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Is it possible for a company with a large plant and a lot of powerful equipment to lower its energy costs significantly while simultaneously upgrading its equipment?
This might seem like a lofty goal. But it’s one that B.L. Downey Company was able to achieve — thanks to its energy provider Constellation.
B.L. Downey is a company that coats parts and tools, everything from small screws all the way up to 50-foot light poles. Clients drop off their parts for coating at the company’s facility, and B.L. Downey finishes the job and then gives the items back to each client.
Originally, B.L. Downey signed up for natural gas service with Constellation more than 12 years ago. Over the years, Constellation has been providing gas and electricity services and helped them to gain control of their energy costs.
More specifically, B.L. Downey was looking for ways to improve the lighting at its plant, while also cutting costs and eliminating wasteful use of gas in its processes. The company had a plan in mind that involved upgrading its burners and implementing a control system to make their ovens more energy efficient. However, the firm simply didn’t have the capital to complete the project.
Then, in 2014, the Constellation team contacted B.L. Downey to see if they could help them figure out some opportunities for cutting waste and unnecessary energy consumption that could help the company’s bottom line.
To achieve the company’s goals, B.L. Downey took advantage of Constellation’s Efficiency Made Easy solution (“EME”), which offers businesses ways to implement energy-efficient solutions at its facilities with no upfront costs. Instead, Constellation includes a monthly cost in the customer’s electric or gas bill. And with Constellation’s EME, the costs of the projects are often offset by the energy savings.
Kim Weaver, Senior Business Development Manager for Constellation’s EME Sales, said, “At B.L. Downey we were able to implement a $1 million project that saved them about 10 percent in electricity — 360,000 dth a year. So that savings [helped] offset the cost of their project.”
Dave Wasz, President of B.L. Downey, added, “I’d say the biggest benefit of this program is we did not have to spend any of our own capital. That program was financed by Constellation’s EME, and we will be paying it back over the next several years through our electric bill. And that’s nice to have when you’re a small business or organization where money is tight.”
With the help of this program, B.L. Downey was able to upgrade all the lights at its facility and even add some new lights in the parking lot to improve safety for employees, which is important for a company that has team members coming and going 24 hours a day.
The project also helped B.L. Downey reduce its carbon footprint by 4 million pounds of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of taking 382 cars off the road annually.
Tom Moser, Vice President of Administration for B.L. Downey Company, said, “The relationship between Constellation and B.L. Downey has allowed us to save money and be more efficient and also be a good global partner by cutting all our emissions and all our waste.”
Essentially, the program allowed B.L. Downey to achieve its energy goals without having to worry about the upfront cost.
There are many efficient energy solutions available to businesses today. But sometimes the upfront cost of actually implementing those solutions can be prohibitive for small businesses. This is true even if these solutions could help the businesses save money over the long run.
Constellation’s Efficiency Made Easy program eliminated that roadblock for B.L. Downey, allowing the company to save money and become more efficient while actually upgrading its equipment and processes.
Image: B.L. Downey
This article, “See the Surprisingly Painless Way One Company Reduced Energy Costs” was first published on Small Business Trends