As a leading sugar confectioner in the Western Hemisphere, Ferrara Candy Company keeps sustainability and energy efficiency top of mind, even while appealing to the consumer’s sweet tooth through world-famous brands such as NERDS, Jelly Belly, SweeTARTS and more.
By taking advantage of ComEd’s Energy Efficiency (EE) Program and its Strategic Energy Management (SEM) offering, Ferrara is reducing energy use across five Illinois facilities, supporting ongoing operations while driving efficiency improvements at scale. In 2025, these efforts resulted in approximately 7.4 million kilowatt-hours in energy savings, enough to power nearly 900 ComEd homes for one year. These initiatives also contribute to an estimated $641,000 in annual operational cost savings.
The impact extends beyond efficiency gains, with SEM also supporting Ferrara’s sustainability mission by helping to reduce 5.6 million pounds of carbon emissions. That is equivalent to removing nearly 600 cars from the road in one year.
“Programs like SEM are critical as we work toward Ferrara’s ambitious sustainability goals,” said Heather Boggs, Chief Innovation Officer, Ferrara Candy Company. “Consistent reductions across our facilities show what’s possible when energy management is part of daily operations. Beyond cutting emissions, the program lowers costs and strengthens our culture of continuous improvement.”
Since 2023, Ferrara has implemented a range of energy-saving projects across its northern Illinois facilities, including sealing air leaks, upgrading lighting to energy‑efficient LEDs, replacing chillers, updating dehumidification systems and modernizing HVAC equipment. Along the way, ComEd has been providing guidance on efficiency upgrades, as well as offering incentives for the purchase and installation of energy-efficient equipment. In addition to cost savings from reduced energy use, Ferrara received nearly $480,000 in incentives for improvements in 2025.
“Ferrara’s results show what’s possible when energy efficiency becomes an intentional part of everyday decision-making,” said Ajit Apte, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations at ComEd. “We are proud to help customers build lasting operational, financial, and behavioral changes that help reduce energy costs, cut emissions and support long-term sustainability goals to benefit both the customers and the communities we serve.”
Ferrara has set a goal to reduce companywide Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 54.6% by 2033, from a 2021 baseline, and the company is targeting an average annual reduction of 4.6% to stay on track. In 2025, the SEM program across five Illinois facilities—representing approximately half of Ferrara’s overall operational footprint—delivered a 6.3% reduction in emissions, exceeding the company’s required annual target. Through continued collaboration and site-level engagement, Ferrara is seeking to achieve its long-term emissions reduction goal.
Through participation in the SEM offering, Ferrara receives facility evaluations and employee training from ComEd to identify opportunities to reduce energy use and costs. In addition to guidance and best practices, the training reinforces that energy efficiency is a shared responsibility across teams. Ferrara is applying these learnings across global operations, advancing energy-efficient practices at its California and Mexico sites with support from ComEd partner, Graphet Data Mining.
While the ComEd EE Program has provided business customers with over $2.5 billion in incentives and helped complete nearly 180,000 projects, it has saved all customers more than $12 billion on their energy bills and avoided over 103 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity use since 2008. This is equal to removing 8 million cars from the road for a year.
Ferrara is just one of hundreds of business customers who have taken steps to reduce energy usage and costs by taking advantage of SEM. Non-residential customers with annual energy consumption of more than 5,000 MWh are urged to sign up too and can learn more at ComEd.com/SEM. All other customers can check out ComEd’s full catalog of EE offerings here.
Ferrara and ComEd EE Program Team Celebrate Accomplishments Together
