Called “direct access” in the Golden State, energy choice has been approached with great caution in recent years. California was one of the first to embrace energy deregulation more than a decade ago. However, flaws in the business model design led to a highly publicized energy crisis during 2000-2001. As a result, several other states either withdrew their plans to allow direct access or revised their models before introducing them into the market.

Now, California is again dipping its toe in the water. Previous legislation allowed limited direct access for commercial and industrial users, with a strict load cap, and those opportunities were immediately oversubscribed.

Assembly Bill 1350 is a similar proposal that would further expand the cap. Proponents of direct access maintain that it does not negatively impact customers of public utility services nor interfere with state objectives to increase renewable energy output in the next several years.

Schools, hospitals, retailers and restaurant chains, among others, have begun a letter-writing campaign to legislators in support of the bill.

“We’ve consistently seen customer demand for competitive electricity supply options in California far exceed the extremely limited amount permissible under the statutory cap,” said Tim LoCascio, California State Chair for the Retail Energy Supply Association. “California electricity customers are being denied their right to choose competitive retail product offerings due to arbitrary limits that are completely overwhelmed by pent-up demand for choice.”

At Energy Professionals, we work with business owners and managers to help devise long-term energy strategies. We keep an eye on national policy and market trends, and translate innovation into opportunity for our clients. From energy procurement to facility assessment and data management, we can reduce your costs and your risk. Contact an energy consultant to begin your analysis today.

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Now, the U.S. is awash in new discoveries of oil and natural gas, all seemingly made possible by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The technology and resulting bounty has some experts predicting that the U.S. will soon surpass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producing nation in the world.

But fracking is not just a domestic phenomenon. Technology is driving new exploration around the world. In Japan, for instance, companies are working to extract crystalline natural gas from underneath the seabed, a resource previously thought to be inaccessible but now possibly attainable via fracking.

A common misconception is that fracking is a new technology that has ignited the oil the gas boom. In fact, the technique originated more 60 years ago. According to EnergyFromShale.org, more than a million oil wells have been developed through fracking since the process was first used in the 1940s.

What has pushed the use of fracking steadily onward was the incremental application of new technologies. The invention of the CT scanner in 1967, for instance, allowed exploration companies to analyze geologic formations with x-ray computing. Fracking continued to evolve and become a more efficient process when technicians discovered how to embed laser sensors with fiber-optic connections on drill heads in order to map out drilling formations.

In 2005, Mark Papa of EOG Resources discovered a way to use horizontal drilling as a means of extracting oil, and drilling companies haven’t looked back since. Furthermore, these technological advances, both in the U.S. and abroad have the potential to significantly reduce the world’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil imports.

Today, American energy companies are lobbying the Energy Department to allow exports of natural gas realized by fracking. Although challenges remain in minimizing the costs to liquefy and transport natural gas abroad, the issue is the result of steady technological advances in the process during the last half century.

For an interesting video from EnergyFromShale.org on how fracking works, click here.

At Energy Professionals, we work with business owners and managers to help devise long-term energy strategies. We keep an eye on national policy and market trends, and translate innovation into opportunity for our clients. From energy procurement to facility assessment and data management, we can reduce your costs and your risk. Contact an energy consultant to begin your analysis today.

The post Tech Advances Spur Oil and Gas Resurgence appeared first on Energy Professionals.

At Energy Professionals, we take pride in providing those tools to our largest clients, and we’re pleased to announce the latest addition in our energy-broker service line: Automated Demand Response.

Demand Response energy products are made possible by time-of-day pricing and voluntary usage reduction. Since electricity can’t be stored, it must be generated on demand to meet the needs of the power grid. As demand goes up, like on a hot summer workday with air conditioning running full-tilt, peaking plants must kick on to feed additional power into the grid. Because these peaking plants are always in standby mode, the electricity they generate is more expensive.

Many utilities and energy suppliers offer Demand Response incentive programs, whereby large commercial users agree to scale back their energy usage during periods of high strain on the grid.

Our Automated Demand Response (ADR) product handles those reductions automatically, without the need for employees to manually do anything. The strength behind the solution is the controller, a proprietary hardware system that interfaces between the grid and the client’s operation. The system can even network multiple facilities, aggregating regional load reduction and maximizing the financial incentives.

The portfolio- and facility-level data ADR produces can further sharpen future energy strategies, and provide quantifiable marketing material to help trumpet your environmental and social responsibility goals.

“This new ADR product is a game-changer for large commercial users,” Energy Professionals Executive Director Mike Hoy said. “It’s a combination of product structure and technical innovation that can lead to significant savings. The ability to offer this product, and work with our clients through full implementation, sets us apart from other energy brokers. It is the 21st century solution to increased energy efficiency and savings!”

For more information about ADR or our other large commercial, energy management tools, contact Energy Professionals today.

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Texas is known for big oil, of course, and recent technological advances ensure that association will continue into the future. But renewable energies will be a significant part of our country’s energy mix, and Clean Technica has provided some interesting facts.

There’s actually more energy from sunshine that hits the Lone Star State in one month than in all the oil that’s ever been pumped there.

When factoring in all usable land in Texas, it has twice the potential solar capacity of any other state. The state installed 64 megawatts of solar energy in 2012, which ranks it 13th in cumulative capacity installed. That’s enough to power about 13,000 homes in Texas.

More than 260 solar companies employing roughly 3,200 Texans. Last year, $75 million funded home and business solar projects, a 29% increase from the previous year. That figure is expected to increase again in 2013, costs for average residential and commercial photovoltaic installations have dropped 20 percent in the last year.

Energy Professionals works with business owners and managers to create long-term energy strategies. Increasingly, our clients are interested in their renewable energy options. From wind-powered Renewable Energy Credits to third-party solar installation, we can help you sort through your options. To get started with your energy assessment, contact us today.

