Shopping Centers (Property Owners & Managers)
40-60 meters, vacancy exposure, common area loads, and tenant turnover. Energy management for shopping centers is its own discipline.
Shopping center owners and property managers face an energy procurement challenge that's categorically different from their tenants. Alden Energy understands the asset class and brings a portfolio management approach rather than a single-meter mentality.
What We Focus On
Full meter inventory review. We start by mapping every meter on the property — common area, tenant-controlled, vacant, and any shared service arrangements — and identifying which are deregulated and eligible for competitive pricing.
Vacancy exposure management. Dark suites still carry meters and usage obligations. We help structure contracts that minimize cost exposure during vacancy periods rather than locking you into terms that assume full occupancy.
Common area load optimization. Parking lot lighting, HVAC for common areas, and shared service infrastructure often represent significant load that can be optimized both through procurement timing and efficiency improvements.
Anchor tenant coordination. Large anchor tenants may have their own energy arrangements or influence over property-level decisions. We work within whatever ownership and tenant structure exists.
Demand response potential. Shopping centers with controllable common area loads — parking lot lighting, HVAC setback capability — may qualify for utility summer demand response programs. Getting paid to briefly reduce common area loads during peak summer periods is worth evaluating.
Why Shopping Centers Are Different
A regional or community shopping center isn't one energy account — it's dozens. Common area meters for parking lot lighting, mall corridors, and shared HVAC. Individual tenant meters that may or may not be managed at the property level. Vacant suite meters that need to stay active through turnover. Anchor tenant relationships that may involve separate utility arrangements entirely.
Getting procurement right at a shopping center requires understanding the full meter inventory, which meters are under the property's control versus tenants', how vacancy periods affect load profiles and contract exposure, and how to structure contracts that don't penalize you for the natural ebb and flow of occupancy.
We've worked with shopping center owners and managers who have dealt with exactly this complexity. We don't oversimplify it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of our tenant leases are gross and some are NNN — how does that affect procurement?
It affects who bears the economic impact of procurement decisions, but not the procurement process itself. We'll map the lease structure alongside the meter inventory so you understand exactly where savings flow — to ownership, to tenants, or both.
We have a management company handling utilities — do you work with them or with ownership?
Either or both — we work within whatever decision-making structure the ownership has established. Many property managers find it useful to have a dedicated energy advisor they can call rather than trying to stay current on ERCOT market conditions themselves.
What about centers that are partially occupied or in redevelopment?
Those situations require extra care around contract structure to avoid being locked into terms that don't reflect the property's actual trajectory. We factor that in from the start.