Aptera Energy pitches no‑cost energy audit, performance contracting to Vernon County

Aptera Energy Services made a 15‑minute presentation to the Vernon County Board, explaining how energy savings performance contracting under Wisconsin Statute 66.0133 can be used to fund county building modernization with little or no upfront capital. Katie Lehi, speaking for Aptera, told the board the company provides a “no cost opportunity assessment” to identify guaranteed energy and operational savings that can pay for projects over a 15–20 year contract.

Lehi pointed to case studies — Broward County, Fla.; Milpitas, Calif.; Canton Township, Mich. — and described a procurement pathway in which a guaranteed savings contract and lender financing are structured so the energy savings repay project costs. “Statute 66.0133, energy savings performance contracting,” Lehi read to the board and used it to frame the legal basis for the approach. She said some measures, such as LED lighting, can begin producing savings before a project is complete.

Board members asked how the financing and repayment work. Lehi said Aptera’s bank partners underwrite projects based on the company’s guaranteed savings estimates and that the county typically repays loans from energy and operational savings rather than levy dollars: “That loan is there for you to be paying from. However, you pay down the loan as the savings start getting realized,” she said. The presentation closed with an offer to perform the no‑cost assessment and to return with specific recommendations if the board requests it.