Big business’ well-kept secret

Big businesses like Ayala Corp., Cinderella, PLDT, and Jollibee consume huge kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Just imagine how a 10 percent drop in their electricity bills can make their bottomline look prettier.

I discovered one of the well-kept secrets of big businesses in reducing electricity costs during a conference session on being kind to the environment organized by the League of Corporate Foundations.

A rogue businessman who looked more comfortable in jeans watching a rock concert was preaching about bulbs made in Europe that could reduce electricity consumption by as much as 80 percent. I was skeptical, of course.

Megaman is a relatively new company; it started operations only in 1994. It claims to use technology that’s superior to other companies that produce halogen and incandescent bulbs. It’s bulbs are not warm to the touch even after minutes of emitting light and they are completely made of plastic, so they can be easily disposed.

Then Russ Alfonso, president of Megaman Philippines, allowed himself to be interviewed. He explained how Megaman bulbs hammered down the business costs of the likes of The Enterprise Center, Shangri-la Plaza Malls, Rockwell Power Plant, Kenny Rogers Roasters, Penshoppe and Figaro.

Ayala Tower 1 (where the Makati Stock Exchange is housed) used to consume P1.244 million worth of electricity in a year for 300 bulbs in a couple of floors. After it replaced these bulbs with those bought from Megaman, the electricity bill on these floors went down to P207,360.

Certain Cinderella outlets used to pay P388,800 to Meralco in a year, but this bill has gone down to P77,760. The same with some Figaro Coffee Shops. After replacing 50 bulbs, consumption went down to P12,096 from P86,400.

Even Meralco has replaced bulbs on some floors, reducing its consumption by P913,939. That’s almost P1 million in savings. The City of Marikina has changed 280 pieces of its sodium light bulbs (for street lights) and saved P270,950 on the first year.

Now, don’t rush to Ace Hardware just yet in the hope of paring down your own electricity consumption. Megaman has decided not to do mass marketing because — here’s the catch – the bulbs are much more expensive than your usual lightbulb. “No one will buy them off the shelf, so we decided not to go through with that distribution scheme,” Alfonso says.

“The initial investment is really high, but the long-term savings will compensate for that. In the long-term, you will see that every little bit of savings in electricity counts,” Alfonso added.

That’s why Megaman is like a well-kept secret. While the company also outfits homes and small businesses, you would have to give them a call to be serviced by a sales agent. You won’t find their bulbs just browsing through stores, but big businesses with their volume purchases get first crack.

Megaman Philippines website:
http://www.megamanphil.com/index.php
Megaman UK website (looks much better)
http://www.megamanuk.com/

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