Energy Performance Contracting for SMES in Switzerland

Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is useful for helping energy users overcome the financial barrier of investing in improved energy efficiency. In EPC agreements, the revenue of the provider is tied to the amount of savings it can achieve and as such the provider is exposed to a lot of risks. EPC is a key component in many energy saving policies, however the financial success of EPC providers is not the main focus of existing research. Existing research is mainly focused on determining the financial success of single EPC projects. This book seeks to bridge this research gap by investigating what would determine the success of an EPC provider and will also seek to estimate the possible earnings of such providers. To address the research gap, four case studies with EPC providers and five expert interviews were conducted. A case study of an SME that had invested in energy efficiency improvements was also conducted. Based on the findings from literature, the case studies and interviews, a financial model was developed and using the data obtained, the probable earnings for the EPC provider was calculated.