Metro Energy Announces Agreement with Somerset County, NJ

June 7, 2005, Somerville, NJ – Metro Energy Solutions today announced that the County of Somerset, New Jersey has approved a resolution authorizing Metro Energy Solutions to implement a county-wide energy efficiency initiative throughout 18 of the County’s largest buildings.  The project is valued at approximately $2,000,000 and is estimated to save county taxpayers $450,000 annually.  Somerset County will also be eligible to receive over $100,000 in rebates through the New Jersey Board of Public Utility’s SmartStart Buildings program. 

“This is a terrific project for the County of Somerset.  They are being aggressive in reducing their operating costs and improving the comfort and infrastructure of their buildings, which will also keep budgets down by avoiding unnecessary capital outlays,” stated Robert Ragozine, principal and Chief Operating Officer of Metro Energy Solutions.  “The timing of the project is very good, especially since both PSE&G and JCP&L have announced further rate increases.” 

In 2003, Somerset County hired Metro Energy to conduct a thorough evaluation of all of the county’s buildings, to identify opportunities for energy and maintenance savings, as well as recommended infrastructure improvements.   As part of the evaluation, Metro Energy conducted a detailed engineering analysis of 19 buildings, and made numerous recommendations for improvements.  The final report included not only opportunities for facility improvements, but installation budgets, annual energy and maintenance savings, and estimated rebates available through the New Jersey SmartStart Buildings program.  After reviewing the report, Somerset County evaluated each building and its identified opportunities, and assigned a priority to each, resulting in three groups of projects.

For each energy conservation measure (ECM) selected by Somerset County for implementation in the project, Metro Energy will be providing detailed engineering and design services, preparing bid specifications for public bid of the material and labor, conducting bid walk-throughs, reviewing bid responses, making recommendations for bid award, providing construction management, and handling the administration of the SmartStart Building rebates.  The Phase 1 project will consist of lighting retrofits, mechanical and HVAC upgrades, installation of variable frequency drives, and the installation of specialized computer software for 18 Somerset County facilities. In addition, Metro Energy will be submitting this project to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for consideration under the DOE’s Rebuild America program, which provides national recognition for outstanding efforts in energy efficiency.  Metro Energy is a past recipient of the DOE’s Government Partner of the Year Award, for its county-wide energy initiative with Bergen County (NJ).