A 27-year newspaper veteran, Kasabian finds that daily newspaper managers usually must be convinced that risk will be mitigated before they change utility suppliers. They also expect cost savings to outweigh the risk, such as loss of service. A newspaper's top priority remains a consistent supply of electricity regardless of weather or demand, Kasabian explains. You want to be sure this thing is going to work when you turn the switch on. You can't put a dollar amount on not being able to print a newspaper for one day.
Guarantees can help.
National Energy Choice contracts in Massachusetts require that if a supplier cannot provide power, a customer such as a daily newspaper can buy electricity from another source and the contracted supplier pays for any additional cost, points out Stephen Remen, managing director of National Energy Choice. Such agreements actually improve upon newspapers' conventional utility service, Remen says. Right now, they don't have a guarantee. Ill. Utility charges for heat, light and power represent a small item on the big page of newspaper operating expenses. Under a five-year deal with the Cape Cod Times in Hyannis, Mass., National Energy Choice receives 20 percent of the newspaper's electricity savings this year, reports Peter D. Meyer, the newspaper's general manager.