A big-box retailer in Mexico with more than 400 locations was evaluating purchasing options without a centralized strategy or decision-maker for a large electricity load, more than 600,000 MWhs per year. Their inefficiency and confusion, coupled with their inexperience about the regulatory market framework, led the company’s CFO to engage 5 to advise the client through their procurement process.

Irving, TX - May 7, 2019

Controlling one of the largest line-item costs in operating budgets – energy – is now within reach for San Angelo Independent School District as a result of a partnership with energy advisory firm, 5.

A major New York City medical center originally engaged 5’s Luthin Associates team to review low-cost power options under the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) Power for Jobs program (now known as ReCharge New York), which saved this client more than $3 million compared to market rates over the life of the award. Luthin Associates provided management and oversight of the entire process which included issuing rebate checks, on-going bill reviews, and acting as a liaison between NYPA and the client to ensure compliance with program requirements. The successful nature of this engagement prompted the medical center’s financial executives and operations team to expand its relationship with Luthin Associates to find additional ways to lower its energy-related expenses.

Luthin Associates was involved in negotiating a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) that helped a well-established New York City University build the largest solar system installed in New York City. The 3.1-megawatt solar collection will offset a significant share of the electricity used by this university and its sister school located in the Bronx. This project is in support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s clean energy goal authorizing 50% of electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2030.

Luthin Associates partnered with a host of other firms and ConEdison in the NY Prize competition, a first-in-the-nation challenge to help communities create microgrids.

A microgrid is a standalone energy system that is capable of operating on its own in the event of a power outage. One purpose of the project is to create a network of users who rely on the same microgrid. This community of microgrids will allow for local power generation using clean and efficient energy sources including, but not limited to, wind, solar, and combined heat and power (CHP).

A large data center purchased and renovated a building. They planned on expanding the facility in the future and asked the utility to provide an electric service capable of supplying 6 MW. The utility ruled that the electric service request was “excess” since the facility’s current requirements were less than 2 MW. The cost of the “excess” service would be almost $6 million. The utility suggested that the customer should apply for a special rate that would allow them to pay the additional costs over time. The customer was unaware that the total cost over the 20-year life cycle would exceed $20 million. Also, the utility did not bill the customer correctly and delayed the billing for two years.

A major university approached Luthin Associates to develop a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% over a ten-year period. Luthin worked directly with facilities, financial services, students, and faculty to create a sustainability committee. The committee developed a Whole Health Energy Plan that would enable the customer to meet its goals and increase the sustainability of its campuses, which comprised more than 40 buildings and over 3 million square feet.

After conducting a benchmarking study for a chain of hardware stores, 5 found that one of the client’s locations used considerably more energy per square foot than any of their other stores.

5 conducted a benchmarking analysis for a national chain of quick-serve restaurants. The goal of the study was to understand how electricity consumption varied across four distinct designs currently being utilized for their restaurants.

In 2012, a global leader in the explosives industry was seeking an end-to-end energy advisory service to provide a holistic strategy for reducing and controlling energy costs. The client decided to work with 5 based on the experiences of the team and the personal reputation of Todd Clift, 5’s Senior Energy Advisor in Central Texas. As is the case with all new client engagements, 5 took the time to analyze and understand the client’s usage patterns, peak demand, operational needs, and long-term goals.

Not only did 5 create and implement a procurement strategy that has been modified and utilized several times since that first year, but the team also performed a tax audit and found that the client was eligible for a tax rebate after a predominant use study showed that more than 51% of their operations were related to manufacturing. 5 engaged the help of a licensed professional engineer to complete the predominant use study and assisted the client in requesting a refund from the previous four years through the state comptroller.

5 is proud to serve this innovative client with procurement, demand-side management, and other cost-saving initiatives as this industry leader continues to expand and innovate.