Saving on utility bills to cost up front

The university hopes to have the new system in place by next summer.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University officials believe they can cut utility bills by $15 million over the next 10 years, but they will have to spend between $9.4 million and $11.1 million up front to do it.
Officials said the good part about the investment is that it can be paid off with energy savings realized over that 10-year period.
The savings are guaranteed by Johnson Controls Inc., the company picked Friday by the YSU trustee board to design and implement the energy-savings package.
Should the savings fail to materialize as predicted, Johnson Controls will make up the difference through cash or services to the university, a company spokesman told the board.
What's included
The project involves replacement of air conditioning, heating, lighting and other equipment in all of the campus' 40 buildings.
The university will have to borrow the cost of the improvements but will be able to pay off that debt with the energy savings they produce.
John Hyden, YSU executive director of facilities, said the university is looking at two options. One, which would keep the same electric-powered water chilling system now in place, would cost about $9.4 million.
The second, which would add steam power as another method of chilling water, would cost about $11.1 million.
The university hasn't decided which option to take, Hyden said.
YSU's utility costs reached $4.2 million in fiscal 2005, which ended June 30, and Johnson Controls estimates it will rise to $5.3 million a year by 2015 unless energy saving and more efficient equipment is installed now.
The company is guaranteeing that the university can cut its utility bills by more than $1 million a year.
The university will realize even larger annual savings once the debt incurred to pay for the improvements, estimated at between $1.1 million and $1.3 million each year, is paid off after the 10-year period.
The administration is seeking outside 10-year financing for the project and will present a recommendation on funding to the trustees' Finance and Facilities Committee.
The plan is to have the improved system fully operational by early summer 2006.
gwin@vindy.com