The Beacon Commercial Owners Association's General Manager, Jennifer Bearse, and Chief Engineer, Jason Horner, met with the City of San Francisco's Department of the Environment to tour the Beacon and discuss rebate programs for stairwells and other areas in March of 2011.
The City’s initial analysis showed that the Beacon could save $40,600 annually by retrofitting the lighting in all stairwells. The Association's staff received proposals from two lighting vendors that estimated project costs at $82,477, with an estimated simple payback of 1.03 years. The City's Department of the Environment then reviewed the proposals and confirmed that the San Francisco Energy Watch Rebate would cover $40,600 of the cost, and the Beacon would need to pay the remaining $41,870.
The Association chose Wells Electrical as the vendor for the work, as they had done work at the property previously, and pricing was the same. As this expense was not budgeted, the Association's Management team needed to obtain approval from the Boards of Directors for the Beacon Commercial Association and Beacon Residential Association to complete the work. Both Boards of Directors approved the work, and the Beacon Commercial Association signed the contract for $82,200 with Wells Electrical and will begin the project in late October 2011. All materials are currently being ordered by the vendor to complete the project. The project will take approximately one month to complete.