“Businesses should start paying more attention to your utility bills and how to manage those costs more effectively.”

Utility Advantage President Laurie Wiegand-Jackson joined Eric DeGesero, executive vice president of Fuel Merchants Association of N,J Scott Eversman, managing director and practice leader, Energy, at Diversified Search Group, and Michael Makarski, external affairs manager with Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative 825, to discuss the many issues impacting energy markets and policies in the US and NJ.

In a discussion of the policies and funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, Ms Wiegand-Jackson noted that with the significant investments in electrification, energy infrastructure, technology, renewable energy and energy efficiency its “nearly impossible” to pinpoint an exact cost to meet the state’s goals because “we still don’t know yet what technologies are going to end up being the winners that really bear out to be cost effective… and where more dollars will go as we develop more solutions.” She continued “that’s part of what money does – it prompts R&D and it gets businesses starting to invest and then we move to commercialization and things start to be affordable.”  From the green hydrogen “earthshot” program and zero-emission vehicle development to energy storage solutions and AI, there are so many different ways this can play out over the next 10,15, 20 or 30 years from now.

She also noted there are steps businesses can take today including energy efficiency upgrades that replace less efficient equipment with more efficient equipment, demand management and supply side strategies including renewable energy.  She also advised that energy prices have moved from a decade of fairly low and stable energy prices to a season of increases and greater volatility in 2022 and the foreseeable future.  “Businesses should start paying more attention to your utility bills and how to manage those costs more effectively.”  Utility Advantage provides expertise and experience to help businesses, institutions and government sector clients to do just that and reap the rewards of lower costs and more sustainable energy consumption.  
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To see more about their discussion, you can visit NJBIZ.