Nationwide Energy Partners (NEP) is not your typical energy services company. We exclusively solve for the energy needs of multifamily communities. Our world is changing rapidly. Demand for on-site solar, batteries, EV charging, and carbon-free energy is growing. However, people who rent their homes are being left out of these options.
Renters don’t own the property, so they cannot install these devices on their own. Community solar or solar shopping options come at a premium and EV charging is simply a no-go without property owners funding it. For their part, property owners are being asked to provide these options at significant cost without raising rent – in other words, without cost recovery.
This puts landlords and tenants between a rock and a hard place – an economical place to live or a high-rent location with climate-friendly options.
This is where NEP comes in. Our energy expertise is built on bringing these types of solutions to the property without residents experiencing higher rents AND without raising their energy bills.
In fact, our approach allows property owners to provide more energy insights and controls to their residents while offering EV charging, carbon-free energy and other positive climate-impactful options.
How? We understand the relationship between property owners and satisfied residents. Our founder is a multifamily housing developer and owner in several states. Twenty-two years ago he discovered an opportunity to provide better energy choices to his communities and wanted to deliver that same model to other owners and operators.
NEP’s products start by giving property owners the ability to monitor and control their own usage with a no-cost option to own their own submetering system. Each resident receives a bill for their exact metered usage, the same rate they would pay to the local utility. This empowers the resident to adjust their usage to fit their needs and budgets and allows the property owner and their resident to share in the benefits of energy control.
NEP uses the metered data to provide even more information to residents on their usage control through individualized, unit-specific ApartmentFacts reports. These give residents a unique view and understanding of energy costs and consumption in the very unit they plan to rent before lease signing. Properties can elect to have conversations with the resident about things like historic building efficiency or south-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows that may require closing your blinds in the summer.
An energy bill should not be a lottery system. NEP gives the properties we serve access to detailed information to assist residents in making informed decisions. In places like Philadelphia where historic housing can limit weatherization options, this invaluable information gives residents the ability to plan an efficient and effective approach before a high bill arrives.
Our services then combine the resident submetering with a single utility master account. This master account allows the owner to aggregate the usage for the property, which not only unlocks greater buying power but also opens the door to wholesale markets which pay the property to shift usage to support the grid. This approach allows the owner to provide carbon-free energy to the entire property and install technologies like Armada Power, which shifts 11% of the property’s usage to effectively align with the renewable production on the grid.
This innovative approach supports the owner’s desire to meet the needs of climate-responsible residents with ongoing capital while keeping those same residents in control of their usage and ensuring a capped bill without any premiums.
NEP also services the upkeep and maintenance of these systems. This means flood or storm damage does not require the utility to resolve, releasing them to focus on other customers and returning service faster.
Microgrids are not a new concept. They have been used to maintain an energy supply to hospitals and military bases for decades. However, NEP is focused on providing them to our customers to prevent or prepare for an outage so there are safe, powered places available for residents – a critical need during a power outage.
NEP is not a utility. The property continues to receive service from their local utility. We are, however, a company that understands energy at all levels. But unlike traditional energy service companies, we understand multifamily and know how to meet landlords’ and their residents’ needs. Multifamily properties are the biggest opportunity for large energy shifts responsive to climate change. Our expertise is making those huge shifts without huge costs.
Multifamily communities have been grossly underutilized in the fight against climate change, something we are here to remedy with our innovative products and services, helping to provide a blueprint for future successes.
Kit Hagen
Senior Vice President of Growth for Nationwide Energy Partners