Findlay Business Insights: Energy Costs & Chamber Resources

Episode Summary:

Are you a business owner in Findlay or Hancock County concerned about rising energy costs this summer? In this crucial 150th episode of the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce's podcast, "Chamber Amplified," host Doug Jenkins speaks with Rick Davidson from the Chamber Energy Program about the significant energy cost increases expected in Findlay and the surrounding Hancock County area starting this summer. Learn how these increases, driven by factors like capacity auctions, will impact your business's bottom line. We also delve into the concerning trend of energy scams targeting local businesses and provide guidance on how to protect yourself. Discover practical strategies to manage your electricity expenses and ensure budget stability.

Key Takeaways:

• Protect Your Business from Energy Scams: Learn how to identify and avoid deceptive energy offers that promise low introductory rates but lead to significant price hikes in a few months. Be vigilant and always verify energy offers with trusted sources.
• Prepare for Summer Energy Cost Increases in Hancock County: Understand the reasons behind the expected surge in energy costs starting in June, including capacity auctions and market demand impacting the Findlay area.
• Secure Your Business Energy Future in Findlay with Long-Term Contracts: Explore the benefits of long-term energy contracts as a strategy to achieve price stability amidst potential energy price increases in the coming years.
• Unlock Energy Savings for Your Business with the Chamber Energy Program: Discover how the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce's Energy Program provides expert advice, resources, and potential grant opportunities for energy efficiency projects for businesses in the local area.

Learn more in an upcoming webinar from the Chamber Energy Program

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues impacting the local business community. Whether it's employee recruitment and retention, marketing, IT issues. It's really anything that can be impacting your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment.

0:00:24 - (Doug Jenkins): Hey, before we get into that, though, this is episode 150 of the podcast. I really don't have anything to add other than that. That's really fun, though. I'm glad we've been able to do 150 of these. I think we're really enjoying keeping the business community and the community at large in front of information that can be impacting them and connecting them with different sources of information. It's been, again, a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to the next 150 episodes. We'll just start with today's though.

0:00:52 - (Doug Jenkins): So there's a million things to pay attention to these days when you're running a business. Maybe you've heard of tariffs. That's been something we've been keeping an eye on. Changing regulations, that's always something to be keeping an eye on. How about your energy costs? Yeah, you want to be paying attention to that. Obviously you're paying attention to that no matter what. But if you're not locked in on that right now, we're going to get into it today on why you need to be.

0:01:16 - (Doug Jenkins): This summer, energy costs will be going up. Your electricity rates, they're going to go up. If you're not already committed to a plan and if you're not prepared, this one's going to sting quite a bit. One, because your prices are going to go up, and two, because this is going to be happening in June. There are all sorts of scams out there trying to get you to sign up for this deal and all that type of stuff, and you end up paying a higher rate than what you probably would if you were just on a variable rate. We want you to avoid all that. So that's what we're going to talk about today.

0:01:45 - (Doug Jenkins): Rick Davidson is with the Chamber Energy Program. He joins us to talk about what you can do to stabilize energy costs, how to avoid being scammed. On this issue, we're going to talk about a lot more than that. Thanks again for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple podcasts or on Spotify, you can rate and review the show there. It really does help Spread the word. Now, let's get into it.

0:02:04 - (Doug Jenkins): There's a lot going on in the world of energy generation, what it's going to mean for businesses and residents all across the state. But I guess we'll start kind of granular and expand it back out. The thing that really kind of got the ball rolling on this is one, there are a lot of people out in this space talking about energy savings, and there are a lot of bad actors out in this space as well. Let's talk just a little bit about some of the scams that you've seen from people professing that they're going to help people try and save money on their energy.

0:02:37 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, Doug, that's great. I would tell you, almost every day we get a call or we get somebody's utility bill, and a lot of times they're preying on the residential customers, but they get caught up in a situation from folks that talk fast and they don't go over the fine print. And I just received another one today. I printed out, and it says, hi, Rick, I've received multiple calls stating they're from the utility company FirstEnergy, that my rates are changing. They need to talk to me right away and I need a copy of the bill.

