Leading the way in sustainable and affordable essential service provision, future-focused companies Flow Systems, Flow Utilities and Meter2Cash Solutions have unveiled a new brand identity — Altogether Group — providing a multi-utility offering in water, energy and data.
Altogether Group CEO Terry Leckie said the rebranding is a direct reflection of the group’s development, which aims to continue to grow and identify new ways of ensuring sustainable, cost-conscious services for communities.
“Our name change reflects the maturity of our business as a multi-utility serving communities across Queensland and New South Wales,” he said.
“With better ways of using, producing and thinking about power, water and data, we are working together with strata and building managers, body corporates, developers and communities to create a better future for everyone.
“We currently provide electricity, gas, hot water and potable water embedded network services to over 25,000 customers through our local teams in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sydney. Our vision is to increase this to 100,000 within the next three years.”
Leckie said managing multiple services allows the company to take advantage of opportunities in terms of resource recovery, but also to take a more holistic approach to meeting community needs.
“From a multi-utility perspective, we work with water and energy, but we’re also moving into data. We manage our own data, but we are looking to manage community data, too,” he said.
“You can’t supply water effectively without energy and without data. Nor can you supply energy efficiently without water and data. Further, you can’t provide data services securely without water and energy.
“These three essential services are completely reliant upon each other.”
One of the biggest benefits of a multi-utility approach to service provision is the cost-savings the utility is able to pass down to its customers, Leckie said.
“New communities in general are having to pay more for their utility services in order to satisfy their needs. And there are now many changing needs within communities, in terms of the need for green and blue spaces to combat extreme heat, for example” Leckie said.
“But also a demand for more reliable and secure service provision — in energy and data too. While governments are certainly focusing on these things, the reality is that to create improved liveability and additional services, communities are required to pay more.
“As a local, multi-utility, we give control back to the community. We do that by capturing resources locally. We provide the technology and infrastructure to make these resources available for the community and supply these services at a lower cost than that which would be required if these resources were obtained elsewhere.
“Working locally, within the community, allows us to meet the community’s changing needs without increasing the cost. It’s not only a decentralised service provision arrangement, it’s also local.”
More than 400 communities currently receive essential service provision from the company, including the world-leading recycled water system at Sydney’s Central Park.
“Sydney's Central Park is one of our flagship projects. It’s been very successful. It’s been set up to capture all of the water available in that precinct,” Leckie said.
“We mine wastewater from the Sydney Water sewer that runs through the site, we recycle green wall run-off and recycle it to give back to the plants and we capture stormwater.
“All these water sources come to our recycled water facility, which is the largest of its kind in the world, located in the basement of a residential building. It’s an outstanding example of effectively providing multiple water services, from multiple sources, within the community where the resources are captured.
“There are two recycled water networks within the precinct. One is water we use for cooling towers, the other crystal clear water, which requires the use of less energy to prepare, and that is used for clothes washing, toilet flushing and irrigation.”
Leckie said that next-generation utility services are transforming communities around the world, offering innovation, jobs, economic growth, resilience and a circular approach to resource management.
“At the heart of what we do is empowering communities to thrive by delivering reliable, localised essential services,” he said.
“We’re constantly opening new doors and exploring new possibilities to progress communities. That’s why we capture local resources, reduce wastage, and offer more affordable solutions — in turn, helping to build more resilient communities.”