The post Texas Holds Sunny Energy Future appeared first on Energy Professionals.

Computer imaging programs allow drillers to locate oil and gas reserves deep beneath the earth’s surface. Engineers in Houston use remote controls to drill for gas in Pennsylvania. Oil rigs can now “walk” from one drill site to the next. What was once thought to be an impending scarcity of fossil fuels has now become an abundance of resources, with U.S. oil imports recently hitting a 17-year low.

How did this happen?

Around the turn of the century, it was widely believed that the majority of the earth’s remaining oil reserves were located in the Middle East. Coupled with increased pressure from environmentalists, that perception led to greater investments into clean energy, even by well-known oil companies.

But at the same time those same oil companies were exploring greener options, they were also innovating economical methods to identify untapped oil and gas reserves and bring them to the surface. After years of failed attempts, engineer George Mitchell discovered he could access gas through “source rock” by drilling horizontally and then “fracking” to create tiny cracks that would allow gas to seep up and collect in a well.

Just five years ago, the United States was facing a serious gas shortage. Now, the surplus of natural gas is so great that a growing list of companies are lobbying the Energy Department to allow for exports.

Most believed initially that oil molecules were too large to flow through the new fracking techniques. But in 2005, Mark Papa of EOG Resources created a way to also extract oil through horizontal drilling. This has led to a new oil rush. The Eagle Ford deposit is south Texas, which was considered all but dry, is now believed by some to be the largest oil field in U.S. history. In just a few years, the United States is expected to surpass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil production nation in the world.

Although there have been promising discoveries for renewable energies, and prices for solar an wind have experienced steep declines, green energy accounted for less than 5% of power generated in the United States last year. Proponents fear that progress will slip in the wake of the fossil fuel resurgence.

At Energy Professionals, we work with business owners and managers to help devise long-term energy strategies. We keep an eye on national policy and market trends, and translate innovation into opportunity for our clients. From energy procurement to facility assessment and data management, we can reduce your costs and your risk. Contact an energy consultant to begin your analysis today.

The post Conventional Energy Sources Propel Boom appeared first on Energy Professionals.

The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act is a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate last week that would allow clean-energy companies to structure their businesses as master limited partnerships. The MLP designation enables the companies to avoid double taxation while trading ownership interests in the open market, much like corporate stock.

The MLP structure is currently available to large-scale oil and gas projects, and the act would change the tax code to allow energy-investment parity.

Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican and cosponsor of a parallel bill in the House, said at a press conference that “the tax code currently hinders the United States’ ability to develop all energy and be more energy independent.”

The proposal appears promising in that it spurs investment in renewable technology while also offering tax reform benefits. One senatorial aide estimated the change would result in a $1 bill federal revenue loss over 10 years.

Advocates have pursued MLP designation for renewable projects for some time as a way of counteracting the waning appetite for other tax subsidies. Should the bill pass, owners of recently completed and current projects could sell them to an MLP, which would likely spur an influx of investment capital into new projects. A new group of smaller investors would also be able to enter the market, adding more capital to clean energy markets.

Aside from its bipartisan support, The Master Limited partnerships Parity Act has the public backing of the American Petroleum Institute and a renewable energy coalition of 236 groups

Energy Professionals works with business owners and managers to create long-term energy strategies. Increasingly, our clients are interested in their renewable energy options. From wind-powered Renewable Energy Credits to third-party solar installation, we can help you sort through your options. To get started with your energy assessment, contact us today.

The post Renewable Energy Gains Tax Relief Support appeared first on Energy Professionals.

The energy brokers at our call center headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., have built a camaraderie that supports the new guys and inspires the veterans. Working in a close, call-center environment, they share techniques and tips with the understanding that individual success also propels the team.

Alex Dusaj

“As team leaders, we are responsible for their success,” he says. “We get them right out of training class, and we guide them onto the phones and get them engaged with customers. They are often quite nervous, at first. Sometimes the best way to help is to show them how it’s done.”

Each energy consultant is working through client lists and pursuing their own goals, of course. This is a sales position, after all, and the floor can take on a healthy, competitive spirit.

In the end, though, it’s the collective winning attitude that fuels success, and that can only come by strengthening the team as a whole.

“It’s very gratifying to work with someone on their initial success. That’s the part I like,” says Alex, a New York native with six years of industry experience. “The look on their face when they get their first deal is priceless. But it’s not just ‘the deal’, it’s ‘Hey, I can do this.’ And they can. If you give 100% effort, you can make a career here. We have a lot of talented people.”

Energy Professionals is one of the largest energy brokers in the country, offering our clients money-saving solutions through retail energy procurement, conservation strategies and energy management services. To find out more about these services, or our renewable energy solutions, contact us today.

Mike Hoy (l) and Jim Warrick celebrate six years of E-Pros

Warrick was there at the beginning, as he and AGR Group executives designed an energy consulting team intent on working in the clients’ best interest. Our energy brokers are not tied to any particular alternate energy supplier. Instead, they work directly with business owners and managers to devise a strategy to specific to their needs, and then shop the marketplace to find the best price and term for that particular energy product.

The result has been superior customer service and loyalty, and unprecedented growth for Energy Professionals. We are one of the largest commercial energy consultants in North America, with over 50,000 clients under contract.

The Team

Our field offices will be enjoying their cake soon, as we all celebrate six years down and many more to come.

“There’s no stopping us now,” Energy Professionals Executive Director Mike Hoy said. “We are making our presence known and making a big difference for thousands of businesses across the energy-deregulated states of our great country!”

Energy Professionals is one of the largest energy brokers in the country, offering our clients money-saving solutions through retail energy procurement, conservation strategies and energy management services. To find out more about these services, or our renewable energy solutions, contact us today.