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.

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.

Good update, JMAC. Thanks!

9 July 2007

Qonnectis plc
Partnership with Major UK Water Company - new product shipments commence

Qonnectis plc ('Qonnectis' or 'the Company'), the energy and water conservation
technology and services provider, announces that it has begun shipping its new
'Leakfrog' product for water leakage monitoring, which was first announced in
October 2006. Thames Water, Qonnectis' partner and launch customer, is now
taking delivery of Leakfrog units for trial. Leakfrog is a small, cost-effective
electronic device which can be easily attached to domestic water meters and has
the intelligence to spot and size leaks. It is expected to be a significant
contributor to leakage reduction.

The Board believes that Leakfrog represents a breakthrough in extending water
company leakage monitoring into homes and expects the product to make a
significant contribution to the Company's sales and prospects going forward.

Looks like it wants to push higher

175k buy at 0.7. Trading statement due soon.

Was really trying to move higher.Wouldn't be suprised if it does tomorrow.

Evening all. Not been on here for a while.

Nice news re Leakfrog. Any ideas when that TU is due?

TU ?

Trading Update

The end FY06 trading statement came out on July 14 but understand there's to be a formal launch of the Thames/leakfrog deal so maybe a combined statement will be issued

Ahh ! Bid up and online buying limited to 15K

Can sell upto 525K over the published bid. Not going to take much to get this going now.

JMAC, any chance of posting the release of 14th July on here as I can't find it.

TIA.

An early move higher tomorrow may find some traders move into the stock as money moves from the large cap sector into the smaller cap.It's not going to take that much to achieve either IMO.

As they say the early bird catches the worm.