Plugging Into Energy Expense Management

By Cara Sievers

Even if an agent isnt interested in selling energy, there are other opportunities to be had in the market. World Telecom Groups Vince Bradley said hes seen a lot of agents be successful at utility auditing or consulting in addition to telecom services.

We have had a lot of agent partners have success auditing logistics, electricity and natural gas, said Bradley, who has experimented with energy expense management (EEM) in the past. Those agents interest in working with us on those services, coupled with the economic downturn served as a catalyst for creating the energy division.

Telecom expense management providers and their agents also can enter the space by managing the billing of kilowatt hours or even the non-usage costs, such as distribution and equipment.

For example, TEM provider TeleBright Software Corp. expanded its software capabilities in 2008 to include electricity, gas and water.

We recognized the ongoing environmental concerns and the possibility that our intuitive software platform could also address energy expenses and usage controls, explained Mellenie Runion, director of marketing for TeleBright. We offer energy management because our existing clients desired the same controls over their energy expenses they were already experiencing with telecom.

Runion also said TeleBright was a certified Energy Star partner, which allows the TeleBright software to flow through the Energy Star benchmark system. Along with a monthly Energy Star rating, businesses can establish goals to reduce their carbon footprint, obtain advice on their energy strategy, learn about usage spikes and discover if they are actually being charged the correct amount for their energy consumption, at the correct rate, said Runion.