WSJ Pro: More Private Investors Bet on Growth of Energy-as-a-Service

WSJ Pro: More Private Investors Bet on Growth of Energy-as-a-Service 

January 25, 2023 – WSJ Pro features Budderfly in a new article by Luis Garcia about the growing investment in energy-as-a-service companies.

"The businesses typically offer to pay the upfront costs of the improvements they make in exchange for a service fee or a share of the money clients save in energy costs. Arrangements like this by companies like Partners Group Holding AG -backed Budderfly Inc. enable customers to treat as operating expenses what otherwise could be significant capital investments that divert funds from core operations.

'To become more energy efficient, you have to have capital and knowledge. That’s what they bring,' said banker Spencer Hart, who owns five Sonic Corp. fast-food restaurants on New York’s Long Island. He says his restaurants burn through roughly $300,000 worth of electricity annually.

Mr. Hart, who is also a senior managing director at investment bank Guggenheim Securities LLC, last year signed a 10-year agreement with Budderfly covering his Sonic franchises. The agreement calls for Budderfly to offset a certain portion of the stores’ energy bill while helping them reduce their electricity usage, he said. Any cost savings beyond the offset is allotted to Budderfly up to a predetermined limit, after which additional savings would be split 50-50 with the stores."

You can read the full article in WSJ PRO here.