The Council of Smaller Enterprises received a $50,000 grant to provide energy efficiency assistance to small businesses, from the State government, their third energy grant in two years.

The grant runs until September 2012. The council must coordinate with qualified energy auditors to provide educational, audit, technical and financial resources to small businesses, with the aim of identifying opportunities for energy savings across the State

50 small businesses will access the resources, on a first-come first-served basis. The resources and educational programming specifically target Ohio non-residential, small businesses that spend less than $150,000 per year on their energy costs.

After the energy audit is completed, the small businesses could be eligible for Advanced Energy Funds or other incentives.

Identification of small business that could participate should begin soon, assisted by Ohio Small Business Development Center network and local chambers of commerce.

“COSE is proud to have been recognized for its impact on small business and selected by the State to once again deliver these timely resources and education to small business in Ohio,” says Steve Millard, executive director of COSE. “Lowering energy costs is important for small businesses and it will be even more important down the road as energy efficiency mandates start to take effect or rates increase.”

COSE is committed to helping small businesses save money by making them more energy efficient and more competitive. COSE was selected for the grant from a competitive pool of applicants based on their ability to provide energy efficiency services, demonstrated success and experience with previous energy grants and the ability to respond to the rising needs of small businesses to develop greater energy efficiency.

The council told is that last year, they coordinated 85 energy audits, 25 energy upgrades, several energy workshops and technical assistance to small businesses in becoming energy efficient.

See more at  COSE Awarded $50,000 Energy Education Grant from State

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Hundreds of businesses in Detroit Edison’s service area are saving money by switching their electric generation supplier to FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), the competitive subsidiary of Akron-Ohio based FirstEnergy Corp. Now FES is offering more businesses the opportunity to take advantage of savings should legislation pass that would increase the current cap on shopping in Michigan.

If the cap is increased from its current level of 10% of the utility’s total electricity demand to 25%, a limited number of businesses will be permitted to shop, and businesses on the waiting list will be the first eligible to participate.

“Last year we were able to sign up one of our facilities with FirstEnergy Solutions ? and as a result, we could save up to $400,000 over the term of the contract,” says Jim Royce, Controller for Michigan Seamless Tube LLC in South Lyon, Michigan, with over 80 years of experience manufacturing custom cold drawn seamless tubes. “FirstEnergy Solutions’ pricing is more predictable than buying electricity from the local utility, which makes budget preparation and forecasting easier and more accurate, and we’re no longer on an interruptible rate.”

Royce added, “We contacted FirstEnergy Solutions to ensure another one of our facilities is on the waiting list, so that we can take full advantage of any shopping opportunities that arise.”

“We’re pleased to be able to provide Detroit-area businesses with competitively priced electric generation,” says FirstEnergy Solutions Vice President of Sales & Marketing Arthur Yuan. “Even businesses that are currently with an alternative supplier should contact us for a risk-free savings analysis. Then they won’t be looking for pricing when their contract ends or lose their opportunity to shop by returning to the utility.”

To receive a free, no-obligation electric generation quote, commercial and industrial customers can contact FirstEnergy Solutions at 1-800-977-0500, or visit www.fes.com.

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FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., announced its Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, shut down earlier today for scheduled refueling and maintenance.

While off line, 60 out of the 157 fuel assemblies will be exchanged and safety inspections conducted. As part of the process, one of three reactor coolant pump motors will be replaced for added reliability, and routine maintenance work will be performed on valves, pumps and electrical systems.

Some 1,000 temporary contractors and FENOC employees from the company’s other nuclear plants will supplement the Beaver Valley workforce during the outage.

The 911-megawatt plant operated safely and reliably for 500 consecutive days and generated more than 10 million megawatt-hours of electricity since the completion of its last refueling in May 2009. The plant also posted an industry-leading forced-loss rate of 0.00 percent during the past 18 months of operation.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its FENOC subsidiary also operates the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, Ohio.

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