Ameren incentives have returned in Missouri….well, partially.  Ameren’s highly fruitful incentives and rebates programs have been incredibly successful at both stimulating adoption of new and incredibly effective energy saving technologies and driving unit costs down.  The three-year incentive program that ended in November of 2015 applied some $100 million toward achieving efficiency and managed to accumulate energy savings reaching the equivalent of some one million megawatt hours of electricity.

However, due to a disagreement about methods for measuring these savings, the State of Missouri last October rejected Ameren’s request for a three year renewal, and the program effectively ended in January, 2016. 

However, the momentum achieved and the benefits enjoyed by property owners, residential and commercial, have been such that almost nobody wants to stop working on keeping the process alive.  In fact, Ameren killed their major appliances incentive programs; but they’ve retained parts of their program, especially those that favor continuing adoption of LED lighting. 

For consumers of electricity the lighting revolution continues to advance.  Individual households and business are reaping tremendous savings, simply by replacing traditional incandescent and fluorescent fixtures with new lamps featuring new highly efficient fluorescent technology as well as light emitting diodes (LED).  Producing substantially brighter and cooler light with a fraction of the power coupled with lifespans for luminaires measured in years rather than months, these new lighting systems have been selling themselves, especially lately as unit prices have plummeted. 

Ameren, of course, is interested in anything that saves energy and enables them to postpone the construction of new power plants as their coal dependent generation facilities become increasingly subject to environmental restrictions. Hence, their willingness to continue with BizSavers their lighting incentive program in Missouri. 

Almost any example you choose will illustrate the bargain that Missouri property owners and managers can realize in replacing old, inefficient lighting.  Consider the case of Office Essentials, an office supplies wholesaler with a warehouse in Vinita Park.  Recently, Guarantee Electrical Company’s Quick Response team replaced ninety five (95) - 8' T12 strips and fifty five (55) - 400 watt Metal Halide fixtures with a total of only forty one (41) - 54 watt T5HO fixtures across Office Essential’s high bay warehouse space.  In addition to earning a net incentive of approximately $4,600, the customer is realizing a reduction in annual costs of close to $9,000, with a two year payback of the total $22,000 in initial expenses. The improvement in coverage and brightness of light in the warehouse are nothing less than remarkable.   The vibrancy doesn’t stop at the light fixture, however.  Office Essentials has seen an unintended value of a more productive workforce in the warehouse, which has been immeasurable to company.