy some of the lowest charges for water and wasteanywhere in the UK," Matthews said. We will invest something like 550 mln stgworth of capital on maintaining our infrastructure and assets. For every onepound of profit, we invest 3 stg back into the physical infrastructure."But he will be privately hoping that Severn Trent does not miss targets forthe second year running. Ofwat's recent price review for utilities allowed thecompany to increase prices by 5.7 pct on 2007-08. Although this is notexcessive, it would be an inconvenient time for the company to admit it has notkept its side of the bargain.Matthews said Severn Trent was to cut 600 jobs over the next five years asit continued to refocus after the disposal of waste arm Biffa PLC.The job cuts, which amount to a 10 pct reduction in the workforce over thenext five years, will mostly be done by voluntary severance and are a responseto the utility becoming a pure water play.Analysts were heartened by indications that Severn Trent was "sorting itselfout", in the words of Merrill Lynch analyst Robert Miller-Bakewell.The company said trading was in line and forecast an increase in pretaxprofit of between 1 and 3 pct. "A shrinking regulatory backlog may yet encouragean LBO promoter to take a serious appraisal," he said.philip.waller@thomson.compaw/sljCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including byframing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior writtenconsent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX NewsLimitedFor more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com andwww.afxpress.com

A lot of money is being thrown at the leakage problem - could explain the comments in the QTI interims.

Here's more from Thames Water:

Tackling leakage remains our biggest priority.

Over the five years to 2010 we are investing 500,000 a day to reduce leakage, a total of 1bn that includes the deployment of the very latest technology to pinpoint invisible underground leaks.

Over 1400 people are already working to bring leakage down, a figure that will rise as Victorian mains replacement work in London accelerates.

We fixed 87,000 leaks in 2005/06. Thats over 200 a day, or one every six minutes, up 20 per cent compared to the previous year, a performance surpassing commitments we gave to Ofwat.


Leakage reduction and water conservation

We are visiting some business customers across our region over the coming months as part of our ongoing work to reduce leakage and conserve water.

We are connecting more equipment to water meters for a short period to collect extra data. This is separate to our regular visits to read meters for billing purposes.

Let's hope they invest 500,000 a day in QTI!

Qonnectis plc
19 April 2007


19 April 2007

Qonnectis plc

Director/PDMR shareholding

The Company has been notified pursuant to transitional provision 7 of the
Disclosure and Transparency Rules that the following directors are interested in
3% or more of the voting rights of the Company:-

Name Percentage of voting rights held

Michael Anthony Tapia 9.62%

The above percentage is based on 218,608,023 being the total number of its
issued ordinary shares each carrying voting rights.

Qonnectis plc
19 April 2007


19 April 2007

Qonnectis plc

Holding in Company

The Company has been notified pursuant to transitional provision 7 of the
Disclosure and Transparency Rules that the following is interested in 3% or more
of the voting rights of the Company:-

Name Percentage of voting rights held

Alasia Trading Inc. 3.27%

The above percentage is based on 218,608,023 being the total number of its
issued ordinary shares each carrying voting rights.

Neither of which is a change from previously declared holdings.

At least did not reduce.

I see that QTI registered a trademark - leakfrog - on 16 March (07) for a leak detection apparatus etc. Presumably this relates to 'our partnership with a major UK water company for the production of units incorporating new technology for leakage control and monitoring applications' mentioned in the interim report. Does anybody know any more about this?
See:http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2431206

Nice one, JMAC. But I don't know anything more about the technology. Have you tried emailing Mike Tapia?

There's aa American device with the same name - I'm sure it's no connection:

http://www.ideativeinc.com/leakfrog.cfm

Very different John

Yes, I'd hope so, too!
QTI are aware of the Canadian outfit, but don't intend marketing in N America, so it won't be material.

Comprehensive description of service offered by Cambridge Water using QTI equipment on:

http://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/products/flow_logger.asp

Includes:
Pricing is based on a five-year contract per meter point for provision of hardware to collect meter data and service for data collection and provision of data over the internet. The price includes full five-year support and warranties provided by Cambridge Water, but excludes the cost of installation which will be quoted on an individual basis.

Price: 2,500

This one just woke up but big spread.

Looking at the chart it could have a very quick run upto the 2p level with some sustained buying.

Quite; see those analysts falling over themselves to publish "buy" recommendations . . . .

18 May 2007

Qonnectis plc
Directorate Changes


The Board of Qonnectis plc ('Qonnectis' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce
the appointment of Guy Arthur Chant as a Non-Executive Director.

Guy Chant (53) has had extensive experience within the European utilities
industry, at both senior management and Board levels. Between 2002 and 2004 he
was Commercial Director of Thames Water Utilities Ltd and External Affairs
Director of Thames Water plc. More recently, Guy was Executive Director at
Berlinwasser Holding AG, (a joint venture between Land Berlin, RWE/Thames Water
('RWE') and Veolia Environnement S.A.) the main water utility serving the city
of Berlin. He left the Thames Water group during 2006 following RWE's
announcement of its intention to sell its UK subsidiary.

