Commercial

LEGACY has a variety of solutions that helps your business gain control of energy costs and usage.

Commercial buildings and retail establishments have unique energy needs. They need to provide comfortable working conditions, sometimes across extended hours of operation. They also need to run office equipment and internal systems, while promoting the businesses they host. Managing energy used to be about engineering and automated controls. But today’s market has demonstrated the importance of a variety of new solutions — including energy risk management to mitigate cost exposure.

Commercial Real Estate
At LEGACY, we know that energy is the largest and most volatile component of operating costs for commercial real estate buildings in deregulated markets, so controlling your building’s energy costs is critically important to its financial performance and ultimately its market value. Conspicuous Consumption Modern office buildings require tremendous amounts of energy.  In fact, nearly 18 percent of all energy—and over 35 percent of electricity—in the United States is consumed by commercial properties.¹ In the typical office building, energy accounts for about one-third of all operating costs.

At LEGACY, we know that by reducing consumption through improved operating efficiencies, and by controlling energy expenditures, facilities managers can reduce a property’s operating costs, thereby improving its financial performance and market value.

Lower energy operating costs can also position a property to realize higher rental rates and experience increased tenant retention by reducing the need for rental rate increases.

Retail
LEGACY understands that creating and maintaining attractive, appealing and comfortable shopping environments are critical to your business. The average cost for lighting, cooling and heating a 50,000-square-foot retail store in the United States has risen from $52,500 in 1992 to over $100,000 in 2006.¹ One way to reduce consumption is by switching to energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps and utilizing lighting controls. Another alternative is to upgrade HVAC systems, but few retailers can afford the newer, more energy-efficient equipment due to return-on-investment requirements.

Most retailers can also save on energy costs through supply contract administration and effective energy risk management. However, only the very largest retailers can afford the personnel with the background and experience needed to accomplish these tasks. That is, until now.

LEGACY Puts You in Control
LEGACY has a variety of solutions that help you gain control of your energy costs and usage. As a first step in developing an effective strategy, we establish a clean baseline to identify important usage and cost trends. Through our Utility Bill Verification Service, we verify the accuracy of your past and current energy bills. Then we identify billing inaccuracies and take steps to recover any significant savings on money you have already spent.

While the rise in energy prices has made comprehensive energy management extremely important, price volatility has also made it extremely difficult. To effectively forecast and budget, you need control. And that’s where the management of energy price risk comes in. LEGACY identifies the variables that affect your energy cost and simulates the many possible budget scenarios. We then develop an energy risk-management strategy balancing your company’s need for budget certainty with lower-price opportunities.

Once we have identified the best energy-procurement strategy, LEGACY will help negotiate terms and conditions, oversee the transition to the new contract, and provide on-going verification to ensure accurate billing. Clients can easily monitor their energy usage and costs in POWERVIEWS™, our on-line system. POWERVIEWS™ compiles and organizes information according to your organization’s unique hierarchy of meters and associated locations, then aggregates it according to your reporting needs.

LEGACY can also help address green initiatives. Our team is prepared to assist in the development of Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) programs and sustainable-design development efforts.

With LEGACY’s complete package of energy management services, we can help you understand your energy usage, become more efficient, manage risk, and take control of your energy costs.
 

¹ Per Department of Energy 2003