MESA, a Managed Energy Service Agreement, maybe what your company or organization needs during a time period of record-high unemployment. Let’s first break down what this agreement is.
What is a MESA?
A Managed Energy Service Agreement (MESA) is a type of an Energy Service Agreement (ESA). In an ESA, the provider, who is an Energy Service Company (like EnergyLink) develops, finances, owns, operates, and maintains all energy, all energy efficiency measures, and equipment installed during the energy project.
But, a MESA is different because the provider’s role is expanded. In this type of agreement, the provider also assumes the broader energy management of a client’s facility including the responsibility of utility bills, in exchange for a series of payments based on the customer’s historic energy use. For more information on the difference between an ESA and a MESA, click here.
How Can a MESA Provide Assistance in Today’s Economy
According to the Labor Department, the total for people seeking jobless benefits comes to more than 33 million in the United States. Since the start of this pandemic, the national unemployment rate jumped from around 3.5 percent to close to 20 percent.
The country is grieving as firings and furloughs continue and businesses are sadly having to make the hard decisions to cut incredible talent and expertise to stay afloat. So, what happens if that is your facility manager? Someone who knows the ins and outs of the building is unfortunately released. How do you properly manage? This is where a MESA can be incredibly valuable.
A management agreement is perfect for a customer that lacks the expertise or time to undertake an energy efficiency retrofit. Although it may not seem like the answer at first, energy projects could be a way to save your business or non-profit organization money at this time. Read more here to find out how.
Who Else Should Use a MESA?
You should consider a MESA if your company or non-profit organization identifies with these statements listed below.
- You want to pursue portfolio-wide installations or retrofits, but your company doesn’t have cash for additional capital investments.
- Your company is risk-averse and wants a third party to take on underperformance risk and provide project management.
What Are the Advantages of Using a MESA?
According to material supported by the Department of Energy, here are the top five advantages of using a MESA.
1. Avoided Capital Outlay
MESA provider pays for all upfront project costs, enabling customers to conserve capital funds for investment in their core business.
2. Payments Treated as an Operating Expense
Another great benefit of this agreement is that it is treated as an operating expense. The MESA is designed to be an off-balance sheet financing solution.
3. Enhanced Reliability of Operations
With MESA, you can have more security with operations. Providers of this agreement pay for periodic maintenance services to ensure long-term reliability and performance of the project equipment. The customer has a single point of contact and a single payment for all utility expenses and the provider actively manages energy consumption at the facility.
4. Energy Savings Pay for Projects
The agreement enables customers to redirect a portion of their current utility spending to pay for efficiency improvements; MESA payments are based on realized energy and operational savings.
5. Flexible & Scalable Financing
Under this agreement, as new opportunities for savings are identified they can be funded as they emerge, and rolled out to additional buildings across facilities. MESA providers can bundle together multiple sites that have smaller sized project opportunities
For More Information
For more information on how to use a Management Energy Service Agreement or how to finance an energy system upgrade during this time, contact us! At EnergyLink, we are committed to helping our clients find energy-saving solutions even in this challenging time.