Prior to entering the utilities industry, Guy was Marketing Director of Crane
Ltd and a Director of Crane Europe Ltd. Between 1995 and 1999 he was Managing
Director of Thames Municipal Products Ltd ('TMP'). Here he oversaw the
development of a group of Thames Water-owned manufacturing and engineering
businesses operating in Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia. This group
included a business called Talisman Systems, established for TMP by Qonnectis'
founder and CEO, Michael Tapia, in 1994 which he took to leadership in the
European utility metering market prior to its sale to Severn Trent Water in
1997. Guy was an early investor in Qonnectis (his current shareholding in
Qonnectis plc amounts to 1,115,694 shares, representing 0.51% of the issued
share capital) and a member of the board when it was a private company prior to
its merger with IP Holdings plc in April 2003.

Commenting on Mr. Chant's appointment, Richard M. Taylor, Chairman, said:

'I am delighted that Guy is joining the Qonnectis Board. I am sure that his
insight into the challenges and opportunities currently facing the European
utility industry, and how Qonnectis can take best advantage of them, will prove
invaluable.'

Mr. Chant has been a director or partner in the following companies during the
past five years:

Thames Water Services Limited
Qonnectis Networks Limited
Qonnectis Group Limited
Central Berkshire Education Business Partnership

There is no further information to disclose in accordance with Schedule
Two(g) of the AIM Rules.

The Company also announces the resignation of Percival Albuquerque as a
Non-Executive Director effective 17th May 2007. The Board wishes to thank Mr.
Albuquerque for his contribution to the Company's development.

From The Times
May 24, 2007
Free monitor will persuade home-owners to be thrifty
Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor

A gadget to monitor household energy use is to be given free to every home that wants one.

The move is intended to make households think about the amount of energy they waste and for them to learn new habits such as switching off lights and turning off TVs and computers at the wall.

Energy companies are to supply the visual display units, which can show real-time energy use, to any customer who asks for them for a two-year period from next year.

They must also supply them to every new home and whenever a meter is being replaced.

Ministers believe that consumers will soon economise on energy when they realise the amount of money they are wasting on unnecessary energy use that leads to higher bills.

A control is attached to a household meter and the consumer uses the display unit to test the electricity use of each appliance in the house from games console to table lamp and washing machine.

The main government goal is for every home to have a smart meter for gas and electricity installed within ten years.

These meters cost about 250 to install today but if there is a nationwide take-up the price is expected to drop to about 150. Companies will be expected to pick up the cost of these meters but some industry figures believe that higher energy bills are inevitable.

The advantage of the smart meters, however, is that they show the amount of energy being used in a home at any one time. It might also encourage utility companies to introduce discount prices for energy use in off-peak hours. The meters can be read remotely, so bills are more accurate.

Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, made clear in yesterdays energy White Paper that he believed that consumers would change their behaviour to save money and reduce their carbon emissions to help to combat climate change. He is shortly to announce a two-year pilot project to test smart meters in several thousand homes.

EDF Energy has already installed smart meters in 200 homes in London and the South East in the past few weeks but hopes to involve 3,000 households in the trial before a national roll-out.

A smart meter would also provide an easy way to allow homes to sell back unused energy to the National Grid.

There was little in the White Paper, however, to encourage consumers to invest in wind turbines, solar panels and other microgeneration schemes.

The Government has already announced that it is lobbying the EU to allow only 5 per cent VAT on these items but there was no attempt to push energy companies to offer higher prices for surplus energy from green homes.

At present some companies buy back at 4p per kilowatt when they charge customers at least 10p.

The policy paper merely called for companies to be more transparent in the tariff they offered to buy in power.

The National Consumer Council was disappointed about the lack of urgency from the Government in the introduction of smart meters.

690k+ shares bought at 0.85p - biggest single trade since the interims published.

1.3m+ shares bought today, sp back to 0.5/1.0

Recent news item on QTI website includes the following:

Redditch Borough Council gets results
dramatic improvements since the Qonnectis equipment was installed. She commented, We have been working with Redditch Borough Council for over four years and one of their most impressive achievements is not only to install the data monitoring equipment but also to spend time understanding the data and taking the appropriate actions to reduce waste. Their results speak for themselves.

And they really do. To date, the Councils usage monitoring programme on the pilot sites has delivered significant benefits, with a 29% reduction in out-of-hours electricity usage and a 39% reduction in annual gas usage at the Town Hall, as well as a reduction in water usage at Crossgates Depot by 2,000m3 per annum. Annual cost savings achieved to date are in the region of 20,000, meaning that the payback period after deployment of the system is less than a year. Emissions savings at the Town Hall alone amount to more than 125 tonnes of CO2 per annum.

Mick Merrick, Sales Director of Qonnectis is impressed at the resolve of Redditch Borough Council to tackle their utility consumption issues. He commented, "Local Authorities are large users of water, gas and electricity over many disparate sites. It's impressive to see Redditch Borough Council using very modern technology to cut wastage, save council tax payers money and reduce their overall carbon footprint."

The Council has now identified funds for a further two years and two more sites have since been targeted, including one high usage gas site where the meter is particularly inaccessible. Here the system will be used to provide both a remote meter reading capability plus data to allow gas consumption to be monitored and hopefully reduced. The other is a high water usage site where an initial audit has identified scope for consumption reductions and hence savings via changes in work practices. It is still worth remembering that investigative work is far from complete at the four initial pilot sites, hence, further savings could be identified in the near future.