Rancho Management Services

Property managers lead way to $100,000 a year in energy savings

“In this economy, condo owners appreciate any savings they can find. And from our perspective, helping strata councils in any way we can is just good business. It builds loyalty and trust.”

– Terry Li, Senior Property Manager, Rancho Management Services Ltd.

Rancho Management Services Ltd. manages a range of condominium buildings across the Greater Vancouver area — all of them with common areas that require extensive, 24-hour-a-day lighting systems.

By consulting a BC Hydro key account manager and leaning on the Power Smart Power Smart Product Incentive Program, Rancho is now delivering on a collective $100,000 in annual electricity savings.

The challenge: Help strata councils cut costs

“Many of these buildings have pools and gyms as well as parkades, lobbies, stairwells, elevators, lots of exit signs,” says Terry Li, Senior Property Manager with Rancho Management. “That’s a lot of lighting and most of it has to be on every day, 365 days a year.

"With costs for everything going up, strata councils are always looking for ways to save and avoid increasing strata fees if at all possible.”

The solution: Efficiency in parkades, common areas

A year or so ago, Sunny Sharma, one of BC Hydro’s Key Account Managers, met with Rancho Management to explain the many opportunities for saving energy in common areas. He also explained how property managers can help strata councils take advantage of the Power Smart Product Incentive Program to help pay for upgrades to energy-efficient technologies.

“It really was a no-brainer,” says Li. “Sunny showed us, and we’ve gone on to show many of our strata councils, how simple lighting changes can significantly lower their electricity bills and reduce annual operating costs. At the same time, BC Hydro incentives will cover a portion of the strata’s upfront costs to do the retrofits — so why would they say no?”

The savings: As much as $30,000 per property

To date, a number of buildings in Rancho Management’s portfolio have completed lighting retrofits. The largest single project so far has involved changing 524 old lamps in the four-storey parkade of Marinaside Resort, a 369-unit condo building in Vancouver’s Yaletown district, to new, energyefficient light fixtures.

One lighting retrofit alone — in the four-storey parkade of the Marinaside Resort in Vancouver — will save 557,390 kilowatt hours of electricity every year. That adds up to more than $30,000 a year in energy and maintenance savings.

Before the retrofit, the strata’s electricity bill was running at about $130,000 a year. The new lamps will save about 557,390 kilowatt hours of electricity, adding up to more than $30,000 a year in energy and maintenance savings.

When the Marinaside Resort strata council reported to owners at their January 2009 AGM that energy costs remained stable, even though the price of electricity had gone up, the owners gave the council a round of applause.

“From a property management perspective, it’s really exciting to see the savings start and the buildings go green,” says Li. “It’s also, quite frankly, good for business. When we help strata councils save, the underlying message is that we think out of the box, we’re proactive.”

The Marinaside condo owners love the new lighting in their parkade. It feels brighter and lighter, and the fact that it may help keep their strata fees from going up in the future doesn’t hurt either.

You can save, too

Under the Power Smart Product Incentive Program (PIP), products that qualify for incentives that will lower your payback time and make upgrade projects even more attractive include:

• Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs are ideal for areas where lights are left on for long periods, such as hallways, because they use up to 75% less energy than regular light bulbs and can last up to 10 years.
• Energy saver T8 fluorescent tubes. These tubes are 50% more energy efficient than older models and work well in common spaces or meeting areas.
• LED exit signs. LED signs use only 10% of the energy old-fashioned incandescent signs do and last anywhere from 10 to 25 years—which means you will save about $12 per sign, per year.
• Lighting occupancy sensors. With these sensors, the lights will go on only when someone is in the area, so you stop wasting energy.