Pittsburgh-based The Efficiency Network takes client-centered approach

When municipal leaders in Harrisburg decided to replace the financially ailing city's network of inefficient streetlights with LEDs — all 6,127 of them — international firms came to town offering their name-brand services and products.

The team from The Efficiency Network, the least-known candidate for the contract, was the only bidder that offered options, including samples from different manufacturers that city workers could try out and choices in equipment, Harrisburg's city engineer Wayne Martin said.

“With The Efficiency Network, the thing that sets them apart is, they know it's the customer's project, not theirs,” Martin said of the decision this year to hire the Pittsburgh-based firm for the $3.7 million replacement project. “After the interview, we stared at each other ... and said, ‘We never heard of these guys, but we could see working with them.' ”

The firm, headquartered on the North Shore with 31 employees spread across four offices, hopes that customer-centered approach will spur growth in its business of guiding companies and organizations toward energy efficiency through design, engineering and financial analysis.

“We help customers make the right choices,” said President Rob Campbell, who co-founded TEN in 2013 with CEO Troy Geanopulos.

The company's development and implementation teams recognize that businesses, schools and municipal governments usually have maintenance staff or engineers who will need to work with a system TEN sells them.

“We fully access the existing infrastructure ... and make them part of what we're doing,” Geanopulos said.

That means helping clients get past the fear of picking the right equipment and financing it. Energy-efficient lighting HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems often have big price tags, but they promise long-term savings if planned properly.

“The goal is to create sufficient enough savings to recoup the cost,” said Patrick Regan, vice president for street lighting and the company's Smart Cities Technology Solutions program. Harrisburg expects the savings from the lighting system to pay for itself in fewer than six years, Martin said.

Focusing on large municipal contracts such as Harrisburg and Bethlehem, as well as commercial clients and college campuses such as Temple and Penn State universities, TEN hopes to double its staff during the next year — after having grown from just two at its founding — and increase revenue by 50 percent annually. The company declined to provide revenue figures.

Its recent public contracts show a lucrative market. In addition to the Harrisburg job and a five-year master contract with Temple, TEN is finishing a $3.7 million project at Community College of Allegheny County South that could lead to work at its other campus.

“They're real team players,” CCAC energy manager Elaine Sadowski said of TEN, which coordinated the replacement of steam boilers and parking lot lighting. “They asked the opinion of our maintenance people to make sure it serves their needs. A lot of people don't appreciate how much that means.”

Sadowski and Martin said they both reached out to clients of TEN before signing contracts and heard positive stories. Martin noted that TEN has a track record of hiring local contractors for its jobs and is doing that in Harrisburg.

“We didn't want local electricians sitting at home while someone from West Virginia came in and did the work,” he said.

For TEN's in-house crew, Geanopulos and Campbell hired experienced engineers and designers who can vet technology for clients. The company is young, but its employees are not green, with an average of 15 years' experience each.

“Customers see experience on our staff that exceeds what they see at other places,” Campbell said.

They have access to decision-makers at TEN, said Campbell, who meets weekly with Temple officials.

In such meetings, TEN tries to guide clients to choose the system or equipment that will be compatible with the next wave of technology. Regan called it an attempt to “future-proof” the client.

“They just need our special sauce to organize the work,” Geanopulos said. “We get the customer focused on moving forward.”

David Conti is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at 412-388-5802 or dconti@tribweb.com.