PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Drake Rice, Director of Member Services, 405/340-5047
Mertz Manufacturing LLC, Bliss Industries LLC, St. Mary’s Catholic School Receive $64,270.49 in DEEP Rebate Checks For Lighting Improvements
On September 11, Ponca City Mayor Homer Nicholson and Cindy L. Holman, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) General Manager, presented $64,270.49 in rebate checks from OMPA’s Demand and Energy Efficiency Program (DEEP) to two local companies and a church school for lighting improvements on behalf of the OMPA Board of Directors. Mayor Nicholson also serves on the OMPA Board of Directors.
Accepting the DEEP rebate check on behalf of Mertz Manufacturing LLC was John Soderstrom, Chief Financial Office, and Dave Wise, Maintenance Manager. The check was for lighting upgrades in their existing facility located at 1701 North Waverly. Rick Bliss and Paul Gill with Bliss Industries LLC, accepted the check for lighting upgrades to the company’s facilities located at 1415 West Summit Avenue. The DEEP rebate check for St. Mary’s Catholic School, 421 South Seventh Street, was presented to Rev. Kevin Ratterman, Principal Allyson Helm and Maintenance Manager Jim Becker.
Others attending the check presentations included Laurence Beliel, Director of Business Retention and Expansion, Ponca City Development Authority; Craig Stephenson, Ponca City City Manager; Phillip Johnston, General Manager of Electric Utilities (Ponca City Energy); and Tom Willis, OMPA Member Services Energy Engineer.
According to Willis, “These three lighting upgrades reduced overall electrical demand by 360.4 kW. Mertz saw a reduction of 291.8 kW and Bliss reduced their electrical demand by 34.3 kW, which was the same experienced by the church’s school. The upgrades were made using Orion Energy Systems fixtures and were installed through U.S. Energy Recovery Inc.”
He continued, “The reduction of these demands help keep energy rates as low as possible for our member cities and delays the need to add additional OMPA generation capacity to the system. This allows member cities to hold the line on electric rates that are charged to their customers.” “It is a win-win situation for our cities and their electric customers,” added Willis.
DEEP assists OMPA’s 39 member cities with their qualified customers to reduce their electric service energy demands and costs. This program provides rebates to commercial and industrial customers that implement retrofits that reduce their demand at peak times. These projects include lighting, HVAC, refrigeration, commercial food service equipment, pumps and motors.
The funds available for approved projects are determined by the OMPA Board of Directors. Funding for individual projects is determined through submission of detailed project plans. Applicants must be a customer of an OMPA member city. For more information on DEEP, visit the OMPA website at www.ompa.com or contact Willis at twillis@ompa.com.
For over 75 years, Mertz Manufacturing, LLC has been one of the leaders in the metal working business worldwide. The company designs, fabricates and manufactures a wide variety of equipment, which includes compact utility loaders and mini excavators, oil and gas industry equipment, servo-hydraulic petroleum exploration vehicles, fire fighting apparatus, agricultural vehicles, precision parts for large mining and construction equipment. In addition, it offers machining and manufacturing services, such as welding, finishing, assembly, shipping, cutting, pressing, rolling, etc. Mertz Manufacturing, LLC with its headquarters in Ponca City has business operations in over 30 countries.
Bliss Industries, LLC is a leading manufacturer of processing equipment for numerous industries. Bliss’ primary products are hammermills, pellet mills and pellet coolers. The company is owned by Pennington Allen Capital Partners in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) is a state governmental agency created by the legislature to serve cities and towns that own and operate their electrical distribution systems and is governed by the members. The Authority presently serves 39 municipally-owned electric systems in Oklahoma.
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