Crunch Fitness on gaining peace of mind
Energy is an operating necessity for every business. Does yours have the tools to understand and effectively manage it?
For most businesses, figuring out how to manage monthly electricity expenses is a challenging, opaque process. The utility simply sends a bill every month, and you pay it – without any real understanding of why the bill increases or decreases. And most business owners don’t have the time or resources to dig into that mess, even though today’s higher prices mean electricity is a growing operating expense.
For one of David Energy’s customers, a New York-based Crunch Fitness franchise, their monthly electricity spend was an uncontrollable expense the businesses simply had to absorb. As their regional manager Raymond Gonzalez explains, “There was no process for analyzing energy spend – we just received the bill every month from ConEd and then paid it. Energy was just one of the uncontrollable expenses that we had in the business.”
To better manage their energy usage, Crunch Fitness invested in smart thermostats (like Nest, Ecobee or Honeywell) across their gyms, but without the expertise required to correctly configure the thermostats for efficient heating and cooling, the investment didn’t pay off. On top of that, their facilities’ HVAC systems were inadvertently driving their ConEdison bills up every month, based on a core inefficiency in how the units switched on every morning. Without true understanding of or visibility into how their gyms were using energy, Crunch Fitness was stuck paying whatever ConEdison charged them.
More than electricity: how David Energy delivered peace of mind to Crunch Fitness
When David Energy started working with Crunch Fitness as their energy supplier, we offered them more than just an electricity contract – we delivered them peace-of-mind. By bundling a competitive electricity rate with free software that automatically manages Crunch’s smart thermostats, we were able to provide a view into real-time operations at their locations, freeing up their team to focus on more pressing operational challenges. Additionally, our in-house automation team delivered actionable insights that immediately helped Crunch correctly set up their thermostats and run their HVAC systems more efficiently.
Through David Energy, Crunch Fitness gained visibility into and control over how their gyms use electricity while eliminating the need to visit each location in-person or spend time on the phone with on-the-ground teams. Now, Ray no longer fields daily complaints about the gyms being too hot or too cold, enabling him to focus on more critical ops needs: “In the last 2 months, I’ve probably adjusted a thermostat twice, whereas before I was adjusting it every other day.”
On top of energy efficiency savings, David Energy helped Crunch Fitness take advantage of lucrative energy market programs typically reserved for large, sophisticated commercial buildings. Through the David Energy software platform, we managed their thermostats with no operational effort needed from Crunch – generating thousands in annual savings across their gyms.
“Working with David Energy is peace of mind – knowing we’re operating as efficiently as we should be. If I don’t have to worry about something, and I know David Energy is taking care of it, that my systems are being monitored and that we’re getting access to savings opportunities – that’s valuable.”
Ray Gonzalez, Regional Manager – Crunch Fitness
Want to learn how your business can turn electricity spend into a controllable cost?
Amazing fitness brands across New York city, including Crunch Fitness, New York Sports Club and more are gaining greater visibility into their operations while reducing and controlling their energy costs. If you want to learn more about how your club can take advantage of this, reach out to us or check out our solutions For Business – we would love to hear from you.