By Keith Sampson, Vice President, Energy Services
If you are reading this blog, then you likely noticed the article in Competitive Energy Services’ (CES) August 2026 CES Insider Newsletter, featuring the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) grant awarded to UMass Dartmouth. The $1.1 million grant will help fund the connection between the University’s Liberal Arts and Sciences (LARTS) Building geothermal plant and the University’s Auditorium, thus expanding the benefit of clean heating and cooling, and further lowering the University’s greenhouse emissions.
What you may not know is that CES also assisted the UMass campus located in Amherst, Massachusetts to secure a $7.35 million award through the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Leading by Example (LBE) Decarbonization Implementation Grant Program (DIG) supporting a large-scale electrification project at the Central Heating Plant. The grant was awarded in February 2026, following application work completed by CES, Waldron Engineering, and UMass during summer/fall 2025.
The project was one of the largest public-sector decarbonization awards announced by the Commonwealth in 2026. The project consists of a 5 MW industrial heat pump installed at the UMass Amherst Central Heating Plant. The system will:
- Capture and upgrade waste heat from the current heating plant
- Produce low-pressure steam using electricity
- Integrate directly into the campus district steam system
- Reduce reliance on natural gas-fired steam production
The project serves approximately:
- 1.5 to 1.6 million square feet of campus space
- 12-13% of the campus steam system load
- 10,500 metric tons CO₂e annual reduction in Scope 1 emissions, equal to approximately 12% of total campus emissions
UMass chose the industrial heat pump as a strategic decarbonization step. Efficient heat pump technology requires less electrical infrastructure than a large electric boiler with equivalent capacity, has lower upfront costs than a comparable steam-to-hot-water conversion, utilizes existing waste heat sources and provides flexibility for future campus decarbonization initiatives.
In addition to the heat pump grant, CES had the opportunity to help UMass on a successful $1.668 million Mass Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Enhancing Massachusetts Grid Resilience & Reliability Grant. This grant funds automatic transfer switches, protective relay upgrades and underground electrical work. This work will support resiliency and infrastructure improvements that complement future electrification efforts.
Why does it matter? By now, you may be wondering: What does an $18 million industrial heat pump have to do with my organization? Probably not much. But the real takeaway isn’t cutting-edge technology. It’s the funding strategy behind it. That’s why CES helps clients identify and secure grants and incentives. Whether the project is large or small, outside funding can often be the catalyst that moves a project from concept to reality.
At CES, we enable clients to achieve their energy and sustainability goals. To accomplish these goals, one must look at the entire energy portfolio holistically. With recent increases in local distribution rates and grid reliability costs, clients must control expenses by managing the components that are within their control. Accessing upfront grant funding, as well as ongoing performance based financial programs, to support energy efficiency and sustainability are critical to controlling the overall cost escalation of utilities.
Why CES?
This is where CES strives to be different. We evaluate each client’s complete utility picture, not just a single commodity, contract, project, or invoice.
As an independent and trusted energy advisor, CES is not tied to any supplier, technology, or predetermined solution. That independence allows our team to recommend what best serves the customer. We pair long-standing relationships across the energy industry with hundreds of years of collective experience, more than two decades of service since our inception in 2000, and deep knowledge of New England’s complex and rapidly changing energy markets. Our regulatory expertise helps clients understand how utility tariffs, market-rule changes, state programs, incentives, and contract provisions can affect cost and risk before those impacts appear on a bill or in a budget.
The value of this approach is practical and measurable. CES combines market intelligence, competitive supplier engagement, contract analysis, utility data, budgeting, invoice auditing, regulatory strategy, demand management, renewable-energy planning, and project support into one coordinated advisory process. Since 2000, that process has delivered results and significant savings for our customers by identifying opportunities that can be missed when energy services are managed separately. Just as important, CES remains involved after a decision is made to verify billing, monitor performance, resolve problems, and adjust the strategy as markets, regulations, operations, and customer priorities change.
Bringing all CES services together is essential to minimizing total utility cost. The lowest commodity price is not always the lowest total-cost outcome if the contract shifts risk to the customer, if delivery charges are overlooked, if billing errors go uncorrected, or if a lower-cost tariff, incentive, demand-management program, or renewable-energy opportunity is missed. CES connects procurement, utility rates, operations, budgets, sustainability goals, and available funding so that each recommendation is evaluated in the context of the entire portfolio. The objective is not simply to reduce one line item. It is to make the best overall decision for reliability, budget certainty, risk, sustainability, and total utility spend.
Our client work demonstrates the power of this comprehensive strategy. Below are a few examples:
- City of Leominster – In the case of the City of Leominster, CES organized a complex portfolio of utility accounts and solar projects, built an integrated utility database and budget, improved invoice review, managed competitive procurements, and addressed billing and contract issues. The City has saved millions across Net-Metering Credits and commodity savings since they started working with CES in 2018.
- University of Maine System – Across the seven-campus University of Maine System, CES has tied together strategic commodity procurement, budgeting, variance reporting, regulatory analysis, renewable-energy projects, and savings reporting.
Other examples show how the same approach creates value in different ways.
- Smith College – at Smith College, CES has coordinated supply strategy, budgeting and variance analysis, utility-data validation, REC management, and demand alerts.
- University of Massachusetts – for UMass, CES has paired energy planning and regulatory knowledge with grant strategy, project analysis, procurement support, and ongoing reporting, helping the University secure major funding for electrification, grid resilience, and other energy initiatives.
In each of these examples, the outcomes are not the result of isolated services. They are the result of a consistent, independent, and comprehensive strategy designed to uncover value across the entire utility portfolio and turn that value into durable savings.
Conclusion
Over the past several years, clients have faced unprecedented inflation, utility rate increases, supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, and growing pressure to meet sustainability goals. Yet savings, cost containment, and effective risk management remain attainable. The organizations achieving the best results are those that take a comprehensive approach to energy management and remain focused on the details. CES has been delivering measurable savings and identifying cost-reduction opportunities for clients for nearly three decades, longer than any other comparable energy consulting firm in New England. That success has never come from a single project, contract, or procurement strategy. It has been built through years of hard work, dedication, attention to detail, customized systems, continuous follow-up, and proactive communication.
Every day, CES professionals are focused on controlling energy costs, reducing risk, identifying opportunities, and helping clients make informed decisions in a rapidly changing market. Whether the solution involves competitive procurement, utility rate optimization, budgeting, invoice auditing, renewable energy evaluation, grant funding, regulatory strategy, or project implementation, our objective remains the same: deliver measurable value and help clients achieve their financial, operational, and sustainability goals. The examples highlighted above demonstrate that when energy is managed as a complete portfolio rather than as a collection of individual transactions, significant and lasting results can be achieved.
Before moving forward with your next energy project, connect with Keith Sampson, Senior Vice President, Energy Services or your CES Energy Services Advisor to uncover opportunities that may be available.