Power Profile: Lus Haberberger, Jason Rogers, LUZCO Technologies

Flip a switch, and the lights come on. The complexity behind that small action — and ensuring it works — can, but should not, be taken for granted, according to Lus Rondon Haberberger, president and founder of LUZCO Technologies. 

LUZCO is one of several companies in the Show-Me State working to ensure the lights come on with a flip of a switch. The electrical engineering consulting firm she founded in 2017 is one of the small businesses Ameren Missouri has partnered with to upgrade the utility infrastructure to increase the reliability of the energy grid. 

“We are helping design the new grid and ensure that reliability, so the power stays on,” said Jason Rogers, program delivery department manager at LUZCO.

“Ameren Missouri has concentrated not only in doing the right thing for the ratepayer but also for local small businesses,” Haberberger added. 

The statewide infrastructure upgrade is part of Ameren Missouri’s Smart Energy Plan, spurred by the passage of Senate Bill 564 in 2018. Since that legislation became law, LUZCO has grown exponentially.

“[The measure] has been crucial. I don’t think without it we would have seen the amount of capital investment in the state,” Haberberger said. 

As a direct result of the Smart Energy Plan, LUZCO has hired at least 10 new employees, Haberberger noted. She added that one of the biggest challenges with the firm’s growth has been finding qualified personnel who believe in the vision and purpose of what they are doing.

The projects LUZCO takes on range from project management to engineering design and can be multi-year tasks. To ensure projects are delivered as expected, Rogers explained the company looks at where a project has been and where it is going. 

One project that stands out in his mind is an ongoing evaluation for replacement of “an aging substation” in Gideon, Missouri. 

“It is a new way of looking at a project, a new way of looking at a substation,” Rogers said. “It is still being reviewed, but it is an interesting project with the potential to do things a little differently. There are potential cost savings, not only for Ameren Missouri but the customer as well.” 

Rogers and Haberberger voiced similar thoughts on the work they do: It is challenging, demanding, and tough but very rewarding.

When Haberberger started LUZCO, she said she had “that entrepreneurship drive to start something new, something different and innovative, that was customer-oriented and result-driven – and a company that believed in work-life integration.” 

She also pointed to a workforce gap of diverse companies with a diversified leadership team offering a unique perspective or a different way of thinking. Haberberger added she seeks to be a role model for children – to empower them to go into the world of science, technology, construction, or a similar field.