Municipal energy flexibility planning service

An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the smallest version that your users can actually work with. It is not a cheap version of the full solution. It is a test, built to answer the questions that decide whether the rest is worth building.

1. Pick the riskiest assumption. Here: will public building energy managers use it to solve "energy schedules ignore price and occupancy flexibility"?
2. Build only what tests it. One team, one use case, a few core modules. People do the rest by hand for now.
3. Run a paid pilot. Agree quality and outcome thresholds before the pilot using this measure: Measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost.
4. Measure, then decide. Track measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost; accepted-output rate; material error rate; reviewer correction time; actual repeat purchase. Then expand, change course or stop, with evidence instead of opinions.

MVP scope for this solution. Pilot scope: Planning mode only; professionals approve controls and comfort limits. Implement one approved input format, a bounded representative case set and the first two task modules: forecast bounded demand scenarios; compare load-shift schedules. Support the third module with operator review: quantify comfort-constrained savings. Include source references, corrections, basic organization access, approval states, export and value measurement. Use managed operator assistance for unresolved exceptions. The cost estimate covers this narrow prototype, not unrestricted multi-tenant scale, complex production integrations, specialist certification or physical operations.

After the MVP. Once paid pilots prove usefulness, automate repeatable reviewed steps and add one verified source integration. Expand supported inputs and case volume only after new evaluation cases pass. Build reusable customer configurations and recurring value reports around engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan. Retain the explicit scope boundary: Planning mode only; professionals approve controls and comfort limits.

What the build depends on. A defensible calculation model, explicit units, constraint validation and representative boundary tests. Advanced forecasting or optimization needs adequate historical data. Obtain representative authorized cases, baseline measurements, qualified reviewers and a buyer-side decision owner. Specific limitation: Planning mode only; professionals approve controls and comfort limits.

Pricing to test

Test USD 750-3,000 for a scoped planning setup and review, then USD 200-900 monthly for refreshes within agreed complexity. Data integration and optimization are separately scoped. All ranges are hypotheses. Package the initial sale as one bounded engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan. Recurring fees must specify volume, review depth and integration support. For exchanges, test a disclosed coordination or successful-service fee rather than holding customer funds. Reprice only after measuring real delivery labor; platform-build cost is separate from a commercial pilot fee.

Message to test

Explore cheaper operation within documented building constraints. Demonstrate a concrete engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan using the buyer's approved example and show the baseline, corrections and actual delivery effort.

Where to find buyers

Public building energy managers professional communities; specialist consultants serving this buyer; permissioned partner introductions; practical demonstrations at relevant trade or practitioner events.

Lead magnet

A reviewed sample engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan from a small authorized input set, with a transparent calculation of measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost and no promised savings.

The first 30 days

1. Week 1: interview five public building energy managers and inspect a recent example of energy schedules ignore price and occupancy flexibility.
2. Week 2: prepare a consented or synthetic demonstration of the three task modules.
3. Week 3: seek one bounded paid pilot with agreed baseline and acceptance criteria.
4. Week 4: measure measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost, reviewer effort and repeat-purchase interest. This is a demand-validation plan, not a thirty-day full-product delivery promise.

Paid pilot

Agree quality and outcome thresholds before the pilot using this measure: Measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost. Continue only if the buyer accepts the actual output, the intended job outcome improves without unacceptable errors, and measured delivery cost fits willingness to pay. Revise or stop if access is unavailable, qualified review cannot be provided, or apparent savings disappear after corrections and support. Use held-out cases when comparing model quality; use a properly reviewed comparison design before making causal claims. Record missing cases and negative results alongside successful outputs.

Success metrics

Measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost; accepted-output rate; material error rate; reviewer correction time; actual repeat purchase.

Retention and expansion

Repeat the workflow when the buyer again needs engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan. Retain permissioned settings and reviewed examples, report realized value honestly, and sell increased volume or adjacent approved workflows only after contribution margin and quality remain acceptable.

Why clients would pick it

A validated domain model, customer-approved constraints and forecast or decision history that improves practical planning. Build a permissioned library of representative task cases, reviewer corrections and verified operating constraints for public building energy managers. Repeatable delivery and useful integrations matter more than access to a base model.

Alternatives and positioning

Spreadsheets, planners, specialist forecasting tools and existing scheduling or configuration software. Compare this product with the buyer's present method on measured tariff savings minus implementation and occupant-impact cost. Offer a bounded paid workflow instead of claiming broad autonomous expertise. Market uniqueness and competitor coverage are not verified.

Main delivery costs

Data preparation, domain modeling, validation, scenario computation, reviewer support and ongoing assumption maintenance. Additional initial validation requires representative authorized sample preparation, buyer interviews, qualified domain review and bounded validation of engineer-reviewed flexibility pilot plan. Track cost per accepted output, including correction work, unsuccessful cases and support.