Anthony Mickiewicz
Regional Sales Director
Freedom Energy
Time is money, as they say. And time spent doing nothing can add up. This, of course, is not to say businesses are sitting around doing nothing. Typically, a business’ primary focus is what they offer or produce, and often there is no time internally to address or tend to anything else. Meanwhile, avoidable costs continue to add up.
In the manufacturing industry, energy is a top three operating cost that if goes unchecked, can cost millions of dollars. But product is priority, so whatever it costs to produce is necessary, right? Well, no. Actively managing power and natural gas costs does not have to mean production will be impacted. And while you are busy running your business, there are companies, services, and programs available that can help you. Read on to learn more about the cost of doing nothing and how you can help your business improve your bottom line working with an energy advisor.
Proactive energy management can impact your bottom-line
Even more so in an energy intensive industry like the manufacturing industry. Putting off an investment in energy management introduces two types of risk: price volatility and lost opportunity. Prices generally rise over time — energy costs increase when supply tightens, and demand escalates. The graph below illustrates electricity futures prices in ISO-NE over time. An energy advisor continually monitors the market for you, and can offer guidance, recommending the appropriate solution to achieve your unique energy requirements and goals, including the best time to purchase and for how long.
The same can be said for energy efficiency equipment. The price of HVAC, lighting systems, motors, drives, boilers, and unit heaters fluctuate with the season and increase over time. In addition, labor costs almost never decrease. An investment in managing your energy operating costs year-over-year may cost significantly more than an investment would today.
Moreover, federal, state, and utility incentive programs may not be available next year, and tax credits may not be renewed by a new administration or the credits themselves may be phased out. In general, the loss of programs or opportunities for incentives and tax credits may disappear which will make the investment cost grow exponentially. Eventually, businesses will lose money by doing nothing.
Check out the chart below. Working with Freedom Energy, a multi-state manufacturing client was able to save more than $1.35 million in energy costs across five of their locations. While some locations saw meager savings, others represented a significant budgetary impact. Imagine the cost impact that doing nothing would have had on this company, and what the impact of proactively managing their energy costs in this energy intensive business did for their bottom-line. Whether business customers do nothing or make an investment in managing their power and natural gas, working with an energy advisor can result in the difference of millions of dollars.
As you can see, there is a cost to doing nothing. It can lead to higher overall power and natural gas costs. And there is even more out there being made available to help businesses reduce how much they pay for power and natural gas. And having someone in your corner that knows where to look can also have a significant impact on the bottom line.
Additional Opportunity to Uncover
In addition to energy procurement and cost management, your energy advisor can serve as a trusted source of information for businesses who are looking to make big-ticket item decisions in energy efficiency, energy efficiency incentives and grant programs, and tax breaks. Navigating a path to obtain the right efficiencies and incentive programs can be daunting, but the right energy advisor partner can help ensure you access to what is available while you focus on running your business. Overall, a comprehensive investment in energy management with the help of your energy advisor can significantly impact the bottom line.
If you’re interested in learning more about your energy options, please contact me at amickiewicz@felpower.com.
Published: June 20, 2023
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