Dinkbee's Convenience Store

One of our favorite initiatives to participate in every year is the Main Streets program put on by the various utility partners and vendors we work with. These are put on usually in weekly installments in towns across New England where reps visit local small businesses and offer them assessments to see if they are eligible for sponsored efficiency upgrades ranging from weatherization to refrigeration controls.

The utility companies offer these programs as a way to buy back electricity and put it back into the grid. Often, the small businesses are offered a generous incentive to implement the measures and start reducing their electric consumption ASAP.

One small business who took advantage of the Main Street program in their town of Keene, NH, and couldn’t be happier they’d done so, was Vipul Patel and his convenience store, Dinkbee’s.

In conjunction with the program, one of NRM’s knowledgeable advisors walked Mr. Patel through the assessment of his walk-in cooler and novelty soft drinks cooler.

Because each business is unique, whether falling into the same industry bucket as other businesses or not, the assessments are vital as there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

In Mr. Patel’s case, NRM found numerous opportunities that his utility provider ultimately covered 100% of the out-of-pocket costs for, meaning Mr. Patel didn’t have to spend a penny to start saving on his electric bill day one.

For his walk-in cooler, NRM found the basic thermostat controls were inefficient, the evaporator fan motors should be replaced with newer, better-performing models, the defrost settings were not effective enough, and the inefficient, fluorescent lighting could be updated.

In total, optimizing his refrigeration system will put around $2,400 (from an annual kWh reduction of about 16,000 kWh) back into his profits every year instead of in his electric bill.

By year 10, Mr. Patel will have recouped almost $25,000 that otherwise would’ve been costs.