Brent Moore expects hot market when Texas junks its PTB

That's why he created SaveOnEnergy.com, an online shopping portal that helps residential customers and C&Is compare prices and pick a supplier.
        Customers are going to have to become educated once they lose their regulated backstop in the price to beat, Moore explained.
What will Texas market look like when Jan 1 rolls around?

Audio conference
Aug 25, 12 - 1:30

Imagine Texas with a real mass market!

Lawmakers put a provision in the law that as of Jan 1 price-to-beat will go away allowing prices to be set by market forces.

That means that Texas will be the only state with a truly free market.  Will this paradigm set an example for America?

Join Taff Tschamler of KEMA, Stream Energy's Alex Rodriguez, Glen Stancil of Reliant Energy and Robert Frank from Direct Energy to find out.

Click here for details and to register.         It's potentially a big market for brokers and other alternate channels as customers seek help in weighing offers.
        The end of the price to beat will boost marketers' interest in using third-party channels too, Moore believes.
        Some retailers who have ignored alternate channels in the past are starting to reach out to them because of tougher competition, he noted.
        Marketers are "waking up" to the untapped residential market and realizing they'll need to step up their efforts to survive next year.
        Thus brokering services are becoming more important to retailers.
        Moore wants SaveOnEnergy.com to become the LendingTree.com, the home mortgage site, of Texas power sales giving customers a clearinghouse where marketers compete via its online portal.
        Online brokering is becoming a hot business.
        About half a dozen firms offer Texas customers the chance to shop online, with ChooseEnergy.com being the newest entrant (RT, 7/10).
        Moore isn't worried about overcrowding.
        The market is so untapped he sees plenty of business to go around. He's confident SaveOnEnergy can do certain things better to attract customers.
        Prices on SaveOnEnergy.com are updated daily, Moore told us, but he wants the website to give customers more than just a price comparison.
        That's why the site recommends about five products in each service area for residential customers.
        It lists prices for marketers that it doesn't recommend so as to give customers a full picture.
        Moore researches marketers and studies their management so he can recommend the best options.
        He tries to recommend for each territory about three fixed-price deals lower than the price to beat, one green plan and one monthly product that gives customers more flexibility.
        Recommendations are based on marketers' savings, financial stability, customer service and quality billing systems.
        Moore now recommends plans from 11 marketers -- Accent Energy, Cirro Energy, Commerce Energy, Constellation NewEnergy, Direct Energy, First Choice Power, Econnergy Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Mpower Energy Services, Reliant Energy and Spark Energy.
        He constantly reevaluates them and the deals.
        Thus favored providers and plans fluctuate.
        Marketers pay SaveOnEnergy a commission for sales brokered through the site.
        For customers the service is free.
        Marketers don't pay to be listed or recommended.
        Incumbents especially "are going to get creative" to keep price-to-beat customers from picking a competitor, he explained.
        That's going to be a challenge for his firm as it tries to cull through the myriad products and plans to come up with a small number of recommendations.
        In fact, he's in talks right now with one of the big incumbents to accommodate about 10 competitive plans the incumbent markets to price-to-beat customers.
        Moore chose not to name the firm.
        But we have a good idea since he already works with three of the four incumbents -- Reliant, Direct and First Choice.
        That would just leave TXU Energy -- who, coincidently, often touts that it has nine of the 10 cheapest products offered by an incumbent (RT, 5/3).
        Moore is focused on Texas right now and for the next year.
        Don't rule out SaveOnEnergy expanding in the future.
        New York is especially on the horizon, Moore told us, as well as other choice states.
        Would his site offer natural gas shopping as well?
        It's too soon to tell, he replied.
        Obviously his firm has more expertise in power since Texas retail gas isn't open to choice except for large users.
        He did pick the name SaveOnEnergy -- instead of SaveOnElectricity -- deliberately, he added.
        Offering more energy efficiency products and services is another growth area, he told us.
        The site now gives customers a chance to buy efficient products and appliances online.
        Originally published in Restructuring Today on August 11, 2006