How E-Commerce Affects Energy Procurement and Management

Abstract

The nature of how energy business is conducted, promoted and
transacted is rapidly evolving as new information and software tech-
nologies are applied to the energy industry. This article focuses on the
rapid acceleration of e-commerce technology and how it is impacting
and will continue to impact all aspects of energy purchasing and man-
agement for business buyers and users.
This article is written primarily for those using energy, managing
and operating facilities. For these professionals, not only are they be-
ing tasked with developing procurement strategies for the ‘new’ era of
deregulation, but they continue to operate buildings, upgrade and
maintain systems, meet with vendors selling a new variety of
‘bundled’ services while handling business as usual.
Commodity procurement will realize the most significant
changes as deregulation matures and technologies are applied. Access
to real-time data and pricing will be made easy and convenient and the
availability of suppliers to meter data will become common. “B2B”
(business-to-business) e-commerce marketplaces and portals will con-
tinue to evolve and offer a multitude of energy-related products and
services, from which to choose.