Usource, an energy services company that provides customized energy management and procurement services to commercial, industrial, and institutional customers in deregulated markets, and Tangent Energy, the leading provider of customer-side technology solutions for energy markets, formed a partnership that enables Usource to secure lower energy costs for customers that use Tangent's technology to manage energy during narrowly targeted high-cost periods on the energy grid.
The ability to provide competitive prices for energy customers is driven by two key considerations: market procurement factors, including supply and demand, and customer usage factors linked to energy consumption patterns. Today's deal combines Usource's market expertise with Tangent's demand management technology to create a more holistic energy services offering that provides lower costs and better service to C&I energy customers.
"Usource and Tangent share the belief that customer energy costs need to be addressed by optimizing a number of variables instead of trying to maximize just one," said Thomas Withka, managing director of Usource. "This partnership pairs market knowledge with technology solutions to effectively manage customer cost."
Up to 20% or more of industrial and institutional customers' energy capacity costs are determined by decisions made during a few hours each year. That's because utilities and power pools review customer energy usage patterns during the peak hours of system-wide demand in order to determine price premiums and other charges that are ultimately applied to every hour of energy usage in the following year. By predicting when these peak demand hours will occur, and making targeted adjustments when they do, customers can significantly reduce costs.
"Tangent's holistic approach to energy management drives lower usage costs than standalone initiatives, but the savings truly scale when these strategies are also factored into the procurement economics," said Dean Musser, president and chief executive officer of Tangent. "Our partnership with Usource will provide our customers with supply and demand-driven savings that neither of us could achieve on our own."
Under the terms of the agreement, Usource will offer Tangent's Demand Design and Demand Design PLUS to its customers, and Tangent will deploy and manage the technology. Tangent will also utilize Usource's E-compass procurement service to provide its customers with access to competitive energy prices and other resources.