Bright Employee: Samantha Ip, Project Manager, Retrofit Installation, Western Region

We’re proud of the intelligent, passionate, and hardworking people that make up the Bright Power team. Each month, you’ll get a chance to meet one of them, understand how they contribute to the organization, and what makes them excited to come to work every day.

Meet Samantha Ip, Project Manager, Retrofit Installation, Western Region.

What are some of the things you like most about working at Bright Power?

Bright Power is good about attracting people that genuinely believe in sustainability, energy efficiency, and doing what we can for the environment. So many of my colleagues practice reducing their carbon footprint in countless ways. Whether that’s riding their bike to work, installing Bright Power resiliency solutions in their homes, or supporting community events for sustainability, it’s amazing to see people at our company practice what we preach. We are all very aware of the benefits of sustainability.

What are some projects and accomplishments you’re most proud of?

As someone who enjoys volunteering and giving back to my community, I appreciate the commitment Bright Power has to help make affordable housing buildings more energy-efficient. Philanthropy has always been important to me in my personal life so it’s exciting to work with affordable housing portfolios where our work improves the health and comfort of low-income residents. Every day, I have the opportunity to work with people that are making a real difference in the affordable housing community and helping them minimize operating costs so they can do more for their residents.

What is something people might not know about you and your role at Bright Power?

In the last few months, I’ve been working with a new utility incentive program called Energy Savings Assistance Common area Measures (ESA CAM) Program in California to help improve their processes. With upcoming aggressive deadlines to get the program rolled out, we’ve been a mouthpiece in driving what needs to go into this program to help shape the way it’s being run and delivered to our clients. In a past role, I was a utility program implementer so it’s exciting to experience what it’s like on the contractor side of things. It’s meaningful to be involved in a policy that will positively impact our clients. I can voice specific upgrades that our clients need and help justify the costs of implementing these savings projects.

What is the one service offering we have that you think is the most beneficial to clients and why?

Navigating incentive programs is one of the most important services Bright Power offers. There are many nuanced rules that are constantly evolving and changing as they develop. From beginning to end, the process is lengthy and complicated—it requires a lot of technical and administrative effort. And not to mention, incentives typically help make a real difference in a project’s financial return. Bright Power has a dedicated staff to perform research, stay in tune with changes, and communicate with program administrators on behalf of our clients to take that process of their hands. As an energy and water management partner, this is a key piece to implementing successful energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.