Why Your Utility Wants Your Business to Use Less Electricity
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Why Your Utility Wants Your Business to Use Less Electricity
Written by Chris Circuit
It might sound surprising: Utilities supply electricity, so why would they encourage your business to use less? In New Jersey, the answer isn’t about cutting service or shifting costs. It’s about being reliable, planning long-term, and avoiding the hidden costs that come from not planning ahead as energy demands grow and infrastructure ages.
If you’ve ever wondered how using less energy can actually protect your bottom line, Atlantic City Electric’s Energy Solutions for Business program is designed to uncover practical ways to reduce waste, manage demand, and avoid unnecessary costs.
The grid is built for peak demand, not average use.
Electric systems are designed to handle the highest demand periods: hot summer afternoons, cold winter mornings, or times when large loads come online all at once. These short peaks, not everyday use, drive the need for costly infrastructure like new substations, transformers, and distribution upgrades.
When businesses do nothing to manage inefficient equipment or peak usage, those costs don’t disappear; they’re absorbed into the system over time. High demand during peak hours strains the grid and drives the need for costly infrastructure upgrades, which ultimately puts upward pressure on energy costs for everyone. For example, a single hour of peak demand can cost more than a full week of typical energy use. That’s a significant difference.
That’s where Energy Wise Rewards™ for Business comes in. The program helps businesses reduce energy use during peak demand periods by identifying where avoidable costs are hiding and rewarding participation in demand response events. By shifting or lowering usage when the grid is under the most stress, businesses can earn incentives, support a more reliable energy system, and help delay upgrades, turning smarter energy use into real savings and long-term stability.
Utilities deliver power—they don’t generate it.
South Jersey’s regulated utilities focus on delivering electricity safely and reliably, maintaining poles, wires, meters, and substations. They no longer own large power-generating plants, so their priority isn’t selling more electricity but delivering it as efficiently as possible.
That means inefficient buildings and outdated equipment create real costs for the system. Addressing those inefficiencies is often more effective than expanding infrastructure and far less expensive for everyone involved.
Energy efficiency is cheaper than new infrastructure.
Doing nothing may feel easier, but it’s often the most expensive option. Building new substations or upgrading transmission lines costs far more than helping businesses reduce waste.
Atlantic City Electric offers a range of programs to help business customers cut hidden energy costs and improve efficiency, including:
Prescriptive and Custom, which provides incentives for high-efficiency HVAC, refrigeration, lighting and controls, and other upgrades
Direct Install, designed for small to mid-size businesses to lower the cost of energy-efficient equipment—offering up to 80% in financial incentives
Engineered Solutions, offering technical expertise and financial incentives for comprehensive, whole-building improvements
Energy Wise Rewards™ for Business, which rewards participating customers for reducing energy use during peak demand events through smart thermostats
Every kilowatt saved is one less that has to move across the grid, lowering operating costs for your business while reducing strain on critical infrastructure.
Infrastructure upgrades matter, and efficiency helps you get more from them.
A 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that transmission and distribution upgrades, not power generation, are now the biggest drivers of utility spending. Much of the grid was built decades ago and must be reinforced to withstand growing demand and extreme weather.
By helping flatten demand peaks, programs like Energy Wise Rewards™ for Business reduce stress on aging systems and lead to lower bills, fewer disruptions, and less exposure to rising costs tied to deferred upgrades.
State policies turn savings into action.
New Jersey requires utilities to meet verified energy savings targets. Utilities earn credit by helping customers use less energy, not more.
That’s why we actively promote rebates, technical assistance, and financing options. These programs exist to make efficiency upgrades easier now, before inefficiencies quietly turn into higher costs later.
The Bottom Line
Your utility has many motivations to make sure your business's energy use is efficient, including:
Lower operating costs: An efficient grid costs less to operate.
Improved reliability: Reliability improves when demand is managed.
Program compliance: State programs require measurable savings.
Infrastructure cost control: Aging infrastructure becomes more expensive the longer inefficiencies persist.
The real hidden cost is doing nothing. When your business uses energy more efficiently, you avoid unnecessary expenses and help strengthen the grid that serves everyone.
Ready to take the next step?
Visit Energy Solutions for Business to explore available incentives and uncover the savings hiding in your facility.
