Energy consultant sheds light on savings

Kurt Gruetzmacher of Grafton is helping customers reduce energy costs.

His company, Energy Consultants of Wisconsin, specializes in installing LED lights and solar panels at residential properties and companies throughout the state.

On Christmas Eve, his crew of three employees finished an exterior lighting project at the Port Washington Police Station. The company has also done work for the Village of Saukville and at the W.J. Niederkorn Library in Port. 

Last Friday, they began replacing exterior lighting and fixtures at the Eric von Schledorn Automotive Dealership in Saukville.

“I’ve been doing this for my whole adult life. The last couple of years have been busy in general. LED lighting has taken off and become very efficient and reliable,” Gruetzmacher said. 

In 2019, his company helped customers realize $107,827.40 in financial incentives through the Focus on Energy program, which is funded by investor-owned utilities and municipal and electric cooperative utilities.

The program is a state energy efficiency and renewable resource program that provides rebates to customers who make upgrades.

Through Focus on Energy’s Multifamily Energy Savings program, Gruetzmacher’s clients, who are mainly property managers, also saved more than $200,000 in energy costs.

“We’re able to use LEDs and cut their power usage in half. It creates a better light source too,” he said.

Projects that qualified for Focus on Energy incentives last year included LED light installation in housing units, common areas and parking garages. Gruetzmacher said the projects combined will save an estimated 1,950,067 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, which is enough to meet the electric needs of 240 average homes for an entire year. 

Gruetzmacher said about 90% of his business is replacing old lights and fixtures with LEDs. 

“For the most part, LED is our niche,” he said. “I want to grow more into solar and we’ve been doing it for seven to eight years now, but we just do a handful of projects per year.”

Eight years ago, the company installed solar panels at the Old Theatre Square in Port. He said solar panels can offset nearly an entire energy bill. Typically, panels are installed on roofs, which can be a daunting task.

“Solar projects can be challenging because no two roofs are the same and you never know what you’re going to find when you convert old properties,” Gruetzmacher said.

While the technology has been around for years, the cost to install solar panels has dropped significantly over the last six years. 

“The price per watt back then was three times than what it is now,” Gruetzmacher said. 

For LED upgrades, Gruetzmacher said, it takes about 18 months to recover installation costs and it can take about six years for customers to realize the savings after installing solar panels. 

Although it takes longer to recoup the benefits of solar power, Gruetzmacher said it’s worth it.

“The idea is to offset your whole electrical cost or not get much of a bill from We Energies or whoever your utility company is,” he said, noting customers don’t receive additional financial incentives if they produce more energy than they use.

Gruetzmacher said this is a busy time of year in his line of work because people are trying to reduce energy costs for next year. 

He said a simple solution for homeowners is to replace their old light bulbs with LEDs. 

“When I do a walkthrough, one misconception I hear from people is that they don’t want to go to LED light bulbs because they don’t like the way they look or the color of them,” Gruetzmacher said. “You can get an LED light bulb now in any shape and color. Any kind of light bulb that’s out there, they make in LED, even the old-school Edison filament light bulb.”

Because most of his clients are property management companies, his work takes him all over the state.

“We did a lot of traveling this past year. There’s a property management company that has properties all over Wisconsin, so we worked as far away as Superior to La Crosse,” he said.

Gruetzmacher, who graduated from Grafton High School in 1998, became the owner of the company his father Jeff started in 1990. His father died in 2017 and he wants to keep his legacy alive.

“We have customers that were my dad’s customers when he first started,” Gruetzmacher said. “I think if I make them happy, I’m keeping my dad proud.”