The manufacturing and industrial sectors have traditionally been leaders in energy management strategies. For these types of facilities, energy use has an obvious impact on the cost of operations, and management understands a strong energy management strategy is key to overall business success. Utilities have also historically offered these big energy users better incentives to curtail electricity use during periods of peak electricity demand. Now, businesses with smaller, multisite facilities are increasingly choosing to optimize their energy use to realize the benefits of energy management technologies.

Market fundamentals are lining up for 2018 to be the year that commercial businesses actively implement energy management plans. Here are five reasons why:

1. Non-Industrial Users Are Feeling The Pain Of Energy Bills

According to the EPA, commercial businesses account for 35% of U.S. electricity usage — 8% more than the industrial and manufacturing industry. Compared to these industrial customers, the commercial sector is more fragmented and harder for providers to reach, so demand response and smart energy management programs have often focused on the lower hanging fruit of the industrial sector for efficiency gains.

But that’s not to say commercial facilities don’t feel the pain of energy bills. Among non-industrial businesses, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), lighting and other energy drains make up a substantial amount of operating expenses. In retail stores, for example, it is estimated that between 4% and 9% of overall operating costs are energy-related, according to McKinsey & Company. Quick-service restaurants, though they might have smaller bills, may even use up to 10 times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings according to Energy Star.

With businesses feeling the need and the market untapped by dominant energy management players, the time is right for other market entrants to offer practices and systems that can benefit these underserved customers.

2. Technology Is Becoming More Affordable And More Familiar Than Ever Before

Borrowing from residential sector innovations, devices such as smart thermostats and internet of things (IoT) lighting controls are also simple to install at business locations. These devices can be used to make impactful alterations to HVAC and lighting usage in settings from restaurants to retailers to school classrooms. Lengthy sales cycles are no longer required as more and more consumers understand and adopt smart technology at home — businesses are more attuned to how the same tools can benefit the workplace. This technology is now widely available at an affordable price point that makes it easier to implement. Gone are complex, multiday installations or complicated reporting platforms managed off-site by third parties. In their place are streamlined innovations as innocuous as a thermostat and as simple to use as a smartphone app.