by
Lacy Stockton
| Jan 12, 2021
Town Toyota Center saves over $40,000 each year on reduced energy bills thanks to energy-saving equipment upgrades funded by Chelan County PUD. With PUD incentives, their high-quality equipment was actually less expensive than standard equipment.
[ Read Part I ]
Chelan PUD offers incentives to all businesses interested in lowering their costs, both on initial
equipment purchases and on energy costs into the future.
What’s more, improved equipment has other benefits, like not having to buy pink paint….
Tickled Pink by the Maintenance Savings
More than lower equipment costs and energy bills, reduced maintenance and other “little things” have made a big dent in costs.
Town Toyota Center typically hosts community fundraisers throughout the year, including its stunning annual Winter Gala
and Pink at the Rink, which benefits local cancer patients. The signature pink rink used to take five full, 12-hour days to paint for the big event. Now, LEDs change the ice to any color without down time.
The annual Winter Gala fundraiser at Town Toyota Center sparkles with LED lights of nearly infinite colors.
“The maintenance savings have been huge,” says Chris Berg, operations director. “We also haven’t had to replace a light yet!”
The center no longer spends thousands each night for equivalent special lighting effects and concert kits. They gained more sponsorships during hockey games by reducing “dark-outs” waiting for the lights to recover between periods.
Finding and Funding Solutions
Scott Stanford, Chelan PUD commercial energy advisor, worked with Town Toyota Center
staff to fund custom energy-saving solutions. For example, the rink was retrofitted with new pump controls, and the center was able to retire a third of its cooling equipment.
“We really noticed the changes when the Wenatchee Wild went to playoffs,” Mark explains. “The season went an extra two months with eight playoff games, and our electricity bills didn’t go up because we had better equipment.
I was sold.”
The offices are also more comfortable. New windows that separated the offices
from the cold arena meant that space heaters could be removed, along with winter coats!
New windows separate the chilly Town Toyota Center arena from the now comfortable offices without interrupting the view.
It’s a New Year!
As dynamic as ever, Town Toyota Center is constantly repurposing to serve the community and looking forward to sharing its full suite of offerings again.
Join their newsletter for updates and skate on the community iFiber rink, which opened yesterday for private skating! Or grab Wenatchee Wild 2021-2022 season tickets,
which go on sale January 15th. And take a pro tip from Bliss:
“We’re trying to take advantage of all this downtime,” says Bliss Littler, general manager of the Wenatchee Wild, which had to cancel its 2020-2021 season. “We’re focused on upgrading everything we do.”
Consider upgrading your equipment to lower overhead costs for the long run. Chelan PUD incentives could pay for it all.
Visit chelanpud.org/business for more information about incentives for your commercial building
from Chelan PUD. Or contact Scott Stanford, Chelan PUD commercial energy advisor, at scott.stanford@chelanpud.org or (509) 661-4187.
A special thanks to the Town Toyota Center team for sharing their experiences and photos with us!