3 Ways to Save on Your Office Energy Bill

Here are 3 Ways to Save Money On Your Office Building Energy Bill

Energy Procurement

1.  Most office buildings in IL can shop for cheaper electricity pricing. Specifically in the ComEd utility; there are opportunities to save, regardless if your office building is small, with a 0 - 100 kW class, or a large, with usage over 100 kW. Depending on what class you’re in, your price to compare (PTC) will be different. 

1. 0 - 100 kW ComEd Customers and their options for saving money on their office energy bill
2. This rate tariff classifies small businesses  peak kW (demand charge) that do not exceed 100 kW usage. Your office space would be considered part of ComEd’s Commercial Demand Tariff 0 - 100 kW, which means you’re more than likely paying a commercial electricity rate of $0.073/kWh (aka 7.3 cents per kWh).
3. 100 - 400 kW or 400 kW + ComEd Customers  and their options for saving money on their office energy bill are highly likely since they’re in ComEd’s Commercial Hourly rate, which can be viewed live on ComEd’s website - https://hourlypricing.comed.com/live-prices/. ComEd’s website is very resourceful with hourly pricing and has options where you can view average hourly rates by day, week, month, and year. It’s safe to say that most offices are open during the on-peak hours, which historically comes in higher than off-peak pricing during off-peak hours. At any rate, we recommend looking at your ComEd utility invoices for the last 24 months. We call it an invoice scrape. Conduct a weighted-average-rate analysis and find your PTC. This will give you a starting point on what to shop around for. 
4. To determine what tariff you’re on with ComEd, you can simply look at your electric bill (view Sample Below).

LED Lighting

1. It’s easy, affordable, and can highly impact energy savings for business customers; especially for how much lighting is required for an office space; converting to an LED system allows you to use less, which enables your office to spend less. LED lighting costs much less to operate and lasts far longer than other normally used commercial lighting options, such as halogen-lighting, fluorescent office lighting, or incandescents.  Other benefits to note:

1. The quality of lighting can actually improve the working environment for employees, as the warm tone that LED bulbs typically produce do not impact vision as harshly as do fluorescent lights. Fluorescent lights are also known to give off UV rays, that over time, can damage your vision.
2. LED lighting typically has a longer lifespan than other types of lighting that are regularly used in office spaces. This lifespan does end up saving your office on future maintenance costs to replace older lights. 

LED Rebates are available in ComEd area for both interior led lighting, and exterior led lighting. In some cases, ComEd can pay for up to 50% of the total cost of the LED improvements. For more information on how they work, and which LED lights can qualify for rebates, you can contact Ananta Energy Source (www.goananta.com).

Solar Energy

1. Ready for your office building to come off the grid? Imagine having all the power of your office coming from your roof? That’s where the future of energy is headed. To date, coming off the grid 100% might not be possible. Having your entire office building run 100% on solar energy depends on two main variables: (1) The sq ft of your roof, (2) how much energy your office building requires. Investing into solar energy options for your office building in IL can help you reduce costs over time. This in-turn reduces your carbon footprint and builds a more sustainable environment.  A few reasons that solar energy as an investment in Illinois makes sense:
2. Rebates and incentives are available in Illinois
3. Comed Distribution Rebate
4. Check here to see if solar is right for you!
5. Awesome evaluation by ComEd estimating the cost to go solar with estimated paybacks and a list of pre-approved contracts from ComEd!