United Illuminating and Southern Connecticut Gas, subsidiaries of Orange-based Avangrid Inc., on Jan. 30 kicked off their West Haven “Main Street” event, a three-week campaign to promote city businesses’ participation in the EnergizeCT Small Business Energy Advantage program.
The kickoff was held at Duffy’s Tavern on Campbell Avenue and featured remarks by Mayor Dorinda Borer, who emphasized the benefits of energy efficiency in bringing down costs for small businesses and promoting economic development in Connecticut cities and towns.
“West Haven is proud of its small businesses, and I’m glad that UI is providing them with access to energy efficiency upgrades,” Borer said. “Over the past year, my administration has pursued a number of initiatives to support our entrepreneurs and small businesses, and UI’s Small Business Energy Advantage program is one more resource to help them to start up and expand here.
“I want to ensure that our business community knows this is a proven program that can help them save money. I encourage West Haven businesses to explore the opportunity.”
The event included remarks by UI and SCG officials and Duffy’s owner Chris Walsh, who thanked UI and SCG for supporting the tavern’s recent energy efficiency upgrades and Borer for supporting small-business assistance programs in West Haven.
The Irish pub and restaurant, founded in 1983, received the upgrades through the SBEA program, which provides incentives for energy efficiency upgrades for small businesses statewide.
“Energy efficiency is one of the simplest, most effective ways that each of us can take charge of our energy usage and work to lower costs while mitigating energy waste,” said Frank Reynolds, the president and CEO of UI and SCG. “Spreading the word about energy efficiency to all our communities is an important responsibility we have to extend the benefits of these upgrades to all our customers, from the largest manufacturers to the smallest local businesses.
“I commend our team for their hard work in launching the EnergizeCT Main Street event in West Haven, and I am grateful to the city of West Haven, including Mayor Borer, for their partnership in these important efforts.”
The event also included a walk-through of Duffy’s projected upgrades, including new lighting, commercial kitchen hood controls, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The tour was led by UI contractor Dennis Robb of Phoenix-based Titan LED Lighting Solutions.
As part of the West Haven Main Street event, for the next three weeks, energy efficiency vendors with EnergizeCT, which is administered by Connecticut utilities’ energy efficiency teams, will visit small businesses throughout the city and perform no-cost, no-obligation energy efficiency assessments.
The assessments aim to determine upgrades — transitioning lighting to LED, adding insulation or window sealing, or transitioning to high efficiency appliances — that could be made to manage energy usage and subsequently bring down businesses’ energy costs, according to UI officials.
On-bill financing is also available for qualifying customers.
Additionally, West Haven small businesses that take advantage of the SBEA program during the Main Street event will receive additional incentives, in addition to those normally offered, to reduce up-front costs related to the upgrades, which can be up to 90% of the cost, officials said.
The SBEA program is a commercial energy efficiency program through EnergizeCT, an initiative of the Energy Efficiency Fund, Connecticut Green Bank, state policymakers, and local electric and gas utilities that promotes energy efficiency measures for small businesses in Connecticut.
Through the program, which is funded by a charge on customers’ energy bills, businesses that use less than 1,250,000 kilowatt-hours annually across all their Connecticut properties can receive a no-cost energy assessment, a comprehensive proposal of all eligible energy efficiency measures, incentives to cover a portion of the installed cost, and zero-interest and low-cost financing available for qualifying businesses.
The Main Street event aims to promote the SBEA program in environmental justice and traditionally underserved areas of the state by offering additional incentives beyond what is normally offered through SBEA, which can be up to 90% of the up-front costs for the upgrades, according to UI officials.