Consumers benefit from competitive choice.   This prevailing belief is driving major change in the energy market structure across the United States and Europe.   The cost-plus model employed by integrated electric utilities, local distribution companies, cooperatives and municipal utilities is being challenged as consumers are demanding more choice and sustainable cost reductions.  No longer are consumers accepting that an energy utility is guaranteed a return on every dollar invested or spent.  Consumers want choice, efficient cost structures and innovation.  Consumers want to pay for only those benefits and features required for their business.   The cost-averaging, subsidization approach of the historical utility is changing and competitive markets are growing.

Competitive markets generally require that integrated utilities unbundle services, such that power generation, electric distribution and retail pricing and services are unbundled and operated as independent businesses.   In competitive markets, wholesale generators are separated from the integrated utility and are required to offer their products and services into a wholesale market.  Competitive markets facilitate retail competition and choice for consumers, while the distribution and transmission infrastructure remains regulated to ensure open access and reliability of the energy grid.

Competition in the natural gas market allows consumers to transport competitively procured natural gas supplies across the local distribution company and avoid bundling of unnecessary or redundant bundled services.

While competitive market fundamentals are contagious and are quickly spreading across previously regulated centrally planned markets, the changes can bring complexity to business consumers. They now must weight the costs/benefits from a multitude of providers.  Also, consumers must develop clear procurement objectives to align with these new choices.   The market change is driving fundamental restructuring of the suppliers as they adjust to increasing competition, changes in consumer requirements and the loss of a safe cost-plus renumeration of the regulated days.

Businesses must decide which relationships to invest in to create the best leverage for their procurement.   Relationships matter.  At Prism Energy Solutions, we offer our clients the opportunity to invest in a sustainable relationship that allows for more candid discussion of procurement objectives, purchasing strategies, and confidential go-to-market approach that are independent of a specific competitive energy supplier.  Imagine the frustration of an energy-buyer who tries to build a relationship with a group of suppliers only to find that the supplier’s representative is constantly changing or the supplier itself has changed ownership, market focus or service focus.

By engaging Prism, we work on your behalf to create actionable procurement strategies and to bring those strategies to market on your behalf, without you having to risk a loss of your investment due to an uncontrollable change in supplier’s competitive position or staffing.

With Prism, you gain leverage, increased market exposure without having to risk the loss of intellectual investments in relationships at a specific supplier that are migratory or ever-changing.   We are your trusted advocate for energy procurement.