0:03:09 - (Rick Davidson): These are things that happen that it makes it sound like it's actually coming from the actual utility company, and it's not. It's a supplier or it's a broker that's calling these customers and trying to get them to switch. And it makes them, it makes the customer feel like, well, I better go get my bill. And then they provide that customer number. And next thing you know, they switch into a contract and they don't completely understand that's one. The other thing is that they promise low introductory rates that will automatically go into a much higher rate, where one month or two months later, and then it takes 60 to 90 days for them to get out of that contract. So they're paying these high rates for the next two or three months.

0:03:52 - (Rick Davidson): And then the other piece that we're seeing is that they'll promise a low rate and then ultimately tack on a monthly fee. And those fees are extremely high. And so when you add that all into your rate, you end up spending more money than you should. So you really want to reach out to the Chamber Energy program if you have any questions. If you get those calls and you have a feeling, just reach out to us. Let us help you navigate through that and make sure that you don't put yourself in a bad position.

0:04:19 - (Doug Jenkins): There are, again, Numerous people doing this, and obviously there are legitimate people in this space, such as the Chamber Energy program, things like that. What is being done on the state side to try and combat some of what, fraud or misleading communication, things like that. It really feels like it's the wild west for customers out there, you know.

0:04:42 - (Rick Davidson): And it's moving fast. And as rates increase and we're seeing rates now in the 9, 10 cent range, we're seeing more and more of those robocalls happening. And so they're trying, the PCO is trying to do a really good job of tracking down who's doing some of these things. But it's really important that customers, if they do get caught up in a situation that they either reach out to us and we can help them navigate through how to report a complaint or file a complaint with a pco, or if they know how to do it, they can go online to the PCO and actually file a complaint online.

0:05:17 - (Rick Davidson): And I will tell you that we have some really sophisticated customers that maybe they hire a new admin person, that person gets a phone call and they end up signing up a new agreement. And they're already in an agreement, but they have no authority to sign a contract. And so we get involved and get the PUCO involved and we can actually pull recordings of that actual conversation for the customer so they can, they can really determine what happened and why, and hopefully they can get out of that contract without early termination fees.

0:05:48 - (Doug Jenkins): I feel like with many of the conversations we have on the podcast, we always say you need to have someone you trust in your corner. Certainly with Chamber Energy program, you work with several. Several is not even the right word. You work with hundreds of chambers around the nation on these programs, thousands of billions businesses on these programs. So you're vetted, which is great. The other thing that you mentioned, and even through vetted programs, and this one caught me off. I don't know if you noticed when we were talking yesterday about it, when you said this, my eyebrows probably shot off my head.

0:06:19 - (Doug Jenkins): Even if you're in a program with a vetted company and you're under whatever your agreement is, they can still bump that rate up if certain kickers come in. I didn't realize that was a thing. And that's something we really need to be mindful of.

0:06:33 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah. So when you get contracts today, you need to really be careful to make sure that you understand what pass through charges could happen. Whether it's a change of law or rule, you need to make sure that if it's in that contract that you're questioning your broker. What does that mean? Because if things do happen and you get that pass through, you may not be prepared for it. And from a budget perspective, that could be very substantial.

0:07:00 - (Rick Davidson): And, and all of a sudden this new charge is coming in. The other piece is that a lot of people pay their bills online. And so they're not looking at the actual bill, they're just looking at the dollar amount. And so if they start getting pass throughs, they may not see that if they're not actually looking at the bill. So we always recommend that whoever's paying your bill, whether it's online or not, pull a copy of that bill, circle your rate, make sure that those charges look legitimate, make sure that the supplier you signed up for is, is legitimate, that's on your bill. And most important, there's a lot of companies out there that do not know when their contract ends or even have a copy of their contract.

0:07:37 - (Rick Davidson): So when you get some of those phone calls saying that they may be from the Chamber energy program and they're trying to renew you, but they're really not, you have a copy of your contract, they don't have that information. So, you know, when your contract ends, you want to be very careful about giving that information out. But, but really important to have a copy of your contract in hand and read through that. And, and a lot of times the bigger companies will have legal counsel review those contracts just to make sure that they're aware of what, what are those, those things that could happen that you're not aware of today.

