Zählerfreunde was founded in 2021 and was based in its early phase at the Munich startup incubator Werk1. Today, the company is listed there as an alumni startup. Now things have come full circle, as Zählerfreunde is now delivering a white-label energy management solution for the energy service provider Werkkraft.
While Werkkraft supplies electricity, local heating, and local cooling in Werksviertel-Mitte and operates its own grids, Zählerfreunde complements this physical infrastructure with a digital energy management platform. As a result, local energy generation and distribution in the Munich district converge with a software solution for visualizing and analyzing energy and measurement data.
White-Label Software to Connect 450 to 500 Metering Devices
According to the partners, around 450 to 500 metering devices are set to be centrally connected via Zählerfreunde’s white-label solution. The software is designed to make the data usable for Werkkraft itself as well as for commercial, hospitality, and, looking ahead, residential customers in the district.
Plans include centralized visualization of metering points, load profile analyses, and customized user dashboards. Down the road, various energy sectors and technologies are to be brought together – including electricity, heat, and water, as well as photovoltaic systems, storage units, and e-mobility.
The software thus complements an already comparatively complex energy infrastructure. Werkkraft supplies Werksviertel-Mitte with electricity, heating, and cooling via its own grids. In doing so, the company deploys battery storage systems, buffer storage, high-temperature heat pumps, and absorption chillers, coupling various energy sectors with one another.
Energy management for businesses and HEMS for households
According to its own statements, the white-label solution is now offered via more than 50 municipal utilities, energy suppliers, metering point operators, and tenant electricity providers. On its website, Zählerfreunde also cites more than 1,000 device connections from over 100 manufacturers and more than 23,000 end users.
At its core, Zählerfreunde develops solutions for two target groups: For business customers, the startup offers energy monitoring and energy management. This includes peak load analyses, automated energy and ESG reports, and features designed to support companies with ISO 50001 energy management.
For private households, the startup relies on a Home Energy Management System, or HEMS for short. The software connects, among other things, photovoltaic systems, battery storage, heat pumps, and electric cars or wallboxes. As a result, energy flows can not only be visualized, but also controlled and coordinated with dynamic electricity tariffs, for example.
These features are offered to energy suppliers as a white-label solution. This allows the software to appear under the brand of the respective municipal utility or supplier toward its customers.
Werkkraft Combines Electricity, Heating, and Cooling in the Werksviertel
This white-label structure is relevant to the partnership because Werkkraft bundles multiple energy supply roles in the Werksviertel. The company has been shaping the district’s energy infrastructure since 2015 and began supplying electricity in 2016. Today, it operates electricity, district heating, and district cooling networks there, among other things, and also acts as a metering point operator.
The energy infrastructure has grown alongside the district over the years. The district cooling network went into operation in 2019, followed in 2021 by a battery storage system at the medium-voltage level. For 2026, Werkkraft also cites supplying residential units as the next step in its development.
