FARMINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) — Gov. Ned Lamont visited UConn Health’s campus in Farmington on Wednesday to highlight the work of a Connecticut-based company that specializes in energy-efficient technologies.

The visit comes as Republican lawmakers renew their calls for a special session of the state legislature to address higher-than-expected summer electric bills that outraged many ratepayers.

Lamont said on Tuesday that he was “probably not” going to call a special session. Instead, he said he is focused on issues he views as more fundamental.

Technological advancements that increase efficiency and reduce pressure on the grid are a key part of Lamont’s vision for lowering electric costs.

Lamont applauded leaders in business and the public sector who advance the notion that “innovation is a big piece of how we’re gonna solve our energy problems and our environment problems.”

Budderfly, the company the governor highlighted on Wednesday, said it does just that.

The firm installs energy-efficient upgrades to buildings that lower costs in the long term. The company said it recoups its investment by collecting a share of the cost savings.

“Over a 10 to 15-year period, if you do the math, there’s enough money to be able to save to be able to give savings to you the customer, for us to have enough savings to pay for everything over that period of time, and for us to make money,” said Al Subbloie, the founder and CEO of Budderfly.

Subbloie said the company is able to deliver those savings in part thanks to advanced software it has developed that efficiently manages energy usage. With a billion dollars in financing and a growing customer base, Subbloie also said Budderfly is able to unlock economies of scale that make it more affordable to purchase the energy-efficient equipment that it installs in businesses.

Budderfly is set to demonstrate its technologies on a building at the UConn Health campus in Farmington. Subbloie noted the building’s aging heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, as well as other equipment that he said were less efficient than the latest technologies.

“When you do the math on what is available to replace these with, if you’re gonna spend a little more money to buy it, you can cut the cost down by 30%, 40%, 50% in energy use,” Subbloie said.

For Lamont, a former businessman who promotes an entrepreneurial attitude toward government, the solutions presented by firms like Budderfly are a win-win.

“What Budderfly is doing is reducing demand and when you reduce demand not only is that a kilowatt-hour that is not polluting, it’s also less peak demand – it brings down price for everybody,” Lamont said.

The governor said he was interested in exploring residential applications for Budderfly’s services.

The company’s CEO said he could envision a future where his firm’s services help large numbers of homeowners save on electricity.

“This model works as well if not better for a homeowner,” Subbloie said.

The prospect of providing a private sector fix for struggling ratepayers is something the governor champions, but not something that will likely satisfy the Republicans’ calls for immediate action.

Any scalable solution offered by the technologies the governor promoted on Wednesday would take time to develop and deploy.

Lamont has characterized some of the GOP proposals for a special session as “cosmetic.” He said he’s focused on solutions that address longer-term challenges with Connecticut’s power supply.

In addition to finding efficiencies and ways to decrease demand, Lamont added, “At the same time, we’re also looking at other ways we can increase supply. But this is how long-term we get through this.”

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