0:08:10 - (Doug Jenkins): We'll get into all of the Chamber energy program solutions in just a little bit, but before we do that, let's talk about what's driving these increasing electricity costs that we're anticipating will kick in here in June. It's a, it's a multifacete. And you know, when we sit down and talk about it, it makes sense. But when you start talking about all of the different acronyms and everything else that gets involved, it can get a little confusing. What are we looking at in June and why are energy prices going to go up?

0:08:43 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, it's a great question, Doug. So a lot of people are unaware that, that there are going to be pretty substantial increases starting in June. And, and really that's driven by something called capacity. And within your price, your supply rate, there's a capacity portion, and for many years that's been a relatively low price that's baked into your rate. And this most recent auction cleared at 800% higher.

0:09:09 - (Rick Davidson): And that auction runs from June 26 or June 25 to May of 26. And so it's, it's locked in for a year. So all customers that are renewing their contract will see increases starting in that June time frame, June of 25. Those rates are in addition to, so the capacity is in addition to your energy portion of those rates. Energy has been relatively flat, it has gone up and down, there's some volatility there. But really what's driving this is capacity and what's the reason behind it is the, there's so many data centers that are popping up across the Ohio, across the US and the demand is outpacing the supply.

0:09:55 - (Rick Davidson): And so we're in this supply demand crunch. And so the capacity then runs an auction to help pay for new generation. The problem is, is that it's going to take two to three years for that new generation to come online. And in addition, we're bringing on new generation, but we're also retiring generation and those retirements are almost equal to the new generation coming online. So we have this perfect storm and a lot of analysts believe that we're gonna see higher prices for the next two to three years until this new generation comes online.

0:10:30 - (Rick Davidson): And that's why we're seeing shorter term rates, much more expensive than longer term. And so we're recommending that you really look longer term at that three to four year deal, lock in a better long term rate and also provide some price stability for your company. So from a budget perspective, you know exactly what you're going to spend over the next three to four years.

0:10:54 - (Doug Jenkins): And that's really what it's about at this point. It's not like, oh, we can slash your rates, that's probably not what's happening right now. But if you can just have something stable in your budget for three to four years, well, that's something that, that's one less thing to worry about. With everything else going on that we're having to keep our eye on right.

0:11:12 - (Rick Davidson): Now, that's, that's 100% true. And you know, we're seeing everything's going up and, and so everybody's being impacted. There are opportunities though, to really be mindful and, and think about some energy conservation measures that you can do at your home, at your business. If you're not using equipment, turn it off. You know, it's some of, it's just, just some basic things that you need to think about.

0:11:37 - (Rick Davidson): But costs are going up and so, you know, we're here as a resource. You could reach out to us. We'll review your bill. First off, we want to make sure that you're in a good, a good spot. And even the most sophisticated members out there that think they're doing a good job, they may have been doing a good job, but maybe the CFO signed a contract and left. And that contract now is renewed to a month to month variable, and that rate is now triple what the market is.

0:12:05 - (Rick Davidson): They have no idea what happened or why it happened, or even if they're in a contract. And until they send in a bill, they don't even know that. And so they could be spending a lot more money. So we're recommending that everybody just have a peace of mind, send in your bills, let us review them. If you're in a good rate right now for the next six months or a year, let us tell you what future rates look like for you so you don't have to move forward right away for your renewal, but you at least then have, have, you know, some certainty of where prices are going to be in the future so you can put together the right budget for your company.

0:12:41 - (Doug Jenkins): One of the things that I really like about the Chamber energy program is it also comes along with the Chamber sustainability program. And the part that I like about it is it's not a hey, let's pat ourselves on the back for green, being green type of thing. This is actual real return on investment savings by using things like solar. How do you get Chamber members involved in programs like that and what are some of the benefits that are available to them?

