Rising energy prices are hitting small businesses hard—but there’s a smarter way to manage costs. In this episode, we're joined by Kevin Lauterjung, Co-Founder of Community Energy Advisors (CEA) and Viridi LLC, both based in Medina, Ohio, and the infrastructure behind the Chamber Energy and Sustainability Programs.
Tune in to hear:
- How Ohio businesses can leverage energy brokerage services, efficiency initiatives, and renewable energy to lower utility bills by 10-20% or more.
- What’s driving the current energy cost spikes, how capacity pricing works, and the simple first step to start saving.
- Success stories and affordable ways chamber members can reduce their carbon footprint and increase energy savings.
Plus, Kevin answers the all-important question: Who really is the greatest rock and roll band of all time?
Whether you're a small employer, Chamber member, or just curious about stretching your business dollars, we've got tips to help you take control of your energy costs and find ways to save. Request a free utility review here.
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Episode Transcript:
Matt:
Hello and welcome to the Chamber On podcast, the go-to podcast for small employers and local Chambers of Commerce in Ohio. I'm your host. Matt Appenzeller, President and CEO of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance, more commonly known as SOCA. We're an alliance of 130 chambers in Ohio, and we're going to talk about one of the fastest and easiest ways that small employers in Ohio can grow their bottom line. Today we have a very special guest, Kevin Lauterjung, co-founder of Community Energy Advisors, also known as CEA and also Viridi LLC. Both of those companies are based in Medina, Ohio, and the infrastructure behind the chamber energy and sustainability program. So welcome to the show, Kevin.
Kevin:
Thank you, Matt. I'm excited to be here with you and your listeners
Matt:
Very good. So let's go ahead and dive right in. Kevin, can you just give us a high level overview of how community energy advisors and viridi helps businesses save on their energy costs
Kevin:
Absolutely. First off, CEA is an energy broker. We focus on understanding and communicating the unique load characteristics of businesses to negotiate better rates with suppliers for them, because we're a broker and not a supplier, we identify the best supplier for Chamber members. By leveraging data and information, we're able to secure significant savings on electricity and natural gas for our clients. Ready, on the other hand, focuses on helping our customers use less energy. We specialize in energy efficiency and energy generation projects like solar energy, and have a particular expertise in obtaining grant and incentive dollars to accelerate the payback.
Matt:
That's very cool. That's very cool. Kevin, so you know you mentioned earlier that energy costs are increasing dramatically, especially right now. So I guess the obvious question is, why is that what's going on in the market right now that you can share with the audience, so that we can all be better educated about what's happening?
Kevin:
Well, you know, the hot topic in energy right now is capacity. That's the major cost driver today, and the reason why is something that we hear about on the news all the time, data centers and crypto mining are looking for places to generate in Ohio, and they use a tremendous amount of electricity, and that's putting pressure on both the transmission wires capacity as well as the electricity generators capacity, and it's driving cost increases. In fact, the amount electricity generators are being paid to be on standby went up by more than 800% just this past June. You know, moreover, last week, the auction was completed to determine the capacity price to go into effect next June, and then it increased an additional 20% so the chamber energy program can help businesses mitigate these increased capacity costs and ultimately lower their utility bills.
Matt:
So correct me if I'm wrong here, but I thought I just heard you say that standby generator pricing increased by 800% earlier this summer, and then you had another 20% increase. Did I get that right? That's right? Wow, yeah, the Chamber Energy Program helps businesses mitigate these costs and lower lowers their bills. Look You and I both know that. You know, running our respective organizations just like you know, we're business operators, just like anyone else, and all of us have to look at things with a critical eye. So, you know, I have to ask you, how do you go about initiating this process with new clients? I mean, you don't just show up on their doorstep and say, Hey, I've got this program for you. Tell me how that actually works.
Kevin:
That's a good question. You know, it it's pretty simple. We start by evaluating the specific energy needs and usage patterns of our customers, of Chamber members, and we do that by reviewing their utility bills. There's a lot of information buried in utility bills that our analysts can call out, and that gives our analysts a unique ability to get the right suppliers and supply products and recommend ways to offset these higher capacity costs, ways to use less energy and ways to pay the lowest unit price.
Matt:
Sounds like education is key here, right? So let me ask you this, can you do? Share some real life examples. You know, the kind of savings that that businesses have experienced through either one of your companies and the services you provide.
Kevin:
Certainly, you know, we've had small businesses save anywhere from 10 to 20% on their energy bills. You know that can translate to 1,000s of dollars annually. The standard energy supply rate, the standard electricity supply rate across the state of Ohio, regardless of the utility region, it's in the nine to 10 cents per kilowatt hour range, whereas supply contracts that we're helping customers attain are in the five, six and even seven cents per kilowatt hour range. You know that's a 30% reduction on the supply component of the utility bill. Unfortunately, we've seen many Chamber members receive calls from telemarketers, I'm sorry, from telemarketers, and enroll in programs that offer a low introductory or a variable rate, a bait and switch. Right many times they end up paying two to three times the market rate. We recommend always work with somebody that you know and trust, like the Chamber energy and sustainability programs we don't cold call members. Members get our information and contact us.
