CHICAGO – More than 100 small businesses in Illinois are finding relief from rising electricity bills in the form of a state-funded energy audit program.

The Small Business $mart Energy program is a joint effort between the University of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. 

Essentially, the program uses state appropriated funds to pay an energy consulting firm to inspect a small business’s energy practices and then suggest ways to cut energy costs. These measures are as varied as replacing a wasteful toilet or light bulb to revamping an air conditioning or heating unit. 

“Many energy efficiency improvements are incredibly cost-effective, but businesses frequently are unaware of their opportunities in choosing an efficient and sustainable design,” said Governor Blagojevich in a press release.

In the past three years, the state has given $3.3 million to more than 650 small businesses that have participated in the program.  The number of companies participating is expected to keep growing as energy costs continue to rise.  A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said about 20 to 25 small businesses call to inquire about it every month.

Marvin Gorss, a Berwyn-area landlord, applied for the program last year as a way to reduce spending in his apartment building. 

“With costs of energy going up, it seemed like the right thing to do. Try to conserve some energy, try to do the green thing. After mortgage debt and property taxes, the [next biggest] expense for a multi-unit building would be the energy cost,” said Gorss.  “The smart business decision would be to cut the costs where you can.”

Like many landlords, Gorss pays for his tenants’ heat, water, and cooking gas, leaving electricity to them. In doing this, Gorss stands to gain as much as his residents by improving the building’s energy efficiency.

After meeting with an energy specialist, Gorss went to work. He recaulked windows and upgraded toilets, light bulbs, and boiler controls.  He even went so far as to wipe down the cooling coils on several refrigerators. A few hundred dollars later, he was able to shave 23 percent, or about $10, off his total monthly electric bill and about 40 percent off his water bill, while simultaneously helping many of his low-income tenants save money.

As Gorss’ experience shows, while the audit and advice are paid for by the state, the overhead is not.

“People should expect to pay 10 to 13 cents per square foot,” said Earl “Cappy” Kidd, president of Informed Energy Decisions, an Albany Park company that handles some of the program’s clients.

Kidd said much of his work comes from buildings constructed more than 40 years ago, buildings that weren’t able to benefit from advances in energy efficiency that came about after the energy crisis of the 1970s.

Kidd encourages his clients not to focus on the sometimes extreme costs of reinvesting, saying the net cash flow will almost always exceed the monthly loan payment a company can expect to pay. 

A case study by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity backs up that assertion.

Chicago Tube and Iron Co., one of the largest makers of steel products in the U.S., shelled out about $52,000 to optimize a 360,000-square-foot warehouse in Romeoville. In doing this, the company saved $2,458 in monthly energy costs. Meanwhile, the company only had to pay the bank that loaned it money about a quarter of that amount each month.  In the end, Chicago Tube and Iron was left with more than $1,800 per month in added cash flow.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity estimates that the program will save small businesses as much as $22 million over then next two decades.

As for Gorss’ apartment complex, plans are in the works to invite another energy consulting firm, one that works with low-income residences, to complete his investment in a strong energy infrastructure.

“I want to put more insulation in the roof, go from six inches to 10 or 12 inches of insulation [inside] the ceiling.  We’ll coordinate that the next time we reroof the building, [in the] next year or two,” said Gorss.