CES Morehead City Helps Install High Bay Lights for Carteret County Schools
As basketball season approached, seven schools in Carteret County, North Carolina, decided to renovate their outdated gymnasium lights with Lithonia high bay lights. This project came together with help from the team at City Electric Supply (CES) Morehead City.
“Carteret County Schools had the old 400-watt metal halide lights,” explained Operations Manager Daniel Polk, who helped oversee the project. “The fluorescent lights were dingy. They were burning out, and the schools wanted an update.”
The CES Morehead City team also collaborated with the Electrical Department Supervisor for the Carteret County School System, Lewis Seely.
“My counter sales guy, Dylan Judy, worked hand-in-hand with Lewis Seely, and we worked with our Lithonia Lighting rep K.B. Stevens to get these lights in, in an expedient manner,” said Daniel.
The district purchased 150 high bay lights to install in school gymnasiums throughout the county.
“The moment the fixtures came in, Dylan actually loaded the fixtures right into our delivery truck and took them to the County School warehouse. That gave us time to start prioritizing which schools needed to get done and scheduled,” Daniel said.
Getting Started
The first school to receive renovations was Broad Creek Middle School.
“Broad Creek Middle School was one of the first to get their high bays installed. Over the coming weeks, the maintenance division hopes to have all of the gyms retrofitted before the start of basketball season,” explained Daniel.
With a few of the schools’ lighting updated, Carteret County was so proud of the recent renovations that they posted the finished results on social media. Now, students in the district are excited to play in their well-lit gymnasiums.
“The light is white and crisp, and they don’t have to wait for the light to shine. They can turn them off and right back on, and there’s no buzzing sound with it,” Lewis added.
Saving Energy and Money with Lithonia Lighting and Duke Energy
The district was able to purchase so many high bay lights at one time thanks to Duke Energy, a local energy provider in North Carolina. They have a rebate special that makes upgrading to LED lighting a no-brainer.
“Over the last few years, Duke Energy has given an incentive to businesses and commercial properties that run on Duke power a rebate if they convert over to LED fixtures,” Daniel said.
And the school district saved a lot of money by taking advantage of this great deal offered by Duke Energy.
“We’ve been pushing for this for several years, trying to get them. Finally, with the rebate, we saved the schools a lot of money when purchasing them,” Lewis said.
“These LED high bays that the school system purchased would have been sold to them at the retail price of $255 per high bay,” Daniel explained. “Duke Energy has a rebate of $150 per fixture, so we used that rebate here at the store. The schools only paid out of pocket $105 per fixture. So, they saved $22,500 on those fixtures thanks to the rebate,” Daniel explained.
Making A Positive Impact
Helping local schools benefit from a cost-saving offer had a positive effect on the branch.
“If we can help save the customer some money in the long run, it makes us feel like we’re taking care of the customer,” Daniel said. “They come back and do more business with us. We’ve had customers come down from Raleigh over two and a half hours away to get fixtures from us, just because we do that rebate and save them some money,” said Daniel.
“We’ve had a great experience working with them. I was honestly surprised that they had the material ready so quickly. We had what we needed within two weeks. So hopefully, all of the gyms will be done soon,” Lewis added.
This project has not only been good business for Daniel, but it has also been good for his family.
“My girlfriend’s son goes to Broad Creek Middle School. I pick him up from school every day. He said that the lights have made such a difference in the gym. The kids can see more, and it seems like they are more excited about doing stuff in the gymnasium. It’s not dark, dank, and gloomy. So, it’s brought them a brighter atmosphere,” Daniel added.
As a branch, CES Morehead City wants to continue giving a quality experience to their customers through its products and services. Whether that means upgrading their lighting, saving money, or both, Daniel Polk just wants everyone in the area to know that they’re here to help.
“The biggest goal I have here at CES Morehead City for myself and the store is to continue creating a good experience for the customers,” he said. “If we can take care of them then that’s us doing our job,” Daniel explained.