The Company has offered the Facilities several financing alternatives through various lending sources. In the past Facilities purchased the upgrade equipment and obtained purchase financing from Charter Management, LLC ("Charter"). Currently they may lease the equipment from U.S. Energy Capital ("US Capital").
The Energy Gatekeeper Program ("Gatekeeper") was a combined service and equipment financing contract under which the Company provided the Facility with all of its energy services and assisted the Facility in obtaining financing from Charter for the energy services. The Facility may obtain new energy-efficient lighting, an ozone laundry support system, HVAC systems and other energy-efficient capital improvements. The Gatekeeper program was priced so that the Facilities will cover the financing cost of the upgrades through monthly energy savings generated by the energy system improvements. There are minimal or no out-of-pocket costs to the Facility, since the capital costs for the Gatekeeper were funded by Charter and typically amortized over a sixty-month period during which it was projected that the energy savings will equal or exceed the Facility's financing costs.
