Articles

Con Ed urges building owners to join energy-saving program

BY ALEX PHILIPPIDIS
February 14, 2007

Business owners in several Westchester communities will be contacted over the next few weeks by a vendor hired by Con Edison to help it reduce local demand for energy.

Public Energy Solutions of Englewood, N.J., will promote lighting, mechanical and HVAC upgrades it says can save between 25 percent and 50 percent on monthly Con Ed bills. Con Ed wants to cut power demand by 15 megawatts enough power for 15,000 homes over the next three to four years.

Owners of multifamily buildings as well as retail, industrial and other commercial properties, can participate in the program if they now use 25 or more incandescent light bulbs, and if their buildings are in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, the Greenville section of Greenburgh, Harrison, Hartsdale, Irvington, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Port Chester, Purchase, Rye, Rye Brook, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown and White Plains. The program will also take in parts of Eastchester (Scarsdale address).

Customers get paid for each bulb they replace; the amount varies depending on wattage. Amounts range from $1 per each 40- or 60-watt bulb, to $2.50 for 75- to 90-watt bulbs, $5 for 100-watt bulbs and $10 per bulb of more than 100 watts.

“Everything that uses an electric load during the summer periods is eligible,” said Keith Hartman, president of Public Energy Solutions.

For a small delicatessen with 30 fixtures, Hartman said, “we can knock out probably half their electric cost. Based on how often the lights are on, we see fixtures that save between $30 and $50 per year for every fixture.” For office complexes, he said the percentage dips to 35 percent or 40 percent due to other power use such as air conditioning.

Hartman said businesses looking to participate should contact his company at (866) 818-1900, ext. 102, or visit its Web site (www.publicenergysolutions.com).

Public Energy Solutions will market its service via telemarketing, direct mail and ads, as well as through contact with business associations. The company hired its first Westchester salesperson late
last month.

“We’ll probably have four to five salespeople that will go door to door to businesses,” Hartman said. “We’ve been talking with some of the major retailers and a couple of the property managers over the last month. But we’re really just starting our effort now.” A total of 11,000 potential commercial customers could participate in the program, dubbed Operation Kill-A-Watt. The number of eligible residential customers is not known; Westchester has 84,000 residential customers but that consists mostly of single-family homeowners. For them, the company is looking to develop incentives to install new, more efficient central air conditioning systems, Hartman said.

Public Energy Solutions is expanding a program that last year removed 8 megawatts of power demand through energy savings at more than 1,500 buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Public Energy Solutions is a former Public Service Electric & Gas division spun off from the
New Jersey utility.