Last week, World Energy announced the acquisition of Northeast Energy Solutions (NES), a CT-based energy efficiency firm. This acquisition – coupled with recent hirings – gives us a critical mass of talented professionals, enabling us to credibly enter the fast growing energy efficiency market. World Energy’s move into energy efficiency is a critical component of our Seven Levers of Energy Management offering, and will enable us to attract new customers and provide a fuller set of services to existing ones.

Just 3 months ago, we had no presence in energy efficiency. Now we have a core of best-in-class professionals with a broad spectrum of expertise. Like the procurement market with over 500 registered aggregators, brokers and consultants, the efficiency market is similarly fragmented, and like in procurement, where we have become an industry leader by providing compelling results and effective service, we see the opportunity to become a leading multi-regional player in energy efficiency. With this acquisition and our recent hires, we now have the cornerstones in place to be that player.

This acquisition marks the start of the third phase of World Energy’s journey. The first being our time as a private electricity procurement company, the second as an emerging public one procuring an expanded array of commodities (natural gas, wholesale gas/electricity/capacity, green credits, demand response), and now we are entering the broader energy management space with the Seven Levers.

This strategy is in response to something important we see in the market, namely energy managers being overwhelmed by the number of issues and programs they have to navigate. Long gone are the days of simply paying one’s utility bill. In the last 10 years, electricity deregulation, demand response, sustainability, incentives for renewables, energy management software, and other solutions have all come on the scene. Energy managers do their best to “fight the battles” but more often than not are “losing the war.”

What is needed is a re-framing of both the problem and the solutions for addressing it. Our Seven Levers of Energy Management approach, with its unique focus on the total cost of energy, is ushering in a new era of energy management and of World Energy.