Kerngas: New service for gas customers

Time and again, liquid gas tanks run dry, partly because tank levels were not checked in time. This includes commercial customers who often consume large quantities of gas and suddenly find themselves with empty tanks. In the worst case, production comes to a standstill. Remedy is provided by smart remote monitoring solutions from RCT for gas tanks, which Kerngas now wants to offer its customers.

For over 20 years Kerngas from Memmingerberg, Germany, supplies as reliable and contract-free offerer of liquid gas numerous trade, industrial and agricultural enterprises, as well as private households throughout Germany. The liquid gas supplier from the Allgäu stands for personal customer contact and a high degree of customer service. The offer does not only include the supply of liquid gas. The supply of tanks and accessories, as well as the performance of tank tests complete the range of services. "Our customers increasingly want an all-round service, which we offer as a competent partner on the subject of liquid gas," says Wolfgang Kern, Managing Director of Kerngas.

In order to be able to offer its private and commercial customers security of supply even when consumption is high, the Kerngas company relies on the highly functional LEVELview monitoring system from RCT. This enables optimal availability of liquefied gas to be guaranteed. "The response of our customers to the RCT remote monitoring system has been consistently positive," explains the energy specialist. "In this way, the customers and we have a permanent overview of the filling levels of the liquefied gas tanks. We can react to the corresponding consumption in good time and plan deliveries in advance – thus preventing tanks from running empty."

Increasing customer satisfaction

How does the installation of the transmitter units on the tanks work? The last five years of cooperation with RCT have shown: "The installation of the monitoring system is trouble-free and its handling is extremely simple and convenient for the user. As a result, RCT offers us the opportunity to make deliveries to our customers even more efficiently in the future and to increase customer satisfaction," says Wolfgang Kern.

New business model

Now the liquefied gas supplier wants to expand its customer offering to include the RCT remote monitoring system. Kerngas can take over both the installation of the equipment technology and the complete monitoring via a web app. This provides customers with maximum transparency regarding the fill levels of their tanks. This results in tangible benefits for all sides.

IoT technology makes it possible

These services are made possible by the use of IoT-based monitoring technology. The modular LEVELview remote monitoring system, which is installed on the LPG tanks, sends the level data as required via transmission technologies such as Sigfox, Cellular 4G/3G/2G, LTE, NB-IoT, LoRa-WAN, Cat M1, RF or WiFi. The fill level is measured contact-free via a Hall-effect sensor. With the web-based "RCT Monitor" platform or via smartphone app, the fill levels can be displayed exactly locally and globally. This enables the liquefied gas supplier Kerngas and its customers to be informed automatically by mail, push message, SMS or directly via a company's own ERP system as soon as tank contents are nearing their end. Other smart services include history and consumption data at defined times, projections of remaining tank capacities, and information on the best possible time for refueling.