Benchmarks

Although online energy procurement has yet to be adopted widely among end-users, the Internet is seen as the wave of the future, according to corporate energy managers interviewed by E Source, the retail and consulting arm of Financial Times Energy in Boulder, CO. E Source asked energy managers about the role of the Internet in their energy-purchasing decisions and their experiences using online hubs. For the most part, energy managers believe buying energy online offers many potential benefits in terms of time and cost savings.

The flow of energy transactions through retail e-hubs remains relatively insignificant compared to the potential for such interactions. The same is not true of online wholesale energy trading. Since its launch in November 1999, EnronOnline, the undisputed leader among wholesale trading exchanges, has hosted more than $500 billion in transactions.

By contrast, e-marketplaces in the retail energy space, such as Amdax, eChoicenet, EnergyGateway, eBidenergy, Enermetrix, UniGridenergy, and Powerspring haven't yet seen anything close to this volume of transactions. Enermetrix, one of the more active retail energy exchanges in the U.S., claims annualized trades in excess of $400 million for 2000.