Alternative Utility Services (AUS), a registered Program Ally of the Ameren Illinois ActOnEnergy® Program, and the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce have partnered together to offer all area businesses the opportunity to upgrade their facility’s lighting to more efficient LED fixtures with no capital expense. This program is designed to allow businesses and institutions, big and small, to take advantage of energy and maintenance savings created through improved lighting efficiency without spending their own resources to do so. With more capital in hand, from avoiding the equipment investment and receiving greater energy savings, your business can go about putting money where you want to, back into growing your business.

How This Works

Lighting accounts for approximately 19% to 30% of electricity use for commercial and industrial facilities, and most facilities continue to use fluorescent, metal halide, sodium vapors and other older, less efficient lamps to deliver their light. New LED lamps and fixtures use 75% less energy than older style lamps and last up to 25 times longer. This means that converting older lamps to LEDs can save between 14% and 22% on electricity costs annually, plus hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in maintenance and bulb replacement costs. The trick for many businesses to realize these savings is to capitalize their retrofit, and that’s where Alternative Utility Services can help.

Alternative Utility Services and its capital partners use their financial resources to invest in upgrading your fixtures and lamps to LEDs. AUS will own and maintain the equipment, including responsibility for replacing warn out or damaged bulbs. In exchange for this service, AUS and your business will enter into a shared savings agreement for the monetary reduction the new equipment provides your business. The level of sharing and the length of the agreement depend upon how much you use the lighting (hours of operation) and the cost of electricity to your facility, but regardless of the terms, your business will never incur any out-of-pocket capital costs for the projects; only collect the energy and maintenance savings that they create.

Existing Lighting Fixtures

Proposed Lighting Upgrades

Lighting: As a Service Offer

Term of Agreement: 6 years
Payment Frequency: Monthly (72 Total Payments)
Upfront Payment Due: $0
Shated Savings Arrangement: Customer 25% / AUS 75%

* Estimates assume a 3% inflation rate over the term of the agreement.

Working Together to Maximize Savings

One of the major advantages of this kind of program is the aggregate value provided by having many businesses complete lighting upgrade projects at one time. First, it is an opportunity to reduce many of the “soft costs” of performing both lighting audits and lighting installs. Things such as travel, scheduling, and marketing can all be reduced, which decreases the costs of service and increases the savings to you, the end user. Additionally, there is purchasing power in numbers. Material components can be ordered in larger volumes at better price points, creating additional savings that are again passed on to everyone that participates. And in the big picture, it is energy efficiency that is the first line of defense in keeping electric prices in check. Reducing electric consumption limits the need for new power plants and transmission lines, huge utility investments that increase electric rates. So implementing these projects together works to the benefit of all businesses and residents of the area.

Taking Advantage of Incentives

Besides maximizing savings, this program is also designed to take advantage of the numerous incentives available to complete lighting projects through Ameren Illinois’s ActOnEnergy® program. As a registered program ally of Ameren ActOnEnergy® program, AUS will ensure that your project receives all the rebates and incentives it qualifies for, which means increased savings for your business.

Getting Started

To begin, you simply need to complete our short Lighting Survey, which will tell us about your existing lighting infrastructure and how often you use it. Once completed, the Lighting Survey and a recent copy of your electric bill can be sent to support@dustinr46.sg-host.com where we will review and be in contact with you to schedule an onsite lighting audit, which will be followed by a formal proposal for your upgrades.

If you have any questions about the program, how it works, or getting started, please contact David Thurnau at 262-248-0930.