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At Schneider Electric, we are committed to uncovering new opportunities for energy efficiency and sustainability, and transforming the way our customers manage their most critical resources — from employees’ time and energy to facilities. That’s why we’re excited to announce that Schneider Electric has been named the market leader in the 2017 Navigant Research Leaderboard Report: Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).
ESCOs are instrumental in providing access to energy efficiency technologies and services that certain organizations wouldn’t normally be able to afford. How do they do this? A key component for success is the energy savings performance contract (ESPC) model which helps publicly funded organizations make much-needed infrastructure improvements using energy and operational savings that are guaranteed by an ESCO. This means that schools and municipalities can finally tackle the long list of deferred maintenance projects that grows larger each year as budgets continue to shrink.
The ESCO market has undergone a significant transformation recently and ESPC-funded projects are now able to address a broad scope of needs for schools, municipalities, federal and state agencies, and other organizations. And Schneider Electric is leading the way in helping clients leverage performance contracts to change their approach to everything from power management to security. These projects are also impacting economic development by bringing new jobs and tax revenues to local communities.
A great example is the work we do with Dallas County, the ninth largest county in the U.S. by population. Schneider Electric helped the county develop a multi-phase project to enhance the local economy, provide a healthy environment for employees and visitors, and improve facilities throughout the county. The latest phase of the ESPC project is designed to improve the safety and reliability of power across county buildings — a critical operational objective for many ESCO market segments. This project is also a powerful economic driver for the community. It will create 400 jobs and an additional $58 million in business sales, which will generate another $2.3 million in state and local taxes — all while lowering operational costs and saving tax-payer money.
According to Navigant Research, another market driver for ESPCs is the ability to deliver a host of ancillary benefits — from sustainability to increased employee productivity. And Schneider Electric is helping clients capture the advantages these projects provide by understanding and addressing needs far beyond energy. For example, savings from a recent project gave Marshall County Schools in Alabama the funds to build a football stadium at one of its high schools, raising the district’s profile and students’ experience.
In this latest report, Navigant Research ranked 14 companies based on 12 criteria spanning strategy and execution including vision, go-to-market strategy, technology, geographic reach, breadth of offerings, ESCO experience and staying power. According to the report, Schneider Electric’s “well-rounded menu of products and services in the ESCO market” helped it achieve the top combined score across strategy and execution categories.
The report cites our “commitment to intelligent systems and controls, integration across the enterprise, distributed generation, global brand presence and market leading controls and systems” as top strengths. Additionally, Navigant noted that these strengths “align perfectly with current evolutions in both the efficient buildings and performance contracting markets, helping [Schneider Electric] to achieve deep energy savings for clients in both markets.”
We are extremely proud of the work we do and the results we’ve delivered. Over the past 25 years, we’ve successfully implemented more than 675 ESPC projects across the U.S. and have helped our customers make mission-critical improvements that will save nearly $2 billion.
Want to learn more? Check out Schneider Electric’s approach to performance contracting and customer successes here. Or download the complete Navigant Research ESCO Leaderboard report here.
Contributed by Tammy Fulop, Vice President of Energy Services at Schneider Electric
