Prime Communications, who manage a national chain of AT&T stores, was facing significant challenges managing their complex HVAC systems across thousands of locations. A lack of centralized multi-site HVAC control resulted in bloated overhead costs and expensive inefficiencies at all levels of operation.
To solve their ongoing problems, Prime needed an easy-to-use smart thermostat management system that could centralize and streamline their HVAC operations, reduce their store-level energy consumption nation-wide, and deliver a rapid return on investment.
Key Results:
$250,000 saved per month on electricity bills
1-year ROI across 2000+ locations
“We saved over 20% on our energy bills by switching to Mysa HQ! Our energy costs across 2,000+ locations dropped $250,000 per month. The platform is convenient and easy – we're able to set a schedule and forget it, no more worrying about stores running their HVAC overnight. Mysa HQ keeps us comfortable and our operational overhead under control.”
— Vinay Mathias, Senior Vice President of Operations
Table of Contents
- The Client: AT&T / Prime Communications
- The Business Challenges: No Centralized HVAC Control
- The Solution: Remote Control with Employee Lockouts
- The Results: Effective Energy Management and Massive Energy Savings
The Client: AT&T / Prime Communications
Prime Communications is the largest, privately-held AT&T Authorized Retailer in North America. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, Prime Communications holds nearly 2,000 locations with over 7,000 employees nation-wide.
The Business Challenges: No Centralized HVAC Control
With thousands of locations across the United States, Prime was struggling to manage their HVAC systems, both operationally and in a way that maximized cost-efficiency.
Their key challenges included:
- Heating or cooling empty stores for hours a day because they did not have a reliable way to adjust setpoints at open and close, leading to unnecessarily high electricity bills.
- Inconsistent temperature settings because setpoints were left to the frontline employees’ discretion, and standard setbacks were often forgotten or ignored.
- Excess equipment wear and tear due to employees cranking thermostat setpoints up or down in an attempt to warm up or cool down the spaces faster.
- System failures, costly truck rolls, and hefty maintenance bills when HVAC was mismanaged by unqualified frontline employees.
The Solution: Remote Control with Employee Lockouts
With 2000+ locations across North America, Prime Communications needed:
- HVAC control and visibility across their entire portfolio
- To reduce/prevent thermostat tampering
- The ability to prevent unnecessary HVAC use during closed hours
- To significantly reduce their energy usage and costs
- A cost-effective energy management solution with a fast ROI
Mysa HQ was implemented nation-wide in over 2,020 sites with 2,910 devices installed. Prime’s facilities management team can now easily monitor heating, cooling and energy usage remotely and at scale.
Thermostat Lockouts
Mysa HQ’s lockout feature gives the client control over if, and when, employees can change store temperatures at the thermostat, with pre-set ranges and times, balancing consistent comfort with management’s confidence that store HVACs aren’t running unnecessarily.
Prevent unauthorized thermostat set point changes with Mysa HQ. Request a demo.
Remote Thermostat Monitoring
With Mysa HQ, Prime logs in to their custom portal to view real-time, portfolio-wide thermostat status, including thermostat overrides by employees at the store-level.
They can now identify issues with employee or customer comfort, pinpoint stores where system overrides are being applied most frequently, and easily identify which HVAC units may require maintenance. By having this precise level of oversight, Prime can address HVAC issues quickly and reduce the time it takes for their mechanical contractor to diagnose the problem.
Thermostat Grouping & Scheduling
Mysa HQ’s thermostat grouping feature enables Prime to group thermostats together by location (at a national, regional, and site level) or function, and apply different schedules to different spaces, like the sales floor and store room.
If operating hours change, or a specific region is experiencing uncharacteristically hot or cold temperatures, Prime can adjust the grouped thermostats remotely with just a few clicks.
The Results: Effective Energy Management and Massive Energy Savings
As a result of implementing Mysa HQ, Prime Communications is enjoying:
- A whopping 20% – or $250,000 per month – savings on HVAC maintenance and energy costs
- Easy, centralized insights and control over HVAC equipment and store temperature across 2000+ locations
- Granular insights into energy consumption and costs nationwide
- Lightning-fast, 1-Year ROI
Ready to lower your operating costs with centralized HVAC control of your multi-site retail chain? Request a demo today.