Rising Energy Prices and What to do Next: How Incentives can Insulate Your Business
The energy-related headlines have painted a dire picture for this winter when it comes to power bills. Uncertain supplies of fuel across the world, colder-than-usual weather, and rising energy prices are combining to give many customers an inevitable sticker shock when the utility bills come.
However, while rising energy prices are inevitable, high bills are not. Now is the optimal time for businesses to take action to insulate themselves before it is too late. From energy storage to energy efficiency to demand response programs, various options exist that can provide both near-term relief and long-term energy benefits.
Understanding these programs and opportunities is an important way to make the most strategic choices for your business.
Way to Lower a Corporate Energy Bill Today
For those who may not have been paying attention, the utility sector today looks vastly different than it used to. Gone are the days when utility customers receive a bill once per month and otherwise never interact with, or even really consider, their power provider, save for the occasional outage. Today, customers are becoming much more engaged with their utilities and power supply. Customers, especially energy-intensive businesses, may want to connect with utilities to determine if any utility program offerings that would be beneficial. However, there are many more ways to lower energy costs that go beyond utility offerings.
In addition, the biggest news of the year as it pertains to energy, was the passage of the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the largest and most ambitious investment in climate action that the federal government has ever made. It delivers a sea change for the energy storage sector because it provides an investment tax credit that covers 30% or more of the investment—for the first time—to what is known as “standalone” energy storage.
There are more incentives than ever for energy-intensive businesses to lower costs at the utility, state, and federal levels. The right partner can help you vet—or stack—these options and incentives to insulate your business against rising energy costs.
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