Automation systems increase customer satisfaction by fixing problems before they occur, eliminating unnecessary service visits. With energy prices rising significantly faster than inflation, facility energy costs per square foot have nowhere to go but up. Between 2000 and 2005, the price of crude oil rose from USD26 per barrel to USD53 per barrel - a 100-percent increase in just five years. During the same period, the average price of natural gas rose more than 40 percent. While electricity prices have kept pace with inflation, deregulation means they likely will fluctuate in the future. Unless facility managers take action to keep costs manageable, budget targets will be impossible to hit.
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