0:13:05 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, that's a great point. So we just got a member today sending their bills. They're paying a much higher supply rate than they should, but they're also looking at LED lights. And so LED lights, H Vac, solar, all of those things are things that can make you more efficient. And there are some dollars out there that folks can obtain for grants that can help pay for those energy efficiency projects. And so we work with the customer, we identify what projects they're working on, then we go out and identify what are some of the really good financing options that are available, and then what are some of the grants and incentives that are available to help pay for those. And we package all of those up into an roi.

0:13:49 - (Rick Davidson): And we also make sure that the vendors that they're using are calculating the ROI correctly, because a lot of times we'll see some of the vendors, they won't calculate an ROI or the escalators are wrong. And so we try to help the customer really truly understand if you put in this lighting project, if we get you a grant with the rising costs, how quickly can you pay this back? And with rates going from 5, 6 cents to 10 cents, it is a great time to, to really take a look at your company, whether it's solar, whether it's lighting, H vac, windows, insulation, all of those things.

0:14:27 - (Rick Davidson): The critical piece to a lot of the grants, though, is you have to file for the grant before you do the work. So if you know that maybe your H Vac is been struggling and you've had repairmen come out and you say, hey, I'm going to, eventually I'm going to have to replace this, reach out to us ahead of time so we can file for that grant for you before you then have to replace that and then you don't get any funds for it, but we package it all up. The other piece, is that the thing that we talked about too, Doug, is that some of these supply agreements out there won't allow you or they could penalize you to do energy efficiency projects. So we make sure that we, you know, we, we review your current contract so there's no penalties there if you end up doing solar or lighting, because we want to make sure that those two are meshed together from an energy perspective plan that you're saving the most amount of money on utility cost, period.

0:15:21 - (Rick Davidson): And that's why the energy efficiency part of it is so great, because we can go out and find those grants and incentives for folks to help pay because things are expensive. And now we're seeing potentially new tariffs that could raise some of the lighting costs and solar costs. So now, you know, it's, it's even more important that as costs continue to go up, you got to do something for your business to help maintain where you're at today.

0:15:49 - (Doug Jenkins): Standing patent, not exactly the best idea. At least when I examine options and going back to the, the grants that are available, I think people hear the word grants and they think maybe they're going away if they're from the federal government. But that's not actually the case when it comes to this. The Trump administration seems to be amenable to grants for energy efficient things that help people stabilize their electricity.

0:16:12 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, right now there's a reap grant that the next application process we just heard actually today will be open July 1, and so that'll run from July 1 to September 30, and folks can file. Right now it's 25%. You know, we don't know if that number could go up. The REAP grant was 50% and then they lowered it and then there's a, there was a pause on it. So now we've heard that we can start filing more applications starting in July.

0:16:42 - (Rick Davidson): So if folks are thinking about doing energy efficiency projects starting in July, we'd file for that reap grant for you. And then as soon as we file for it, then you can start the project and then hopefully get the 25% to help cover those costs.

0:16:56 - (Doug Jenkins): Rick, it's a lot of great information you've given us here today. And for our Chamber members, the important thing to do is just have that initial conversation with, with Chamber energy program. Again, there's no cost to it. You just send in your electricity bill. You can send in your natural gas bill too, and just start that conversation. What I like about this is I do not worry about the Chamber energy program trying to put people in some sort of plan that doesn't work for them. I think you're very open and honest with every Chamber member that comes through to you.

0:17:26 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, 100%. And if you're in a good space, if you've locked in a good contract maybe three years ago and you locked in a four year or five year deal and you're on a great rate, we're going to tell you you're at a great rate, stay where you're at. But more importantly, what does it look like in the future? So just being prepared, but 100%, we evaluate every supply rate. We always make sure that if you're in a contract, if you don't know when your contract ends, we help you find that out.

0:17:55 - (Rick Davidson): That's the other piece of that. Some of these folks that are calling folks, they're just saying, get me your number, get me, let's sign you up for this new price. And they don't know if they're in a contract. And if they cancel that contract, they could get large early termination fees. So, you know, if it doesn't feel right, if, if the phone call just sounds a little iffy or weird, reach out to us, call us, send us, send us an email.

