Meet three distributors that have deep green roots: Sonepar’s Capital Lighting & Supply, Sonepar’s Eoff Electric, and Franklin Empire in Canada.

Capital Lighting & Supply, a division of Sonepar USA located in Maryland and Virginia has been serving the energy-efficient lighting market for over 16 years. “Our goal is to provide our customers with products that will save energy resulting in lower operating expenses as well as reduced maintenance costs,” said David Levine, VP Energy & Maintenance Services. “By delivering product that reduces wattage and with increased life, we are able to make our customers more competitive in their marketplace. Additionally, increasing the useful life of the product in the ceiling reduces the overall amount of waste contributed into landfills.”

According to Les Williamson, President of Eoff Electric, Green Electrical is an evolving issue in the electrical industry and has been for some time. “This is especially true in the lighting world which is the largest portion of the market.

“Eoff has a dedicated team focused on automated energy management,” said Williamson. “Our projects have saved over 3 million kilowatt hours each year, and we have only scratched the surface in a huge untapped market for industrial retrofit. We’re doing training sessions on the financial payback for installing new high performance energy-efficient lighting at industrials and utilities. We’ve completed an energy audit and helped customers to file for energy rebates for installation of energy-efficient electrical products. Believe me, it’s powerful when you can deliver the rebate check to a customer to thank them for their business.”

Over the next five years, Williamson thinks any electrical distributor involved in commercial, institutional, and industrial construction stand to miss a big business opportunity if they don’t have trained personnel on their staff who are skilled in Green Building. “If the distribution channel fails to get a handle on this market, they stand to lose sales opportunities because we’re seeing new companies pop up that are totally focused on providing green expertise,” added Williamson. 

The growth of the Green Electrical market is a global phenomenon and Franklin Empire Inc., an electrical distributor with branches across Quebec and Ontario, Canada, has ramped up both its services and product offering to better support green customers – and growth.

In business since 1942, Franklin Empire is the largest independent full-line electrical distributor in Eastern Canada. Approximately 10 years ago, the company began paying close attention to the increased interest in energy efficiency.

Today, in the energy efficiency segment, Franklin Empire specializes in lighting and lighting controls, occupancy sensors and time switches, programmable electronic thermostats, automation and controls, power factor correction systems, NEMA^® Premium Motors, variable frequency drives (VFDs), and soft starters.

Cara Backman, Marketing Manager for the company explained that while lighting has historically been important to Franklin Empire, a strategic acquisition helped to expand green sales. “Since we acquired the Power Factor and Motor Repair shops (Electro Mecanik Playford) in 2000, our awareness for energy saving products has become even more focused. In the past few years, we have accepted the fact that ‘Greening’ properties is becoming much less a choice than an imperative.

“The motivation behind our energy efficiency marketing focus is to assure that we are top-of-mind to our clients and potential clients when they are seeking expertise and advice on solutions and products, she continued.  “Most electrical distributors carry the same products; our goal is to ensure that our value-added services differentiate us from the others. Our focus on energy efficiency is another solution we use to help our customers optimize production and operations and enable them to be more competitive and profitable in their marketplace,” Backman said.

Franklin Empire has targeted existing commercial and industrial properties by offering a free energy audit to analyze the savings that could benefit customers through a lighting retrofit. In 2008, the company focused on buildings that fell into a specific size category specified by the regional utility.

Also helping to spur the market was a utility rebate program for lighting and motors which gave the distributor an opportunity to identify clients that could benefit from the program. Franklin Empire has also prospered from serving the HVAC market, by replacing dampers with variable speed drives (VFDs), and by helping Waste and Water Treatment plants to increase pump efficiency by installing VFDs.

Franklin Empire’s energy efficient solutions are applicable to all the customers/markets it serves, including electrical contractors, institutional and government customers (schools, hospitals, property managers, municipalities, and government agencies), national accounts (multi-site retailers, restaurant chains and department stores), designers and architects, general contractors, industrial plants (including MROs and OEMs), and residential customers.

“Because we have been involved in lighting since our company began, as new products have evolved, we have always offered them to our clients,” said Backman. “Our lighting specialists have been IES accredited and keep up to date with new products and lighting solutions through industry courses and manufacturer training.”

In reality, Franklin Empire has taken many additional steps that have given the company a Green Advantage in its markets, including:

• Acquired Electro Mecanik-Playford to become a leading manufacturer of Power Factor Correction Systems.
• Joined BOMA and as a member the company advertises through the association and participates in its events to keep up to date on new programs, strategies and networking opportunities.
• Franklin Empire is an Energy Star partner and promotes the Energy Star qualified products.
• In 2005, company became the exclusive Siemens Industrial distributor; therefore its specialists are trained on a regular basis about new products and solutions.
• Company created a corporate “Green Logo” which we use on promo items.
• Company developed a section on its website dedicated to Energy Efficiency including a guide to energy efficient products, links to relevant websites, articles and programs.
• Team includes motor specialists that undergo regular training from motor manufactures to be able to educate our customers.
• Management hired qualified technicians who analyze customers’ needs for power factor correction systems, as well as Thermography specialists and invested in the necessary equipment to do tests at customer sites to verify heat loss, which represents loss of energy.

Of course, not all distributors wish to become as immersed in the Green Building market as Franklin Empire, however, by making similar decisions a company can prepare itself to better compete for, and land, Green Building projects. 

According to David Levine, VP Energy & Maintenance Services for Capital Lighting & Supply, “Product knowledge tends to be the biggest factor that separates the electrical distributors who excel in this market from those who just supply the product requested.

“The investment for the right team can be high (and it takes a team) and the sales cycle is typically 6 to 12 months. Recognize that while we are selling a product, it is more important to understand that this is a financial sale. A successful company understands what their customer deems as a viable project based on that customer’s financial model. Over the years, we have seen several distributors make the initial investment but not the time investment necessary to become successful in this exciting market,” explained Levine.