In March 2024, Vanguard Building Solutions celebrated a huge award and a major milestone: PSEG, the Garden State’s largest utility, named them #1 for 2023 Overall Energy Savings through the utility’s Small Business Direct Install program.
This Cherry Hill-based energy efficiency company was recognized for securing 32 clients a remarkable $7.7 million in energy efficiency incentives over the course of one year, beating out 100 other trade allies participating in PSEG’s Direct Install program. That $7.7 million translates into huge energy savings across the state, with many high-impact improvements going directly to small businesses.
Energy Efficiency Stories sat down with Greg Santore, COO and Executive Vice President, and Matt Lima, Senior Director of Energy and Utilities Programs, to talk about VBS’s road to success in the Direct Install world.
A Growing Company Explores Direct Install
Vanguard recently celebrated their 10th anniversary, and Santore and Lima looked back on a decade of providing energy services. “We’re considered a turnkey provider,” says Santore. That means start-to-finish energy efficiency solutions, from initial building envelope evaluations, to working with subcontractors on executing energy improvements, to providing the financing options that make a diverse range of projects possible. “We’re giving them a total solution,” Santore says of his customers. “So the combination of their HVAC, lighting, or whatever improvements, in combination with the incentives they may be eligible for, in combination with various financing options, gives them a total package.”
Vanguard was founded in 2013 as a lighting company, but quickly became a full-service energy partner doing plenty of HVAC work. A turning point came for the company in 2022, when they learned of a program from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ (NJBPU) New Jersey Clean Energy Program (NJCEP) aimed at helping schools and minority- and women-owned small businesses improve indoor air quality as part of COVID relief. Vanguard found immense success helping these small businesses, executing projects impacting over 70 women- and minority-owned businesses across the state.
Indoor air quality projects, Lima explains, often entail HVAC and building upgrades that overlap directly with energy efficiency work. The projects piqued their interest in further work with NJBPU programs targeted at small businesses, which lead to their first Direct Install work later in 2022. They quickly started becoming trade allies with utilities—a designation that lets them work with utilities to execute NJBPU programs—and started digging in on Direct Install. “It became a very good path for us,” says Lima.
Today, Vanguard has grown to 24 employees—not to mention plenty of contracts with partner subcontractors who execute on-the-ground energy efficiency improvements. They’re a trade ally with PSE&G, JCP&L, NJNG, South Jersey Gas, Elizabethtown Gas, and Atlantic City Electric—which means they work with utilities to offer energy efficiency services across 100% of the Garden State. They are one of only 15 New Jersey companies certified as an Energy Services Company, or ESCO, which lets them execute energy performance contracts with schools, municipalities, and other public entities.
Helping Customers: How it Works
So what is Direct Install, the program that’s let Vanguard help so many businesses across the Garden State? Administered by the state’s major utilities with oversight from the NJBPU, Direct Install provides incentive payments that cover energy efficiency improvements. Those incentives can cover up to 80% of project costs. “That includes lighting, HVAC upgrades, refrigeration, smart controls, and some maintenance work like building tune-up as well,” says Lima. “It’s offered for all the utilities in New Jersey, and it is the key program that’s allowing businesses to implement energy efficiency.”
Vanguard strives to take a holistic approach to each building. That often entails combining many services. “The programs work best when customers are looking at a comprehensive approach,” explains Lima. “So instead of coming in and just doing lighting, let’s look at the lighting and the HVAC together. That way the customer gets the best bang for their buck.” Vanguard often encourages clients to look not just at their current energy needs but at their possible future needs, using incentives to create future-proof, modern buildings that won’t need another energy overhaul for some time.
Vanguard also provides financial services and expertise. As part of their full-service commitment to customers, Vanguard offers low or 0% on-bill financing options for any project costs not covered by Direct Install incentives upfront. They’re also experts at navigating a sometimes-complicated network of incentives and programs to maximize customer savings. “Some incentives are state, some incentives are local, some incentives are federal, some are utility,” says Santore. “Our job is to go through all of them to see which ones make sense.”
One of Vanguard’s hallmarks is the diversity of businesses and institutions they serve. “You have some larger commercial office buildings,” says Lima, “But we also have Main Street restaurants and retail shops. We had a bunch of daycare facilities, churches, nonprofits, and YMCAs. We recently completed a project for a synagogue in Cherry Hill.” With such a diverse client base, customer education is often key. “Most of the people that we deal with in the Direct Install program might only go through this kind of energy project once in their career,” Santore observes. “So a lot of what we do is education of the client, so they understand what they’re getting. And a lot of times the education helps them make the decision to move forward.”
The benefits of Direct Install projects are numerous for Vanguard clients. “There’s energy savings,” says Santore, “energy efficiency, upgrades to their old infrastructure that they may not have been able to afford, and reducing their carbon footprint.” Efficiency improvements often lead to comfort and quality-of-life upgrades, too. ”With all the modern controls you have, you can have separate controls in each classroom,” says Santore, talking about Vanguard’s many school building clients. “Our work really modernizes it, makes it more efficient because you’re not turning on a big old-school boiler to get airflow in there.” There are clear financial benefits: “You’re basically increasing the value of your building and having someone else pay for the majority of it,” Lima observes. Maintenance costs for up-to-date technology often go down as well. With better equipment and lower costs, businesses and nonprofits can focus on what matters: growing their operations and serving their communities.
What Comes Next for Vanguard
PSEG’s Direct Install award capped off a banner 2023 for Vanguard. “That was a big milestone for us,” says Lima. “Especially since we’d only been in the program for about two years at that time.” So what comes next for Vanguard—in 2024 and beyond?
“New Jersey has some very aggressive targets for energy efficiency,” observes Lima. “And that program has been a very good pipeline for us.” So naturally, they’re looking closely at conversations about the next Triennium at the NJBPU—proceedings that will help determine structure and funding for Direct Install and other utility programs from 2025 through 2027. “We have seen some promising proposals from the utilities in their filings,” Lima says. “It seems like the utilities are committed to continued funding for energy efficiency and energy savings, as well as decarbonization, so that we can continue to build this industry in the state.” Education, according to Santore, is another top priority for Vanguard: “We feel like there’s still a lot of people who don’t know these utility incentives exist. Our goal is to have more awareness out there.”
Ultimately, Santore says, Vanguard will continue driving customer satisfaction. “My ultimate goal, always,” he reflects, “is that every single customer is a reference for us. That people are happy with their results. We want to make sure that we’re not only getting the job done, but afterwards the clients are satisfied.”
