Chamber Coffee provides energy info

Van Wert independent

The Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce’s first Chamber Coffee event of 2014 focused on ways to save area businesses and organizations money on their energy bills.

Matt Bollinger, energy analyst for Palmer Energy Company, spoke during the event, held Friday morning in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.

Bollinger, who is working with the local Chamber on a Chamber Energy Solutions program, talked about the program and how it’s designed to help businesses and organizations lower their electric and natural gas prices, while also providing customer support to help a business or organization determine what is the best deal for it.

Bollinger said Palmer’s CES program offers a number of benefits to participants, including:

Provides insurance against fluctuation in the volatile and unpredictable natural gas market
Gives customers  peace of mind that Palmer Energy is monitoring the natural gas market on a daily basis
Offers a pricing model that takes advantage of the lows in the market while also offering protection against price increases
Evaluates consumption for larger savings opportunities
Provides a price structure modified to reflect market conditions
Includes a competitive base cost negotiated on its customers’ behalf.

Bollinger noted that Palmer, a Toledo-based energy services consulting company, has more than 30 years experience negotiating energy rates. Its customers include large manufacturers, hospital and health care facilities, school districts and churches.

While CES was developed to partner with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, there are currently nine Chambers participating in the program, with Van Wert the most recent addition.

Breakfast for the coffee event was provided by the local Bob Evans restaurant.