Nikolaus Starzacher

With more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur (Verivox & Discovergy), I love creating digital products and services, taking them from invention to scalable adoption in the market. With climate change being the most serious threat to humanity, I am using my skills and experience to facilitate the creation of a more efficient energy system. At Countrol we use Smart Meters to digitise and optimise energy consumption and production by counting and controlling the use of electricity, gas, heat & water. * We give consumers access to dynamic tariffs, empowering them to heat their homes and charge their electric vehicles when electricity is cheap. * We empower solar and other installation companies to have the same timely, efficient and digital process across all of Germany. * We enable real estate companies to fulfil their ESG requirements by helping them to know and reduce the carbon footprint for their buildings. Furthermore, we enable microgrids (Mieterstrom), thereby increasing the value and attractiveness of each microgrid property. * We provide metering as a service to energy suppliers and network operators (including regulated metering operators), allowing them to fulfil all regulatory requirements in a cost effective and hassle free way. As Chief Technology Officer (CTO), I contribute the magic to make all this happen in an efficient, cost effective and scalable way. As a thought leader in the industry, I have advocated the need for real-time, high resolution measurements, which was added as TAF14 to the technical specifications, thereby enabling services such as data visualisation in apps and portals, alerting and benchmarking, home energy management and energy disaggregation. Furthermore, I initiated the successful demonstration of the shortcomings of the previous smart metering law, catalysing and contributing to the creation of the much improved current “Law to restart the digitalization of the energy transition” (Gesetz zum Neustart der Digitalisierung der Energiewende). I am especially proud to have provided a fertile breeding ground and support for a number of entrepreneurial activities, resulting in the foundation of numerous companies in the cleantech space and beyond.