June 13, 2005
Volume 1 Issue 16       

Continued Discussion on the Rising Tide of Healthcare Costs  

According to Mike Pehanich, Plant Operations Editor for Foodprocessing.com, Food Operators sometimes tend to have that old school thinking that electric is a fixed cost on their operations ledger.  One of the easiest ways to save money is through a no or low cost energy audit. Most auditing firms will perform an audit for a % of the energy saved. This is very similar to an attorney who works on contingency.  Your fee is contingent on them saving you money. Huge  savings are available especially for food processors. Food Distributors can look at savings also because of all the energy those coolers and freezers suck down. Usually only 40% of your electric bill is for heat and light.  

Utility bills are often overlooked, and very rarely ever read, and they are almost always considered accurate. However, Jim Galbo of Independent Utility Consultants (877-482-7283) says estimates of wrong bills from electric companies can be as high as 75%. Good odds that yours is incorrect. Typically in the manufacturing segment Food Processors are among the highest users and can save more money than most. These audits go back several years and the dollars that are proven to have been billed incorrectly can be usually “credited’ against your account. And now you also have the future savings of being billed correctly.

Where to go for help?

• Local utilities sometimes provide free audits to check procedures and equipment.
• Dept. of Energy Industrial Assessment Center, www.oit.doe.gov/iac draws on engineering teams from Universities to perform audits for qualified companies.
• U.S Dept. of Energy has an Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), www.eere.energy.gov and will invest in leapfrog technology to qualified companies.
• Contact an energy auditing company to do an energy audit for you. Just type in “energy audits” in your favorite search engine and see who’s out there.

In these days of $54/ barrel oil prices everybody from Utility Companies to County Governments are interested in saving you money. In the long run healthy Companies consume more energy but more effectively.

Call your utility today and ask to help you save $$$$

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