Are Your Profits Evaporating?

Reduce your utility bills with evaporation credits

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The Billing Problem

Typical Billing Assumption

When 100,000 gallons of water enter your facility, utility companies assume an equal amount exits as wastewater.

The Reality

In reality, not all of the 100,000 gallons entering a facility exits as wastewater, as a significant portion evaporates, challenging traditional utility billing assumptions

THE SOLUTION

RPM's Total Program Management ensures you receive credits for the water that evaporates, not just what's used, aligning billing with actual consumption

Capturing Evaporation Credits

Evaporative or sewer credits can be a little-known financial advantage for businesses that operate cooling towers, evaporative condensers, irrigation systems, large humidifiers, or ice machines. The savings realized can fund energy projects or reduce operating costs. Equipment costs are relatively low, with return on investment (ROI) typically realized between 10 and 24 months. Perhaps the most significant advantage is the perpetual nature of sewer credits. If appropriately managed, credits recur year after year.

Water-cooled refrigeration and air-conditioning systems are generally very efficient compared to air-cooled equipment. Hundreds of thousands of cooling towers and evaporative condensers are in service worldwide. In the USA, when the cooling season begins or summer temperatures climb, water use and associated costs also increase. And, since most water and sewer utilities calculate sewer charges based on water consumption, sewer bills also increase dramatically.

FAQ

Total Program Management

Sewer credits produce great returns, but they are not always automatically applied. Most credits are calculated and posted to utility bills manually. Meter reading and billing errors can reduce savings from thousands of dollars annually to a trickle. One Rhode Island site received $401 one year until corrected to over $4,000. The Manager of a Florida site retired, resulting in company losses of over $20,000 in credits over the next 16 months.

Credits can also reach further than the balance sheet. An effective Evaporation Credit Program can also detect equipment or operational issues. In Florence, KY, makeup water volume soared during a cold spell in December. The water line on the roof had frozen and burst. Early detection through daily sub-meter readings led to the leak being stopped within three days, leading to water savings estimated at $3,700. Unusually high winter volume in Arkansas uncovered a cooling tower leaking badly on the roof. Quick response stopped the leak and prevented potential roof damage from pooling water and freezing conditions. No volume on a blow-down meter in Houston, TX, uncovered that the blow-down had filled with sand and dirt, blocking the line completely. Another zero blow-down reading in Fort Worth, TX, uncovered a failed fill valve, putting the tower in overflow and wasting water by the hour.

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RPM Evaporation Credit Process
The RPM Evaporation Credit Program embodies our white-glove partnership approach, acting as an extension of your business to uncover savings and optimize water usage with precision and care.
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  1. Analyze. Our team of experts will thoroughly analyze your water and sewer consumption and costs to create a comprehensive plan to optimize your savings. You can rely on us to provide the best solutions for maximizing your credits.
  2. Install. We will confidently install the latest smart meter and cellular transmitter technology on your cooling towers, irrigation systems, and condensers. This will result in optimal performance and efficiency, ensuring your systems work at their best.
  3. Monitor. Our cutting-edge smart technology allows us to monitor each site remotely and precisely, ensuring that every cooling tower functions optimally. With our system in place, we can promptly detect overflows, stuck fill valves, and faulty blow-downs and immediately alert your operations team of any problems in the field. This lets you take swift action and avoid downtime or safety hazards, saving you time, money, and resources.
  4. Report. We specialize in managing the accurate submission of sub-meter readings to your water or sewer utility. If any issues arise with the submission process or the readings, we work with your utility company to resolve them promptly and efficiently. We aim to ensure that your utility bills are always based on accurate and reliable data, allowing you to budget and plan accordingly.
  5. Save. You will receive a credit for sewer fees that will increase your business's bottom line. Our monitoring services can save water and prevent waste due to mechanical issues.
  6. Confirm. We review your water and sewage bills annually to confirm if sewer credits have been issued or posted to your account.

Our Value Proposition

The Business Case

Where allowed by local utilities, evaporative credits (sewer credits) can dramatically reduce the impact of water-cooled system operating costs and sewer charges. Sewer credits are often overlooked or misunderstood. Consider a business where sales generally drive profits. In many cases, sales volumes of $24 to $30 are required to produce $1 in operating profit. So, annual sewer credits of $10,000 can create the same profit as $240,000 to $300,000 in sales. If sales are not growing by that amount in 10 to 24 months, sewer credits are a great option to boost operating profits.

For example, one national retailer is realizing over $1,000,000 in annual savings with sewer credits from less than 100 sites with cooling towers – equivalent to over $11 million in sales. A cold-storage warehouse reduced its sewer costs from 97% of its water costs to 51%, and a grocery store in California recovered 55% of its equipment investment in the first two months of operation. A university in Texas realizes about $500,000 in annual savings with an ROI on equipment of less than three months.

Some cities or sewer districts allow credits, while others do not. Applications, procedures, equipment specifications, meter reading schedules, and reporting requirements vary. Where credits are not currently allowed, a formal appeal may be helpful.

Savings Squared

If applied to other cost-reduction projects, sewer credits can significantly compound savings. When reductions in water and sewer costs are redirected toward energy projects, savings can be realized in both categories. Couple that with additional LEED points, and compound savings are evident.

Are your profits truly evaporating? Maybe it’s time to rethink your cooling tower operating costs. Check out evaporative credits – you might be flushing dollars down the drain.

Potential  Roadblocks

Internal accounting rules can also create challenges. Sewer credits reduce operating costs, and the savings could be applied to new energy projects or other equipment replacements. However, some companies’ accounting practices will not allow reductions in the utility bucket to flow into the capital equipment account. So, internal procedures may lock away a dollar of potential energy reductions.

Network cables and equipment need not hinder starting an Evaporation Credit Program. Cellular transmitters and encoded meter registers allow accurate, reliable data. Automatic reporting may also be possible for some utilities, but a hands-on approach is currently the best option for evaluating the site’s water volume and flow.

Some utilities also require photos of the meter readings each month. The development and deployment of a remote wireless camera provides those photos at a meager cost

Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Benefits

If you’re considering LEED certification for your existing buildings, metering your cooling towers can qualify for one or two LEED points. In LEED Recertification Guidance, continuous water metering used for cooling towers with data logging can be eligible for up to two LEED points.

Equipment Required

Most utilities require from one to three sub-meters to qualify for credits with two being the most common configuration. City-furnished sub-meters are shared, allowing them to read the meters remotely with their equipment. Where customer meters are required, those should generally match the requirements and billing units of the utility.

Some utilities will read sub-meters with their automatic meter reading (AMR) system or radio-based system. Others require customers to read and report meter readings regularly. Most utilities accept email reports; some require readings to be posted on their website, and a few require a particular or faxed form to be submitted monthly.

Some customer sites have a staff member physically read and report their sub-meters. However, due to the location of most sub-meters (equipment rooms, penthouses, ceilings above other equipment), this method has become less attractive and inefficient, not to mention unsafe. M2M solutions are much more effective and reliable.

Sub-meters must generally record in the same units the utility uses, gallons or cubic feet. A conversion formula may be allowed, but the results can create confusion in the utility’s billing department which often leads to billing errors.

Location
  • 325 N Saint Paul St, Suite 3100
  • Dallas, TX, 75201
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