MxEnergy sales lot higher
after deal with Shell

MxEnergy sales jumped 128% compared with last year's quarter thanks to accounts it added in buying Shell Energy Services in August.
        Its average selling price jumped $2.04/mmbtu to $9.88 because of higher prices locked in by existing and renewed fixed-price customers when gas prices were high.
        Yet the marketing firm lost $34 million in the quarter compared with profits of $128 million in last year's quarter -- mostly mark-to-market losses of $164 million.
        The loss is to be recovered in future quarters as fixed-price customers take delivery of the gas, MxEnergy noted.
        Adjusted earnings -- minus paper markdowns -- fell to $1.4 million, down from $3.9 million in last year's quarter.
        Gross profit jumped $4.5 million to $13.6 million over last year's quarter when risk-management costs and gains are pulled out, MxEnergy explained.
        Residential customer equivalents (units of 100 mmbtu/year) jumped 87% to 673,800 since last September -- mainly customers bought from Shell.
        Customer attrition, though, rose to 36% -- up from MxEnergy's 23% average since 2002. That includes losses from the Shell accounts and "challenging pricing and market conditions."
        It's "more in line," too, with the marketer's past experience.
        The firm uses direct mail, the web, telemarketing, brand awareness campaigns and door-to-door reps to win new customers along with "win-back" programs to recapture recently lost customers.
        MxEnergy is boosting its sales efforts in the mid-market C&I segment, it reported, via a weekly newsletter, monthly teleconferences with energy experts, regional "open houses" and a more responsive pricing desk.
        Originally published in Restructuring Today on November 15, 2006