Duke Energy Trading and Marketing showed last week it’s notgiving up on retail markets. The firm formed an alliance withOrlando, FL-based Enviro-Check to sell gas and energy services tothe multi-family housing (MFH) industry.

The agreement is a unique teaming of a major gas and powermarketer with a conservation and sub-metering company. Enviro-Checkpromises to save customers 20-40% on their water bill and up to 15%on their gas bill through demand-side management. But with the Dukealliance, the company said it can reduce its customers’ utilityexpenses by an additional 10-30%.

Duke’s “SmartRate” program, now available through Enviro-Check,allows customers to lock in a low competitive price for up to twoyears. The unit price stays the same regardless of quantity of gasused. In addition, the program eliminates balancing penalties andworks to reduce the seasonal effect of winter and summer on utilitycosts. The company also provides consolidated billing and summaryreporting.

“We aggregate services so that our clients get all the servicesthey need from the same source,” said Chuck Wright, executive vicepresident of Enviro-Check. The company specializes in implementingcost and energy reduction programs, replacing aging fixtures,installing utility meters, providing reading, billing, andcollection service, and now supplying natural gas.

Rocco Canonica

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