CPower, a New York-based energy management company that works with energy users, utilities and electric grid operators to reduce energy consumption, has acquired Oxford-based DemandDirect, a provider of energy load-management programs in the Northeast.
Company officials said they intend to keep up its acquisition pace of one deal per quarter.
Known as ConsumerPowerline Inc. until earlier this month, CPower has developed demand response programs at 1,500 sites from California and Texas to New England. It bills itself as one of the largest non-utility providers of demand response services in North American.
The company’s clients include Praxair, Stanley Tools, CB Richard Ellis and Sears Holding Corp.
“We work with our customers to save on energy costs and help reduce their energy consumption,” said CPower CEO Gary Fromer.
In essence, electricity users are being compensated for reducing their demand when total demand outstrips the supply, said Marcia Blomberg, spokeswoman for ISO-New England, the energy grid.
“It’s a promise to reduce usage when necessary,” she added. The company provides demand response services that help clients reduce their power usage during periods of peak demand for payment from the electric grid.
“We want to be able to offer our customer and prospect base the best available products,” Fromer said. “The most important aspect is securing a dominant position in our business for New England.”
Fromer said CPower had partnered in the past with DemandDirect. He said the acquisition made fiscal sense, and it will allow CPower to offer Connecticut and New England clients more products and services.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Fromer said the deal was closed July 15, and DemandDirect employees have been retained in the Oxford office.
In a statement, DemandDirect co-founder and managing member Jeff Lines said the deal will allow clients “access to more extensive energy asset management solutions and services that are national in reach, enabling us to deliver greater value to our clients and business partners.”
It is the second major deal this year for CPower, which acquired Xtend Energy in January. That allowed CPower to offer “rapid response” demand resource programs where users could sign up to cut demand on short notice, from two hours to 10 minutes.
The market for these products and services is increasing rapidly in the region, according to Fromer.
“New England has been ahead of the curve on how to push energy efficiency, and Connecticut especially has been doing a great job,” Fromer said. “It’s something exciting and something the market is interested in that Connecticut is pushing forward.”
ISO-New England unveiled a demand resources program in 2007. Blomberg said New England has 2,950 energy assets, including both companies and generation sites, with a total of 1,820 megawatts that participate in some form of demand resource program. Connecticut has 1,442 assets with 740 megawatts involved in energy reduction programs.
For other demand resource programs, there are 270 megawatts included in energy efficiency, load management and distributed generation projects.
With energy costs constantly rising, these programs not only provide a windfall for participating companies, but also push down energy usage.
“It’s about curtailing energy usage as a whole,” Fromer said. “With all of the associated programs, we can contribute to using less energy, which means less pollution, fewer power plants and it can impact everyone’s lives.”
The company raised its first institutional financing last year, netting $17 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures and others.
