A battery on the property, paid for out of the savings.
No capital outlay. No loan. No lien. A funding partner funds 100% of the project and signs the lease with you; a licensed local contractor installs it; KEEL prices, arranges and services it for the life of the agreement. You pay one fixed monthly payment set below your modeled savings, and under the standard capital lease you own the system and keep the tax benefits.
Demand charges are the fastest-growing line on the bill.
You are billed for your worst 15 minutes
On one commercial account KEEL screened in June 2026, demand charges were 57% of the bill at $51 per kW-month, or $612 a year for every kW of peak. The shape of the load costs more than the volume.
Rates are going up, not down
US investor-owned utilities have raised base rates 20 to 25% in three years, with roughly another 14% filed. Data-center load growth and an aging grid are the drivers, and neither reverses this decade.
Resiliency has become an amenity
Elevators, life-safety systems and lobby power stay up through an outage, from hurricanes in Florida to winter storms across the Northeast. Tenants notice, and increasingly they ask.
What stays the same on every project
No capital budget request
No capex line, no board approval, no collateral. A funding partner funds 100% of project cost.
No shared savings
One fixed monthly payment. Everything above it stays with the property, and it grows every time the utility raises rates.
You own it and keep the tax benefits
Under the standard capital lease you are the owner from signing and claim the federal ITC and MACRS depreciation.
Backup power
Elevators, life-safety and lobby loads stay up when the grid goes down. Save on normal days; power critical ones.
You own the system and keep the tax benefits.
Who funds it and who you sign with. A funding partner funds 100% of project cost and executes the lease directly with you. KEEL arranges it. No capital from the property, no collateral.
What you pay. One fixed monthly payment over a 10-year term, 5 to 7 years where credit requires it. You can buy the principal down in the first 18 months, typically with the ITC proceeds, which lowers the payment for the rest of the term.
If you cannot use the tax benefits. KEEL uses an operating lease instead. The funding partner owns the system and takes the credit, and your payment reflects it.
If it underperforms. Equipment and installation are warranted. Financial performance is not guaranteed; an optional energy insurance policy is available.
At end of term. Most commonly a defined buyout and title transfer. Renewal and removal are also available.
What changes on the bill: the utility bill falls by more than the payment. The gap belongs to the property, and it widens every time the utility raises rates. See the worked comparison.
One row is yours. KEEL and its partners carry the other twelve.
Four parties, thirteen responsibilities, one agreement. Your only inputs are utility data and site access.
| Responsibility | KEEL | Funding partner | Contractor | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months of utility data and site access | ||||
| Pricing and the proposal | ||||
| Credit underwriting and the lease | ||||
| Project funding | ||||
| Engineering, permitting, interconnection | ||||
| Incentive filings | ||||
| Equipment supply and warranty | ||||
| Installation and commissioning | ||||
| Construction overrun and schedule slip | ||||
| Insurance on the system | ||||
| Billing and collections | ||||
| Maintenance and service calls | ||||
| Removal and restoration at end of term |
Rows run in the order the work happens. Financial performance is not guaranteed by any party; an optional energy insurance policy is available for a fee.
Two decisions from you. Six steps to switch-on.
- 01
Send utility bills
Twelve months, or account access. Priced and back to you in two business days or less.
- 02
Sign the lease
One agreement with the funding partner, one monthly number. That is the second and last decision you make.
- 03
Engineering and permitting
Your contractor handles design, permits and interconnection. Conditional utility approval comes before any equipment is ordered.
- 04
Funding and installation
Funds release at notice to proceed. Your contractor builds and commissions.
- 05
Activation
KEEL files the incentives and enrolls demand response. Savings begin.
- 06
Servicing and maintenance
KEEL services and monitors for the life of the agreement; your contractor maintains.
Site survey to switch-on typically runs six to nine months, depending on location and system size; most of it is utility interconnection.
Three buildings, three tariffs, $346,942 in year-one savings.
