To keep a business running, it needs dedicated employees and a great product or service, but it also needs power, heat and water. The expense of hiring, training and retaining employees can skyrocket, as can the research necessary to keep the best product or service on the market. But utilities, which are generally taken for granted, don’t need to take a big chunk out of a company’s bottom line. Businesses can do something about basic utility bills that will drive down cost and increase efficiency.
AmerenUE offers commercial customers numerous cost-saving programs, including Abacus and Power Quality Solutions. Abacus is the company’s wireless energy management tool. It tells commercial customers exactly how much energy it has used over a week, month or year. This service allows customers to monitor and manage electricity costs using the Internet.
Power Quality Solutions offers numerous services–troubleshooting; evaluation of the efficiency of existing electric motors; comprehensive light system surveys; analysis and recommendations on CFC compliance issues and optimization of chiller plant operations; and customer assistance in identifying cost-effective measures to boost energy efficiency and reduce electric demand charges.
“Ameren’s growing portfolio of attractive, energy-related products and services helps the region’s industrial, institutional and commercial customers save energy, comply with environmental regulations and increase their productivity. These customized energy solutions are making commerce and industry here competitively stronger,” notes Thomas R. Voss, senior vice president, customer services. AmerenUE offers a toll-free Power Quality Hotline at 800/899-5973.
The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), like Ameren, charges customers for usage. Water that enters a business eventually leaves that business through the sewer system. MSD receives quarterly water consumption reports and charges accordingly.
“The best way for a business to reduce its sewer bill is to reduce water consumption at its site. Short of reducing water consumption, there are several things some industries can do to lessen their bills,” says Terry Briggs, spokesman for MSD. Businesses that use water that doesn’t eventually enter into the sewer system may apply to MSD for a reduction in sewer service charge. “Examples of this type of customer might be a golf course, which uses water for irrigation. The water never enters the sanitary sewer line. Another example may be water needed for cooling towers in air conditioning systems. The water is recirculated through the system and never discharged into the sanitary sewer.” The customer must have a year’s documentation to show MSD proof that the water being used isn’t being discharged back in the system.
Just over 900 MSD business customers make use of the program. “The bottom line for the business owner is to cost out the expense of gathering the information and in some cases installing a water meter to see if those expenses can be recovered in terms of reduced sewer bills in the long run,” Briggs states. MSD customers can call 314/768-6230 for an application for the reduction program.
Laclede Gas offers customers individual advice on reducing energy costs. Specialists in areas such as gas cooling, dehumidification, clean burning natural gas vehicles, food service and co-generation work with customers to maximize efficiency.
“We work with their equipment, their systems, their needs to solve their problems,” says Rick Hargraves, director of corporate communications. “Some examples include large grocery stores and retail super centers, which can save significantly on their electrical bills by utilizing a gas dehumidification system.”
He says customers are starting to use natural gas cooling systems and co-generation. Co-generation is a popular alternative to using electricity during peak times. It’s a process by which electricity is generated with a natural gas generator and is used during peak times. Laclede Gas customers can call 314/342-0679 for more information on the company’s energy savings program.
This article was written by Liese L. Hutchison, assistant professor in the department of communication at Saint Louis University and a free-lance writer.
