”Each
second, hour, day that goes by brings you closer to the marked
day. No real pressure here. If the expansion is successful, you’re
a hero. If not, well, let’s not consider that possibility.
You’ve
got a couple of choices. You can beg your boss for more time,
which may or may not go over well. Or you can get to work and
present a top-notch report. One of your first courses of action?
That’s easy. Contact the economic development department
of the utility in the locale in which your company is interested
in. It’s a logical first step to success.
Utilize all your options
Utilities have a long history of helping companies to expand or
relocate. And like today’s businesses, utilities are adapting
and changing as the business world changes.
The
range of services offered by utilities to commercial and industrial
users has grown significantly. While the utility’s core importance
to its customer will remain providing power, it doesn’t stop
there.
So
why should you involve a utility in your site search? Remember
that deadline? The utility can help you meet it, and make it as
palinless as possible.
It’s all about relationships
If your parents ever moved to a new town while you were growing
up, you know what it’s like to be the new kid in the classroom.
The first few weeks, or longer, were rough until you made some
friends.
The
utility in a particular area can help put you in touch with the
people you need to talk to in order to set up business there.
In other words, they can help you make friends.
“We
know who to contact because of our broad-based approach,”
said Diane Thalman, manager, business development, with Northern
Indiana Public Service Co. “We really take the role of mediator.
We can arrange to get a bunch of people together at one time or
to set up times for companies to meet individually with the local
economic developers.”
Most
utilities operate as part of a team in a geographic region. They
work with the agencies at the city, county and state level in
a given area.
“When
we come into contact with a company, we log it in as an active
project,” said Fred Gassaway, vice president with Palmetto
Economic Development Corp., which represents 20 different electric
cooperatives in South Carolina. “We determine if the company
is at the stage to arrange a visit, and at that point we are part
of a team.”
Palmetto
will contact the South Carolina Department of Commerce and get
people involved at the state level.
“The
(South Carolina) Department of Commerce is the quarterback of
the team,” said Gassaway. “We understand that we have
a role to play.”
Some
utilities even set up an itinerary and handle all the logistics
of a site visit. That leaves you to concentrate on evaluating
locations, not worrying about how to get from here to there.
“We
can schedule the trip for them when they want to physically view
the site,” said Dennis Chastain, director of economic development
for Oglethorpe Power in Georgia. “We take care of the itinerary,
transportation, etc.”
Looking for the long-term commitment
Utilities have a very real interest in the profitability of your
company. They want your company to keep manufacturing widgets
— or whatever it is you do — and to make money as well.
They
want you to keep providing jobs and using power in their service
area. It really is a win-win situation.
“Investor-owned
utilities are businesses too,” said Christopher Wood, manager
of economic development with New York State Electric & Gas.
“We understand the need of the customer to be profitable.
“We
don’t want to build infrastructure in an area and then see
that company disappear a few years later. We can’t pick up
and relocate, we’re committed to this area for the long haul.”
Utilities
will work with companies to save money in a variety of areas,
not just in the cost of power. Many utilities can help companies
reduce their taxes, or work with state regulators to lessen the
impact of red tape.
New
York State Electric even works with companies to transfer manufacturing
processes between firms in separate industries.
“Some
of our customers will come to us with questions on how to do something
a little bit better,” said Wood. “We may be able to
put them in contact with a company in another industry that can
help them out. Of course, this doesn’t involve proprietary
information but we do facilitate technology transfer.”
Palmetto
will even go so far as to show a company sites outside of its
own service area, if that site best fits the company’s needs.
“It’s
in our interests to show sites outside our service area,”
said Gassaway. “We are focused on increasing the wealth of
our customers in the state. Even if a company locates outside
our service area, that can have a positive impact on people within
our area.”
Crossing state lines
Many utilities have service areas that encompass more than one
state. These multi-state utilities give companies the added advantage
of one point of contact for multiple levels of bureaucracy.
Instead
of making inquiries to every state regarding taxes, work force
and incentives, a multi-state utility can lay out the business
situation in each state in its coverage area. That saves you time,
and the utility won’t be pushing you toward one state over
another.
Single-state
utilities also offer great resources for your project, but a multi-state
utility can give you the lowdown on more states, if that’s
what you’re after.
Get answers now
With a little help from technology, utilities can now respond
rapidly to inquiries from prospective companies. The faster your
company can receive information, the sooner you can make a final
decision and get the facility up and running.
“It’s
becoming more of an expectation that we can respond quickly and
completely,” said Chris Pieri, manager, business development
with NIPSCO. “With the use of our Web site, we can literally
respond to people within a couple of minutes.”
The
Internet, more than anything else, has allowed utilities to share
information with expanding companies in a timely manner. Many
utilities’ web sites feature databases of available sites,
complete with photos and floor plans.
In
addition, utilities can provide information about an area’s
economy, from work force availability to adult education levels
to other companies in the area in similar industries.
