Hotels in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest can now buy their energy plant the way they buy much of their software, with a vendor owning the equipment on site and the property paying under a long-term contract. Catalyst Power launched Catalyst Power for Hospitality on November 10, pairing custom-priced retail electricity and natural gas with onsite generation that it owns, installs and operates at each property.
According to the launch release, the onsite equipment can include combined heat and power (CHP), solar and battery storage, with no capital spend by the hotel. The service covers Catalyst’s territory in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. CEO Gabriel Phillips said hotels “can’t cut back on hot water, laundry, or HVAC,” so when power prices rise, “they have to absorb the entire increase.”
Catalyst’s hospitality page adds the regional context and the contract. It cites U.S. Energy Information Administration data putting New England commercial electricity rates 74% above the national average in March 2026 and Mid-Atlantic rates 35% above, and says the CHP system runs under a long-term Energy Services Agreement. Its case study, a 275-room Massachusetts airport hotel, installed a 75 kW CHP module that is part of a system generating more than 450 MWh a year with 15% contracted savings. That works out to about 1,640 kWh per room per year from the onsite system.
For owners and asset managers of full-service, convention and airport hotels in these markets, the agreement is the product. Before signing, ask for the term, the baseline that “contracted savings” are measured against, what happens to the agreement if the hotel is sold, and who owns the equipment when the term ends. Portfolio operators already weighing centrally managed in-room technology or multi-property system moves will recognize the same questions about lock-in and exit.
Source: Catalyst Power
