By hiring energy consultants, individuals and businesses can achieve significant cost savings on their monthly bills. An energy consultant is a knowledgeable person, usually with a background in an engineering discipline. In addition to providing guidance on how to find lower energy rates, they possess excellent management expertise that can assist customers in making informed decisions. They also have management experience to help customers make wise decisions.
They apply real-world solutions by identifying potential problems and explaining them to the board members. With timely advice from an experienced energy consultant, a company’s internal efforts can avoid unnecessary working hours. You can also prevent soft costs on your energy bill contracts by having business energy quotes.
Who Are Energy Consultants?
In some states, the Public Utilities Commission certifies marketers, brokers, and energy aggregators, such as natural gas, electricity, etc. Your state regulator-certified, or licensed consultant has the financial, managerial, and technical know-how to provide energy consulting and procurement services.
Furthermore, they actively participate in federal programs like Energy Star and access data and resources. They are also members of the Association of Energy Engineers or any other industry network. They aim to identify low-price options and terms ideal for your company in the prevailing market conditions.
How Does an Energy Consultant Work?
Once you start working with an energy consultant, they will begin their analysis of your current situation. They review the lower-cost alternatives for your current energy plan and help you benefit from various features. These options may only sometimes be available with standard regulated utilities.
They possess a thorough understanding of energy market fundamentals and know how the trade will likely go. They analyze your electricity data history, contracts, etc., to develop the Request for Proposal (RFP).
Identifying the Opportunities
When you detect attractive opportunities, you can make quality decisions by converting the data easily available to the energy consultant through the Peppol network without allowing access to non-relevant information. To assess your energy usage and costs, they use effective oversight, identify trends, and forecast your utilities. Instead of letting the local utility manage you with the constantly changing tariffs, your consultant explains them.
Commercial and industrial customers often qualify to receive electric service under various rate schedules. Competent energy consultants can demonstrate the rate schedule that carries the least cost but presents the best option. They also spot billing errors your utility makes via a systematic auditing process.
Tackling the Consumption
There could be many areas where you can cut costs and usage, and it is your consultant’s job to pinpoint those. An energy consultant is comfortable using psychrometric charts or electrical diagrams. They are vital for modifying mechanical or electrical systems to reduce consumption.
They closely examine your current supply contracts and compare them with the data gathered from your energy use. If required, they can even help you get competitive business energy quotes to go with the most appropriate service provider. Finally, they perform a life-cycle analysis involving lighting systems, HVAC, building envelope, etc. The final analysis will include tax implications, financing alternatives, upfront charges, and maintenance costs.
Environmental Impacts
The energy field is a vast and complex sector and is constantly evolving. You need someone who keeps updated with the latest technological changes and understands the customer’s limitations. When looking for additional support, do not consider just the cost implications.
Related post: 10 Reasons Why We Need to Conserve Energy
For businesses, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plays a big role in lowering adverse environmental concerns. Even for homes, sustainable products can reduce the carbon footprint. And energy consultants are here to offer greener solutions to suit your requirements.
