City Reduces Annual Utility and Maintenance Costs by $190,570

The Challenge

The City of Canandaigua sits at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, just 25 miles southeast of Rochester. Originally known as “The Chosen Spot,” the City boasts a historic downtown corridor bustling with locally-owned shops, art galleries, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts. The City partnered with Centrica Business Solutions to update their street lights and reduce energy costs – without impacting the City budget.

The City was paying high utility and maintenance costs for their existing street lights. There were also areas around the downtown business district that were under-lit. The City was looking to utilize the street light buy-back program to save energy, reduce utility costs and improve safety for residents and visitors.

The Solution

Combining street lighting improvements with additional municipal building improvement measures allowed Centrica Business Solutions to offer the City a Guaranteed Energy Savings Agreement. As such, all project costs—including the streetlight buy-back costs—were covered by the energy savings. No capital
was required.

Cost-saving efficiency upgrades included:

• LED street light upgrades
• Boiler replacements
• Temperature control systems
• Rooftop HVAC units
• Building weatherization

The Impact

The City has now reduced their annual electricity consumption by 35% and decreased their annual gas consumption by 20%— all while improving the overall lighting and environment of each facility. The engineering team completed a Streetscape Proposal that provided increased light levels throughout the City—especially on the sidewalk areas in the business district. The City also experienced a major reduction in maintenance costs as well as $160,000 per year in utility savings.

• Annual Energy Savings Cost: $31,157
• Annual Maintenance Cost Savings: $159,414
• Carbon Dioxide Reduction: 392 Metric Tons
• Overall Energy Reduction: 35%

By removing this quantity of CO² from the atmosphere, this project will have the same effect on the local community as