Cranston Ewan, principal of Jamaica Energy-Saving Solutions (second left), explains how energy-monitoring device Eniscope works. With him from left are Dr Orville Morgan, director of JESS; Bert Cooper, chairman of JESS, and Laurence Broderick, minister of state, Ministry of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, at the launch of JESS, February 29, Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Jamaica Energy-Saving Solutions Ltd (JESS), a new company founded by Cranston Ewan, has entered the market as a distributor of energy-saving devices.

JESS, a fully owned Jamaican company, signed an exclusive agreement in November with British company Enigin, which markets energy solutions by using a select group of products collectively called 'energy maps'.

Ewan, JESS' managing director, whose professional background is that of a chartered accountant, said the energy maps consist of the following:

IMEC (intelligent motor energy controller), which reduces wear and tear and friction by controlling the amount of energy that the motor uses by regulating it with the level of demand the motor is asked to perform.

LESS (light energy-saving system) regulates light usage by using sensory detectors to detect when individuals are in the room, activating or deactivating the light, based on the presence of an individual.

CUES (chilled unit energy saver), a product made of wax, which is retrofitted to refrigerators, which Ewan claims controls food temperature much more effectively.

ACES (air condition energy saver), sensory-driven electronic devices which detect thermodynamic saturation and adjust air conditioning.

The company has no warehouse or storage for the energy-map products and maintains no inventory, relying instead on Enigin's 'just in time' system to supply orders.

As the orders come in, JESS buys the product from Enigin and onsells to the customer, making its money from the mark-up it places on the items.

Ewan told Sunday Business that he invested $3 million to get the business off the ground, and that JESS was capitalised strictly with equity, via three million issued shares valued at $1 each.

JESS has three full-time employees - an administrator and two sales representatives - and a five-member board comprising two chartered accountants, a mechanical engineer, a human resources consultant and a gynaecologist.

The company believes it is well placed to leverage business from Jamaican companies and consumers desperate to reduce their energy bills, even as oil prices that fuel those expenses climb.

"Right now, it is the best business to be in," he said, "saving energy for business consumers - allowing them to increase their profitability."

richard.deane@gleanerjm.com