Matt:
So I have a follow up question on that. So you mentioned utility regions, is there? Are there, like, different pricing regions throughout the state?
Kevin:
There are, so our you know, soccer members are in multiple different utility regions, and the utility companies we don't have a choice over the public utilities. Commission of Ohio has established region regions for the public utility companies, the ones that we all know are Duke Energy, AEP energy, formerly Dayton Power and Light. But then there and up in the Northeast region, or actually all of Northern Ohio, are the first energy. These are, these are the for profit electric utility companies. But within those regions, or what separates those regions are in some of the more rural locations within Ohio, a township may have a municipal power company, or there may be a cooperative and electric cooperative. In those cooperatives and municipal power regions, all of the pricing is controlled by those utility companies, tariffs, but in the larger for profit utility regions like Duke and AEP, for example, while the transmission and distribution are regulated and the pricing is approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the generation component, the supply component, was deregulated in Ohio about 20 years ago that created an opportunity for customers, Chamber members, to purchase their own electricity supply, to shop for their electricity supply, and that's where the chamber energy program comes in to assist them in navigating that marketplace.
Matt:
I mean, that's a lot what you just said. So education really comes to the forefront here on knowing all that, and a business owner just is not likely to to know that information by themselves. So, so let me ask you, you know, what you guys do to me is very impressive. How long has Community Energy advisors and Verity been doing this for employers? And what kind of feedback do you usually get from from businesses that are working with you?
Kevin:
Well, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Business owners really appreciate the reduction in overhead cost, but they also value transparency and simplicity within the process. Many of them tell us that those savings have allowed them to explore new growth opportunities for their business, or even to cover increasing costs of employee benefits that we're all faced with.
Matt:
Yeah, that's very cool, because I work with employers too. I know that it's rewarding for you to see the tangible impact of your work. So let me just say this for for small business owners who are listening right now, what initial steps should they take to work with the Chamber energy and sustainability? Sustainability program right now?
Kevin:
Well, you know, the first step would be to just contact us directly. I'll give you the website. It's chamberenergyprogram.com one word, chamberenergyprogram.com there's a very simple form to fill out to give us basic information and the ability to attach a utility bill, and that's where our analysts dig in and identify opportunities to lower usage or to lower the unit price for the customers. We actually take a brief amount of time up front to understand what the individual needs are and discuss with anybody that reaches out to us through the chamber energy program to assist them in reducing their energy expenditures.
Matt:
That's great advice. Remember to contact them at ChamberEnergyProgram.com. Hey, Kevin, before we wrap up, what are your future plans with, with Community Energy Advisors and Viridi. And you know, what would you like to see your company do? And how would you like to see it grow?
Kevin:
Well, you know, we are, we're looking to expand our ability to positively impact the overhead cost of Chamber members. You know, integrating more innovative solutions such as renewable energy and to offer more sustainable options is a real opportunity. You know, as electricity prices and these capacity prices go up, a solar installation pays back even sooner, and sooner it's effectively a fixed price that you're locking in to generate your own electricity as a hedge in these volatile and ever increasing energy cost market. So you know, generating your own electricity at a reasonable cost with a system that has a warranty to produce a guaranteed amount over the next 25 to 30 years really is one of the best ways to take control of these otherwise increasing costs, and we're looking to provide more avenues and information to Chamber members to to make some decisions around generating their own electricity. Yeah.
Matt:
Who would have ever thought that? You know, 25,30 years ago, right? Right. We're interesting times, for sure. So Kevin, thanks for giving us a really enlightening look into what you do at Community Energy Advisors and the services you offer. Do you have any final thoughts you want to share with us?
Kevin:
No, I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you and your Chamber members. It would just be to encourage all small business owners to evaluate their energy costs regularly and consider optimizing their resources with a program like ours.
Matt:
Great advice and thanks for being here. Of course, I do have one final question that we ask every guest on the on the chamber, on podcast. So okay, so Kevin went to West Point while I was an enlisted guy. And so Kevin, let's imagine that we're on a field training exercise. And of course, you know you're in command there, so, and we're at a rally point late at night, okay, we just had some, some really lukewarm chow, maybe an MRE that was, you know, that's just kind of sitting our in our guts, and the platoon is sitting around. We're just all shooting the breeze. And then finally, one of your soldiers asked you, Kevin, says, Sir, who's the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Is it the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin?
Kevin:
Am I limited to those three?
Matt:
You could give any answer you want.
Kevin:
Well, you know, I'm a Southern California boy. I grew up in SoCal before joining the army and ultimately living and raising my family in Ohio. So if I was limited to those three, it would definitely be Zeppelin, but as a Southern California boy, I, I don't, I don't know that I have any playlists that don't include the Eagles and Van Halen.
Matt:
Oh, very cool. Good answer. Good answer. So thanks again, Kevin. It's been a pleasure having you on the show and to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. If you want to learn more about community energy advisors, please visit their website at Community Energy program.com
Stay tuned for our next episode, where we'll bring you more insights on innovative business solutions. Until then, stay. Energetic and chamber on!