Modeled from published tariff and program rates on representative building profiles, as shown in KEEL's owner presentation. Not a guarantee of results.
| Building | 408-unit multifamily, Bronx NY | 76-unit multifamily, Manhattan | 224-room hotel, Palm Desert CA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utility and rate | Con Edison SC-9 Rate I | Con Edison SC-9 Rate I | Demand rate derived from the account's billing |
| Annual electric cost | $841,426 | $361,061 | $178,800 in demand charges |
| Battery | 1,400 kWh / 350 kW / 4-hr | 650 kWh / 163 kW / 4-hr | 800 kWh / 200 kW / 4-hr |
| Revenue lines modeled | Demand, demand response, capacity | Demand, demand response, capacity | Demand only |
| Year-one net savings | $202,020 | $93,795 | $51,127 |
| Share of the bill addressed | 24% | 26% | 29% of demand charges |
| 10-year net savings | $2,369,976 | $1,100,346 | $599,796 |
Ten-year figures assume 3.5% annual utility rate escalation. Con Edison SC-9 carries no time-of-use energy spread, so no energy arbitrage is claimed on the two New York cases; the Palm Desert case assumes no solar and no incentive.
By property type
Commercial & Industrial
Demand charges can be more than half a commercial bill. A battery that discharges into the monthly peak replaces a variable charge with a fixed payment. Cold storage, manufacturing, HVAC-heavy buildings and recreation facilities are strongest.
Commercial & Industrial storage →Multifamily
Common-area meters with elevators and central plant have sharp peaks and life-safety loads. Storage cuts the owner's demand charge and keeps the building habitable through an outage.
Multifamily storage →Nonprofits & Religious Sites
A 501(c)(3) can take the 30%+ federal credit as a cash payment from the IRS. Where a state runs a critical-facility or resilience incentive, it adds to that.
Nonprofit storage →Common questions
A contractor pitched me a KEEL project. Is this the same thing?
Yes. Your contractor engineers and installs the system; KEEL prices the project, arranges the funding partner, files the incentives and services the agreement for the full term. The monthly figure on your proposal came from your own bills and rate class, not a national average.
I found KEEL on my own. How do I start?
Send 12 months of electric bills, or utility account access, through the property review form. KEEL returns system size, projected savings and a monthly payment within two business days, then matches you with a licensed contractor partner in your area for a site visit. There is no cost and no obligation to proceed.
Where does KEEL work?
Nationally; the offer varies by market. What a battery is worth depends on your tariff and the programs in your utility territory, so KEEL screens before it quotes. The ten states where KEEL has verified tariff and program data loaded each have a page under Markets. New York has the deepest program layer and its own pages: the NYSERDA incentive guide and the New York Service Area.
Who owns the system, and who gets the 30%+ federal credit?
Under the standard capital lease, you do: you are the owner from signing and you claim the federal investment tax credit and MACRS depreciation. If you cannot use the tax benefits, KEEL uses an operating lease instead, the funding partner owns the system and takes the credit, and your payment reflects it. Tax-exempt organizations have a third path, direct pay.
Who do I actually sign with?
The funding partner. It funds 100% of project cost and executes the lease directly with you; KEEL arranges it and services it for the life of the agreement. One agreement, one monthly number, no collateral and no lien on the building.
Is there a performance guarantee?
Equipment and installation are warranted. Financial performance is not guaranteed by any party, because your bill depends on how the building is used. What you get instead is a sizing built from your interval data, a savings model you can inspect, and an optional energy insurance policy for a fee.
What happens if I sell the building?
Tell KEEL before closing. The lease can be assigned to the buyer or bought out at a pre-agreed price. Both paths are written into the agreement.
What happens at the end of the term?
Most commonly a defined buyout payment and title transfers to you, if it has not already. Renewal and removal are also available, and KEEL carries removal and site restoration.
Do I have to add solar?
No. KEEL arranges standalone storage, storage paired with existing solar, or a solar-plus-storage bundle. Which one fits depends on your bill: demand-heavy bills want storage first, energy-heavy bills often want solar first.
Send us 12 months of bills for any three buildings.
In two weeks KEEL will tell you which buildings clear the threshold, what each would save, and what the monthly payment would be. No cost, no commitment.