Introducing straight forward, actionable energy information
We started working on The Megawatt Hour platform over a year ago. We started with white boards, spoke to customers, and moved on from there. We developed a beta (alpha, really) version of our platform first, and we’ve been improving it, with customer input, ever since then. That’s why you’ll see prior posts from The Megawatt Hour. We’ve been focused on improving the platform, and not as much on announcing our existence. So while we’ve been posting news and opinions in our platform, we launched our landing page and content in December 2011.
Current focus is on New York State
Please note that because of the highly de-centralized deregulation environment, we are available to customers in New York State now. We will be expanding and offering new features, in new markets, and intend to be a national platform as soon as we can develop the product to meet various market needs. Please go to our Contact Page and send us a note if you are interested in seeing a demonstration of the platform, or would like to work with us in other states. Your input will help us to set our priorities. If you’re in New York, sign up for your free trial now. If you’re not, tell us about your business and we’ll see what we can do.
Origins of the business… customer-focus
The concept for this business has been percolating for a lot longer than a year. In many respects, this platform is the result of having spent years in the energy industry, and hearing from customers that you want more from the experience of buying electricity and natural gas, but you don’t want to spend more time on it. Business customers have told us quite a bit about their experiences— you’ve said things like: “I’ve been buying electricity for more than 10 years, and I’ve never really understood it”. We’ve heard people say “I never know whether I have done a good deal or not.” What we find remarkable about all of these comments is that there has been almost no focus on simplifying the information flows in this industry, unlike the information flows in other deregulated industries, like airlines, hospitality or financial services. Where are the information services that have brought new products, services, and value to customers of all kinds of other industries? It is this lack of free-flowing information that we are working to address.
Look at these information flows—how can anyone make any sense of all this?
Why has this taken so long?
Some people wonder why the energy industry hasn’t already seen more transparency and better information flow—it is alone among industries in its slow adoption of free-flowing information. Here are some thoughts as to why we’ve been slow to address concerns about transparency:
–each market has opened separately—state-by-state. I don’t believe there are any other deregulated industries that have only opened partially, and that have had different rules across state lines. Offering a scalable, efficient information system requires an understanding of 14 deregulated markets (13 states plus the District of Columbia) and 6 Independent System Operators. The Compete Coalition has a nice graphic showing competitive states and regional transmission operators in North America.
–the way we work is different now than it was 10 years ago, when markets opened. Both open source software and the availability of scalable, cost-effective hardware are creating significant opportunities for innovation in this industry. This is the topic of separate post.. but it is significant. And as a result we’ll see a lot of change in the energy industry over the coming years.
–Pricing and market information are arcane. There aren’t lots of people walking around with energy industry information.
No matter the reason for the slow evolution of the energy industry–particularly with regard to information, we look forward to providing a new focus for the electricity industry–away from confusion and obfuscation and back on client needs, unbiased information, and enhanced products.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about how the energy industry has evolved, and why information flows continue to be somewhat tortured.
We look forward to working with you and welcome your thoughts and comments.
-Deirdre and Bob