Ninety percent of the success of your relationship with any ESCO is your ability to select, quantify, contract with, and measure the results you expect to accomplish. In his new book, industry expert and consultant John M. Studebaker, Ph. D., explains what ESCOs are, how they are evolving, and how they can benefit any electric power and natural gas utility user.

Structured from his actual experiences in working with various ESCOs as deregulation in both electricity and natural gas has continued to evolve, Studebaker explains how most retail customers will become involved in the direct purchase of these commodities, whether you want to or not. ESCOs can provide the expertise you need to make the right decision—one that best fits your needs.

“This book is chock-full of forms to be used in gathering information, creating contracts, etc. with ESCOs. And while Studebaker’s examples should, of course, be adjusted to match specific situations and events, and the reader should enlist the aid of a professional for the final negotiations, I think he will help people better understand the topic. He’s distilled a very complicated and generally frightening topic into a hold-your-hand manual. It discusses everything in very standard English, and what industry jargon is used is also explained.” -- Ann Chambers, The Williams Companies

Contents:

• ESCOs—Their past, present, and future
• ESCOs—A brief history and overview
• The customer/ESCO relationship process
• Step 1-customer commitment
• Step 2-RFP development process
• Steps 3 and 4-customer RFP-bid invitation process
• Step 5-pre-RFP bid meeting
• Step 6-ESCO response to customer RFP
• Step 7-customer evaluation of ESCO bid process
• Step 8-ESCO selection process
• Step 9-formulation of written documents
• Step 10-actual ESCO facility evaluation process
• Step 11-customer evaluation of ESCO
• Step 12-customer/ESCO contract
• Step 13-ongoing measurement/verification process
• Appendices