New collaborative seeks to help local manufacturers lower energy costs
May 12, 2014
By Chris Reidy | GLOBE STAFF MAY 08, 2014
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, said that it is launching a collaborative designed to help Bay State manufacturers to save money on energy purchases by aggregating their buying power.
According to MassDevelopment, the high cost of energy is one of the largest issues facing local manufacturers, and the collaborative is a Patrick administration initiative that seeks to help address that issue. The collaborative is officially titled the Massachusetts Manufacturing Energy Collaborative, or MassMEC for short.
Helping to implement the collaborative’s goals is EarlyBird Power, a Milton company that provides energy management services to commercial, municipal, and industrial clients.
EarlyBird Power will negotiate volume rates from electricity and natural gas suppliers. The plan is for EarlyBird to also offer efficiency evaluations to the collaborative’s membership to ensure sustainable manufacturing growth.
“The high cost of energy is one of the largest issues facing businesses — especially manufacturers, many of which have energy-intensive operations,” MassDevelopment president and chief executive Marty Jones said in a statement. “We are pleased to launch the MassMEC so manufacturers can aggregate and benefit from EarlyBird Power’s management services and reduce their utility costs, creating a more competitive and capable manufacturing sector in the Commonwealth.”
Governor Deval Patrick announced the program at the Commonwealth’s Advanced Manufacturing Summit in Worcester on April 29, MassDevelopment said.
