40.000+
people & organizations supplied
6 months
from kick-off to go-live
100%
hosting & analytics in Germany
Stadtwerke Bitterfeld-Wolfen was initially founded in 1991 as Stadtwerke Wolfen. In 2006, Netzgesellschaft Bitterfeld-Wolfen mbH was established as a subsidiary of Stadtwerke to serve as a network operator for electricity, gas, and drinking water.
1991
Bitterfeld-Wolfen
Utilities
Custom Customer Portal
As a local energy supplier and infrastructure operator, Stadtwerke Bitterfeld-Wolfen reliably supplies over 40,000 citizens, public institutions, and companies in the region with electricity, gas, water, district heating, and energy-related services. Together with SPRYLAB, the municipal company has developed a modern, individually customized customer portal that replaces the existing legacy solution and enables complete digital transformation of customer processes. Energy suppliers face the challenge of remaining competitive in a liberalized market—tailored digital solutions can become the decisive success factor for sustainable customer satisfaction and efficient processes.
Stadtwerke Bitterfeld-Wolfen had strategically prioritized customer proximity. Alexander Backes, Head of Digital Service, explains the initial situation: “The energy industry is moving strongly into a liberalized competitive market. It’s crucial to be close to the customer.” The existing customer portal in its rudimentary version could no longer meet the growing demands on our digital services.
The new portal was intended not only to strengthen customer loyalty but also to improve internal processes. “We’re creating a digital channel to design our back-end processes in a workflow-based and digital manner,” emphasizes Backes. “We wanted to become significantly faster and get into the charming situation of being available to customers 24/7. That was management’s conviction to launch this project.”
The technical challenge lay particularly in the seamless integration of various systems. The CURSOR EVI CRM system had to be connected, as did the ERP system from msu solutions. During the tender process, a standard solution was also under consideration, but Stadtwerke deliberately chose custom development. “This allowed us to respond much more tailored to our system landscape and our customers’ expectations and combine them,” emphasizes David Klix, IT Manager at Stadtwerke.
The modular architecture of the custom solution enables any extensions to be made without dependency on external vendors’ product cycles. Another critical point was the understandable design of complex energy industry processes. “We work with terminology that we assume everyone understands,” explains Backes. This insight made it clear that an external perspective would be crucial for project success.
SPRYLAB relied on a modern, future-proof technology stack: The frontend was developed with Next.js, a React-based framework that offers optimal performance and SEO characteristics. The portal backend is based on Nest.js, a progressive Node.js framework for scalable server applications. This architecture enables flexible response to future requirements and efficient implementation of new features.
Authentication is handled via a single-sign-on system that ensures the highest security standards while enabling user-friendly login. PostHog is used for tracking and analyzing usage data – hosted as an on-premise solution on German servers to ensure complete data control and GDPR compliance. The entire infrastructure runs on Amazon AWS with server locations in Germany and meets all regulatory requirements.
Special attention was paid to data minimization and data protection. The portal itself stores only essential data such as email address, name and encrypted password, as well as the associated framework contract numbers. All other information such as contract data, meter readings, or invoices is retrieved at runtime from Stadtwerke’s backend systems, particularly from the CRM, as needed. This architecture ensures that current data is always displayed.
The project was strategically structured into four clearly defined versions to ensure rapid time-to-market while enabling continuous improvements:
Version 1 & 2: The base version includes all essential functionalities for digital customer contact. Users can submit meter readings—even without an account through direct authentication with framework contract and meter number. Registration for existing customers was optimized through URL parameters, allowing customers to reach registration directly via QR code or personalized link. The integrated tariff calculator widget replaces the old solution on the main website and leads prospects seamlessly into the ordering process. Additional features include complete contract management, invoice downloads as PDF, installment changes, consumption statistics, a digital message inbox, and comprehensive options for changing personal data. Both versions went live on schedule after just six months of intensive development work.
Version 3: This expansion focuses on the needs of large customers and property management companies with multiple properties. Framework contracts can be freely grouped, for example by street blocks or residential complexes. These groups enable efficient comparison of consumption data and identification of optimization potential. Mass meter reading submission via Excel import/export revolutionizes processes for customers with many meters.
Version 4: The final expansion stage will integrate modern AI technologies: An intelligent chatbot based on RAG, automatic meter reading capture via photo using AI vision, multi-factor authentication, and automatic price sheet generation.
Klix highlights a crucial success factor: “We benefited significantly from SPRYLAB’s wealth of experience with customer portals from other industries.” The project team brought in proven concepts from various self-service projects and asked the right questions from a user perspective. “The critical questions made us think, because our users would ask exactly these questions too,” explains Klix. SPRYLAB questioned industry-specific assumptions as a partner and thus ensured a consistently user-friendly solution.
This approach resulted in a solution that makes complex technical processes understandable while meeting the specific requirements of the energy industry. Through the project, SPRYLAB was able to build valuable industry knowledge in the energy sector, from which future projects will benefit.
Implementation took place using an agile approach with two-week sprints. Regular review meetings and jour fixes ensured close coordination between SPRYLAB and Stadtwerke. From the first sprint, SPRYLAB made the current development status available on test systems, so that Stadtwerke could review progress and provide feedback at any time. This transparent working method made it possible to make adjustments early on and ensure that the solution was optimally tailored to needs.
The new customer portal went into production on schedule and stable without critical problems. User numbers and positive customer feedback confirm the success of the custom solution. Concrete improvements are evident in several areas:
The migration of existing customers from the legacy system takes place via a “soft migration”: Stadtwerke customers received personalized email invitations with pre-filled registration links. Large customers and property management companies in particular benefit from the new grouping and comparison functions, which enable efficient management of multiple properties.
The portal’s modular architecture forms the foundation for continuous innovation. With Version 4, groundbreaking AI features will be implemented: The planned customer chatbot will be trained with company-specific knowledge. Automatic meter reading capture via photo significantly optimizes the process for end customers by reducing input errors and considerably simplifying the workflow.
Further developments include the integration of dynamic tariffs, extended analysis functions for energy optimization, and the ability to arrange installment payments directly in the portal. Multi-factor authentication additionally increases the security of sensitive customer data.
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