MK Asset Management, a Property Management Firm headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, announces the implementation of its Utility Savings Program or USP. The program aggregates the buying power of MK Asset’s many residential communities under management and allows them to purchase energy in the form of kilowatt hours on the private market. This year, net savings directly to the residential associations, including condominium, town-home and homeowner associations, are over 23% compared to the costs from public utilities.
“The program was a natural extension of what we are doing for our commercial clients. Over 75% of commercial users in Illinois purchase their electricity on the private market yet it’s very rare for residential communities,” said Jared Margolis, president and founder of MK Asset Management. “It’s one of the many synergies that come from managing both commercial and residential properties that results in real benefits to our clients.”
The program was offered to all of its residential communities and had a tremendous acceptance rate of over 95%. The power is still delivered over the same ComEd grid and the communities remain customers of ComEd but purchase the kilowatt hours from a private provider. The savings are seamless to the Associations as the only difference is that MK Asset Management now pays two bills for electricity, one to ComEd for the delivery of services and one to the private provider for the electricity supply charges. “The decision was a no brainer for so many of our clients since they were able to save real money with virtually no changes to their operations,” reported Polina Stein, Senior Property Manager at MK Asset.
The program will be evaluated and bid on an annual basis and the only requirements were an electric meter and to be a client of MK Asset Management. With natural gas prices historically low right now the savings don’t present a compelling reason to sign contracts for any length of term but the USP will continue to monitor all potential savings in utility charges for MK Asset’s clients. “In this environment, it just makes good sense to constantly be evaluating how we can deliver our clients the same services for less money. We don’t profit from it directly but we hope and are confident that our clients see the real value MK Asset Management provides,” said Margolis.
