Again, an experienced performance contractor will help a school district locate a direct-source investor without a broker fee. Plus, the documentation developed by the contractor will simplify the application and qualification process. Through this in-house financing arrangement, an attractive rate can be secured. Since millions of dollars are riding on the performance of upgrades, ESCOs carefully monitor and review energy use throughout the life of a contract. Some ESCOs dedicate staff to 24-hour building monitoring and can tell when equipment is not operating properly.
Monitoring also reveals changes in the facility energy use.
A continued increase or decrease in energy use can signal an equipment problem, operator error or facility modification that might require a baseline adjustment. One way to monitor energy use and savings is to examine customer utility bills. An ESCO, or a subcontracted monitoring service, examines monthly bills for errors and tracks usage. This method usually gives insight into broad energy use for a whole facility within a past time period. In addition, many ESCOs rely on electronic monitoring to supplement both measurement processes.