Jack Griffin
Today, the city of Boston has some of the most ambitious climate goals in the country, with institutions across the city grappling with ways to maximize energy and financial efficiency during a pivotal moment in the ongoing national discourse on the environment. Until last fall, the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) had been a voluntary measure, calling for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Boston by 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. With recent updates passed by the City Council, it now imposes enforceable performance standards, moving beyond reporting and disclosure only.
For Boston – the most populous city in New England – the size and increased age of many city buildings adds complexity to its energy efficiency aims, while also incentivizing the importance of cost savings when dealing with the heating, cooling and powering of municipal facilities. In addition to supporting critical environmental work for the city, this initiative also leverages cutting edge software tools to enable expert analysis, potentially saving Boston residents millions of dollars.
Since 2016 the city has worked with SourceOne, a subsidiary of Veolia North America, as its enterprise energy management system (EMSYS) provider to track utility usage, cost and billing variables across the thousands of city-owned assets such as local public schools, streetlight control boxes and City Hall itself. By implementing EMSYS, the city’s energy data was consolidated into one portal, making data collection and utility invoices easier to process for payment and audit for discrepancies. EMSYS is also used for executive reporting and actionable intervention on consumption, cost, and sustainability trends.
The city used SourceOne’s EMSYS platform to correct a large billing error within the first year of its implementation. During renovations of the famous Boston Public Library Central Library branch in Copley Square, a different local utility installed a temporary electric meter. After the construction was complete, city staff identified a potential billing error while reviewing the library’s utility invoices and asked SourceOne to investigate the issue.
By reviewing the historical data in EMSYS, SourceOne analysts were able to confirm that the library’s electric account was being double billed. The data within EMSYS showed SourceOne and city officials exactly when the double charge began and the amount of the overage. SourceOne was then able to work with the city to resolve the dispute and secure more than $400,000 in payments back to for Boston. This combination of powerful software and utility rate expert analysts was key to ensuring taxpayers were not being disadvantaged.
(sub)Different Ways to Analyze Billing
SourceOne has also supported the city with its commodity purchasing strategy and decisions since 2005, including monitoring the performance of those complex contracts. SourceOne has guided the city to utilize a supplier-margin only contract with at-cost pass-through components of ISO New England ancillary services.
This buying strategy saves the city millions of dollars annually, however the billing is complex with more than 3,000 accounts that are settled hourly across a number of different wholesale cost components. This requires robust audit of the city’s utility invoices to ensure that bills are accurate, consistent with accepted billing principles, and meet the terms of their contracts. SourceOne assesses the utility supplier’s calculations and reports back to the city on a quarterly basis through separate “shadow billing” calculations of supplier invoices. Working collaboratively with Boston officials, SourceOne ultimately negotiated and secured reimbursements greater than $1.25 million in the city’s favor.
Boston’s work with SourceOne has provided the details-oriented services that municipalities need to not only meet their energy efficiency, but to ensure buildings are being powered as cost effectively as possible. As other cities adopt mandates for large- and medium-sized buildings to report their annual energy and water use, innovative partnerships could become the model for municipalities across the country as officials seek to implement the right strategies for powering their skylines throughout the year.
Jack Griffin is vice president and Boston general manager for SourceOne, a subsidiary of Veolia North America.
