DTI, German government back mobile app that helps SMEs lower power cost

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the German government are preparing to make available commercially a Filipino-developed mobile application that will help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) attain cheaper power bills.

The mobile application, called OneWatt, is seen to lower SME’s electric bills by as much as 40 percent every month and also help businesses evade power outages.

“The mobile application will work round-the-clock to pick out the most cost-efficient energy source at various times of the day and to find alternative power sources during outages,” the DTI said.

The energy efficiency app was the grand prize winner in the contest held recently by DTI and Germany’s development cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) for a mobile app that would best help local SMEs become more competitive and environment friendly.

The competition was launched in July this year to take advantage of the growing number of technology-savvy Filipinos and help SMEs address climate change at the same time.

OneWatt was developed by a team of Filipino information technology professionals from the University of the Philippines Diliman and De La Salle University.

GIZ’s Promotion of Green Economic Development project which is funded with some €4 million by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development will support the full development and commercialization of the app among SMEs all over the country through the DTI.