Industrial Customers Score Big Savings with Energy Management Program

If the average California household can save up to $1,000 a year on their electric bill by following energy –efficient tips and upgrades, imagine the kind of money an energy and manufacturing plant that demands 45 megawatts can save.

That’s what PG&E’s Strategic Energy Management Program has provided for more than 21 industrial customers in California, including the Tesla manufacturing plant in Fremont.

“We collaborate with companies to identify opportunities for energy savings and help them prioritize and put together an action plan to drive toward those savings,” said Lisa Lawee, EPS Energie, PG&E’s Strategic Energy Management program manager for Tesla.  

And those savings really add up.

Lawee and PG&E’s Business Energy Solutions employees have been working closely with Tesla plant supervisors on several projects that have totaled more than $10 million in savings and incentives over the past four years or more than $4 million just in 2024.

“This is a unique program where PG&E and a customer enter into a long-term relationship around energy management,” explains Laura Wetmore, director of PG&E Business Energy Solutions. “With our guidance, Tesla pushes their team members to find new opportunities for savings each year, and the variety of measures they found is impressive.”

Those impressive savings earned that team a celebration and a traditional coin to mark the milestone.

Mike Hennen, Tesla’s director of Facilities Construction and Workplace, shared his pride in the team's accomplishments.

"The team in Fremont deserves recognition because it’s also about sustainability and about gaining that level of efficiency," he said. "So, for us to go back and validate that the work the team is finding, with PG&E’s help, is real and something that’s consistent year after year provides the momentum for them to continue.”

For Tesla, the most impactful gas and electric measures were projects that included lighting, pump and fan upgrades, equipment upgrades and shutdown procedures, and process optimization. Since the start of the program, more than 16,158 lamps were replaced in fixtures factory-wide, including more than 6,000 just this year.

Ricardo DeLeon, maintenance manager at Tesla, highlighted the collaborative efforts.

“We worked directly with our Plant Operations team to schedule the shutdowns and conducted mass hose replacements and LED replacements,” DeLeon explained.

Not only has the comprehensive approach to energy management proven beneficial financially, but to support sustainability goals. PG&E hopes it sets a precedent for other manufacturing and food processing companies to follow suit.

“I don’t think there’s a better program to serve our customers. This is one of the most comprehensive ways that a customer can approach energy management,” Wetmore said.