What is the Small Business Energy Advantage (SBEA) program?

Eversource and UI’s innovative energy solution provides cost-effective, turnkey, energy-saving products and services for small business customers who do not have the time, financial resources or in-house expertise to analyze and/or modify their energy usage.

How can my business benefit from this program?

Eversource and UI offer financial incentives to offset the project costs for installing energy-efficiency measures. To cover the customer’s share  of the costs, the SBEA program offers a zero-percent financing option to qualifying customers with a maximum loan term of 60 months.  Eversource and UI also provide oversight and inspection, ensuring that each customer is well-informed regarding the benefits of energy efficiency and is comfortable with the project’s progress.

Who can participate?

Small business customers with an average 12-month peak demand between 10 kilowatts (kW) and up to 150 kW (UI) and 200 kW (Eversource) are eligible. However, if your business' peak demand is outside of this range, there are other commercial and industrial energy-efficiency programs designed to meet your needs.

Why are Eversource and UI offering this unique program?

When Connecticut’s landmark electric utility industry legislation went into effect in 2000, it not only opened the state’s electric generation market to competition, but also provided increased funding for utility-sponsored programs to promote energy conservation. Eversource and UI designed the SBEA program to support this effort among business customers who historically have not invested in energy-efficiency improvements. The SBEA program will achieve energy savings for small commercial and industrial facilities that previously were not captured under other energy-efficiency programs.

Here are some of the energy-efficient measures included in the SBEA program:

• Lighting Upgrades
• Occupancy Sensors
• Programmable Thermostats
• Evaporator Fan Controls
• Anti-condensation Door Heater Controls
• Refrigeration Economizers for Coolers
• Timers for Continuously Operating Motors

How Can My Business Benefit From This Program?

First, there are generally no up-front customer costs involved. In addition, Eversource or UI will typically pay between 30-40% of the costs for retrofit lighting measures and up to 50% of the costs associated with other eligible, cost-effective, energy-efficient installation services. To cover the customer's share of the costs, Energy Advantage offers a zero-percent financing option. The loan repayment is based on the estimated energy savings resulting from the energy-efficient measures installed. In effect, small customers will pay about the same amount per month to Eversource as they did before participating in Energy Advantage.

This will be accomplished with one check only, no separate payment is necessary and there is never a need for an initial cash outlay if they qualify for this financing.  After the loan repayment period (typically fewer than 2 years), the customer reaps the benefits of the energy savings through lower electric bills.