GPU
Energy, which serves parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has
a database called GPUSITES. Companies can quickly find facilities
that meet their criteria from the 1,500 sites featured.
Oglethorpe
Power includes some special services for companies looking to
expand in the utility’s service area.
“We
have engineers who can come up with a drawing for the company
to show them how a building will fit and look on a particular
site,” said Oglethorpe’s Chastain. “We can also
put that, and other information, on a password-protected area
of our Web site where only the company can look at it.”
Shhhh! Expansion in the works
When you deal with a utility on a site location project, one of
the biggest advantages is the utility’s experience. If you
aren’t ready to have your expansion plans blared to the public,
utilities can keep a secret.
Utilities
will work with you on your time schedule. More than likely, the
utility you’re dealing with has worked on plenty of deals
and knows how to keep negotiations close to the vest.
You
don’t want to be blind-sided with a call from a reporter
asking what you have in mind for your new facility in a given
area, when you haven’t yet made your final decision.
Of
course, if it’s to your advantage to let the public know
that your company is considering a specific city or region, the
utility can help put you in touch with the right people. The point
is, the timing of the release of information is up to you, as
it should be.
Municipal utilities march to their own drums
Some cities and regions have their own, public-owned utility.
These “munis” or cooperatives have their own advantages.
The
city of Redding, in northern California, recently constructed
a new power generating facility. The new plant ensures that businesses
in Redding will have reliable power service.
“That’s
a very key issue when we sit down to talk to people,” Patrick
Keener, assistant director of the Redding Electric Utility, told
the San Diego Union-Tribune.
A level of sophistication to match your company
It doesn’t matter if 50 or 5,000 people work for your firm,
you can get help from a utility in your next site search. Utilities
have the resources and technical savvy to deal with site consultants
or the real estate division of a large company, and the down-to-earth
attitude to work with a family-owned operation.
“Companies
have come to expect a high level of service from us,” said
Oglethorpe Power’s Chastain. “We also deal with the
smaller companies where maybe the vice president of manufacturing
is in charge of a site search, and sometimes they are surprised
about what we can provide.”
What
utilities generally provide is an overview of a region that includes
rural and urban areas, without pushing you toward a specific site.
“Especially
with site consultants, they expect that we can respond to any
and all problems,” said Pieri of NIPSCO. “There’s
an expectation level that we are prepared for.”
If
your company wants to talk nitty-gritty details of kilowatt-hours,
the utility is glad to help. But even if your only concern centers
on finding outlets to power the office computers, a utility can
still be useful
“It
falls in line that if a company is energy-intensive, then they
are sophisticated when it comes to talking about energy and how
a site impacts that area,” said Wood of NYSEG. “But
for the others, which are 95 percent of the customers, energy
is not the driving force behind their location decision.
“With
them, the utility company is a resource, another tool for information.”
Give focus to your search
Because utilities can take a broad view of your project, they
can give some focus and perspective to your expansion or relocation.
“The
first thing we ask companies are the most important factors for
the company in its decision,” said Palmetto’s Gassaway.
“We try to eliminate everything but the most important items
considered in the project.
“For
example, a company may be interested in hiring quite a bit of
part-time help. If that’s the case, then proximity to a military
installation or a college might be best.”
Sometimes
a company’s final site decision doesn’t have anything
to do with raw data, but rather personal preference.
“Say
it’s a company that’s a little smaller, maybe one owner,”
said Gassaway. “That person may really want to be able to
live near the water. If that’s the most important factor
for the person making the decision, then that will guide the project.”
Utilities Stand Ready to Deliver
When you place a call to a utility for information, there’s
a good chance the utility has anticipated your every question.
At least they’d like to think so.
The
preparedness of a utility reflects on the attitude toward business
in that particular area. If utility representatives, along with
their state and city counterparts, can come right to the table
with what you’re looking for, they probably will be able
to help you in the future should problems arise.
“We
have to do a lot of work on the front end,” said Steve Warren,
economic development specialist with Illinois Power. “It
used to be a bonus to have prepared data ahead of time, but now
it’s really a requirement.”
At
Illinois Power, the company has over 300 properties from its service
territory in its database. The utility has prepared brochures,
complete with aerial photos and site maps, on all of those chunks
of real estate. Illinois Power covers much of central and southern
Illinois. “Some of the properties are never asked about,
but the point is we are prepared when someone calls,” said
Warren. “When we talk with a company, or their representative,
in a short amount of time we can winnow it down to several properties
that fit their needs, and have the information to them by the
next day.”
Similar
setups to Illinois Power exist at utilities across the country.
If you ring one of them for data on that area’s work force
or major industries, you shouldn’t have to wait weeks or
even days for an answer. The question has probably been asked
before, and answered quickly.
“They
(companies) are making a very important, costly decision that
is going to have a serious long-term effect. We want to help them
make the best decision possible,” said Warren.