0:18:19 - (Rick Davidson): It's, it's just that simple.

0:18:21 - (Doug Jenkins): Rick, one of the standing traditions on the Chamber Amplified podcast is I have a random thought in the middle of an interview that I just toss out there. We mentioned we've talked a lot about electricity, we've talked about the renewables. But you do work on the natural gas side as well, with businesses as well. What are you saying on that side of things?

0:18:38 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah, so that's a great, great question as well, Doug.

0:18:40 - (Doug Jenkins): I've hit like three or four great questions today.

0:18:42 - (Rick Davidson): Yeah.

0:18:43 - (Doug Jenkins): About myself.

0:18:44 - (Rick Davidson): You know, there's the natural gas rates have dropped over the last couple of days and so we've seen a substantial drop. Natural gas has been, you know, fairly volatile, but it's, it's still relatively low compared to where electricity is at. We are recommending folks really look as well at long term natural gas because it's going to take a while. You know, we do hear that, you know, folks will say, well, what about us drilling more natural gas?

0:19:13 - (Rick Davidson): You know, that takes time, that takes money. We're also shipping a large amount of natural gas overseas. That's impacting supply and demand. So we also use a lot of natural gas in the making, electric generation. So as demand goes up for the data centers, so does the demand for the natural gas. But it is a good time. The natural gas market, most of the time, folks, that's not their biggest expense. It's electricity. But you should also look at both of those when you're, when you're shopping for your energy costs.

0:19:43 - (Doug Jenkins): Most definitely. Rick, I appreciate all your information again today. If people, again, if people want to get in touch with you or your team about starting to review those bills and at least just getting the conversation started, what's the best way to do that?

0:19:56 - (Rick Davidson): They, they can simply email, they can go right directly to you, Doug, or they can, they can reach out to thechamberenergyprogram.com and, and send in bills, upload bills through that or they can request a bill review form that you guys have on file that you can send over. And I know, I saw the, the flyer sitting in your lobby as well that they could stop in and grab a bill review form. So you know, that's an easy way to, to get a hold of us and, and send us information.

0:20:25 - (Rick Davidson): But, and trust that when you send us a bill that, that we're, we're not going to share that information with anybody, that we keep that completely confidential.

0:20:34 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, I don't even get the information. So there you go. And I don't need the information. I don't care that much. I would rather Rick and his team know all about it so. Well, Rick, again, we appreciate your time today. Thanks for joining us.

0:20:47 - (Rick Davidson): Absolutely. Thank you, Doug. Appreciate it.

0:20:50 - (Doug Jenkins): Again, do your due diligence on this issue. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your business. You want to make sure that you are locked in with good rates that you know are going to stay sustainable for the next few years while we try and work our way through all this doesn't cost you anything to have the conversation. This is a very cost effective way to look at the energy, energy needs of your business and make sure that you're in a good spot with that. Highly, highly encourage you to talk to Rick on that.

0:21:17 - (Doug Jenkins): And being connected to experts right now, obviously more important than perhaps ever. That's one of the things that we help provide you with as a Chamber of Commerce. So talking to people like Rick and all of the other experts that we provide you here on Chamber Amplified, always a good idea. With things changing as quickly as they are, don't try and navigate it yourself. We want to be able to provide you with as many opportunities to talk to people who are in the know as possible.

0:21:40 - (Doug Jenkins): So that's a really good way to utilize your Chamber of Commerce membership. And don't forget that our voters guide is out as well as we keep you connected with things going on in the community. We hear from all the City Council candidates that is available on our website@findlayhancockchamber.com Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community. Thanks to the investment of members in the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce and because of our robust membership, we're able to focus on things like providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area. That's all while providing tools to help local businesses succeed.

0:22:16 - (Doug Jenkins): And if that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, you should be a part of it. Let me know and we'll talk about how an investment in the Chamber not only helps strengthen your business, but it helps strengthen the community as a whole. That'll do it for this week's episode. If you have ideas for topics you'd like to see covered on future episodes, just send me an email. Djenkinsindleyhancockchamber.com

0:22:36 - (Doug Jenkins): thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.