Meets: The Metered Energy Efficiency Transaction Structure

There are many obstacles that stakeholders face when looking to address improving energy efficiency for buildings. MEETS is a fundamentally different approach to energy efficiency that is designed to help overcome those obstacles. MEETS is a coalition that includes general contractors, controls and analytics companies, and investors that are offering a unique financing program for building upgrades to reduce building’s energy spend. It aligns the interests of all stakeholders as it harvests energy from the commercial building sector. The program provides the tools and community to bring deep energy retrofits to scale.

LONG-Washington has joined this coalition and can now offer services, controls, and analytics to commercial building owners or managers, whether they are existing clients or new ones.

The Problems:

• Commercial building owners, their tenants, and utilities feel little or no direct financial incentive to make substantial energy efficiency improvements
• Building owners pass down energy costs to their tenants and see no direct benefit in efficiency improvements
• Building owners that do pay energy bills can only harvest energy savings when they own the building, typically 5 years
• Utilities are concerned about lost revenues that accompany current energy efficiency programs
• Utilities promote energy savings up to levels required by regulators
• It is difficult and expensive to measure actual savings from upgrades because usage is dependent on occupancy levels, climate and other variable factors
• Building energy efficiency enhancements have a checkered record for meeting design goals

MEETS FRAMEWORK/BENEFITS:

Key Transaction Players: Investors, Building Owners, Utilities:

Investors:

• Delivers capital based on long term (20-30 years) PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) with the utility based on Meter Energy Efficiency harvested from building upgrades (BAS, Analytics, Lighting)
• Secures right in the building with a lease – Energy Tenant
• Investor pays owner rent to use the site providing additional rental income to the owner

Utility:

• Bills building owner as if no upgrades took place and the bill includes Actual Consumption and Metered Energy Efficiency
• Utility experience no loss in gross revenue Energy Tenant Lease terminates

Building owner:

• Receives Energy Tenant rent from Investor
• Building owner has no capital at risk and owns building upgrades once

View this video to learn more:

You can also visit their website here: http://www.meetscoalition.org/how-meets-works/investor-benefits/

Live in the Washington area* and interested in how MEETS can help you implement building upgrades? Reach out to LONG today.

*LONG can only assist with MEETS in Washington state.