An Ohio manufacturing plant (380,000 sqft, 8 MW peak demand) cut its kWh bill 18 percent and demand charges 14 percent in 90 days. Three moves stacked: supplier switch to a 24-month locked rate, load shift to off-peak hours for batch operations, compressed-air leak audit and repair. Total annual savings: $186,000 against a $1.1 million annual electric spend. ROI on the audit and switch: 4 to 6 months. Estimated, not guaranteed.
The three moves that stacked
Move 1: supplier switch from the utility default to a 24-month locked rate via the August lock window. Estimated annual savings: $96,000 on the supply portion.
Move 2: shift Friday and weekend batch operations to overnight hours. Reduced peak demand allocation. Estimated annual savings: $52,000 on demand charges.
Move 3: compressed-air leak audit (industry standard for manufacturing). Repaired 18 leaks across the facility. Reduced baseload kWh by 6 percent. Estimated annual savings: $38,000.
Replicable to other plants
The supplier-switch move works in any deregulated state for any commercial customer above 100 kW peak demand. Estimated savings: 8 to 18 percent on the supply portion.
Compressed-air leak audit is industry-standard for any plant with significant compressed-air systems. Typical leak repair saves 4 to 12 percent on baseload kWh. Payback under 6 months.
Lock the rate before the next reset.
Seenra runs the supplier shortlist in 5 minutes. No credit pull, no on-site visit, no service interruption. Forever free for households.
Get my fixed-rate quote →Common questions
Quick answers from the editorial desk
What was the payback period?
Was capex required?
What did not change?
Is this replicable to a small plant?
Further reading