The urgent email that arrived 1 am read: “I must cancel service with you because of a sad loss of a house in the Fort McMurray fire.” Nick Clark had received the first of many emails from residents who escaped a fire that threatened the community’s very existence.Nick, the managing partner of UtilityNet, offers a new approach to old utility management in Alberta. His business partner, Madeline Low, started the company in 1978 to provide energy management services for oil and gas companies. These are two people who understand the impact of the wild fires spreading into the oil field camps; they’ve been in the business for almost four decades.
When the province deregulated in 2000, Nick and Madeline crafted a three-part Self-Retail solution for large industrial clients with these components:
- The ability to lower energy costs;
- A method to improve their competitive position;
- A path to move away from utilities as their default retailer.
Read: They now were competing with massive corporates such as Atco, Direct, Enmax, and Epcor.
The partners have 1,000 residential customers in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and the requested cancellation of service was no small matter.
Global Woman of Vision
I’m inclined to think of these business mates much in the way that I view Melissa Blake - as visionaries. Melissa is Mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. She and I met in 2006 when we were named a Global TV Woman of Vision. She’s since received many awards in addition to being selected in 2010 by the U.S. State Department to discuss energy security and climate change with American policy makers, scientists and engineers.
Her inspiration as a politician? “The people.” I recall this energetic community leader, wife and mother of two boys, saying her vision simply was to: “Help make this the best place to be.” Of course, she was talking about her beloved Fort McMurray.
I heard the passion in her media interviews and tweets these past few weeks. The compassion that she conveyed for “The people” of Wood Buffalo was heart-wrenching.
Passion is a very real emotion that often catches us off guard. It’s real for Nick Clark, too.
I first met Nick last year when the Calgarian launched yet another program for UTILITYnet called GreenAlbertaEnergy. The green initiative followed development of an Electrical Power Supervision System… a process to validate utility bills … Light Up Alberta to support micro generators of solar energy … and a way for seniors to lower their energy rates in Alberta. These initiatives and others set UTILITYnet apart from the big utilities. I liked that David and Goliath spirit of this group.
The straight-talking business entrepreneur and his partner, an expert in utilities software and data mining, are never short of ideas. It’s why Nick is taking their message to the Government of Alberta for a more tempered approach in levying the carbon tax and moving too fast into renewable resources. This, despite showing their support for renewable energy by launching Green Alberta Energy.
UTILITYnet also operates its own growing network of retailers that serve over 300 communities in Alberta. They sell electricity, natural gas and green energy to residential and small commercial customers, either on the spot market or fixed-term prices. The spot market is what many large industrials moved onto and away from buying electricity from the traditional utilities when Alberta deregulated.
“Today, residential consumers can do exactly what the large industrials discovered,” said Nick. “Savings on the cost of energy in 2016 are running at over 1/3 when compared to the government’s RRO.” He’s talking about the Regulated Rate Option that consumers can also get off. “It would be possible for Albertans to use some of their savings to lower their household expenses plus help those who are in Fort McMurray,” added Nick.
There are pressing matters for Mayor Melissa and Northern Alberta – and for Canada. Nick & Madeline, hard-driving Alberta business owners, want residents of Fort McMurray to know that, “We’ve got your back.”
The impact on the people from Fort McMurray is devastating,” said Nick. “We all know of someone connected in one way or another in the Wood Buffalo area or have watched on TV the hardships that so many families are facing as they try to escape the wildfires.”
Nick and Madeline are the type of business leaders who walk their talk. They pledged 10% of their total income – not net profits – on the electricity consumed by all customers of Spot Power to the Red Cross. Other regional retailers in their network who joined the pledge include Bow Valley, Brighter Futures, Camrose, Choice Energy, E NRG Power, Get Energy, Park Power, Peace Power, UTILITYnet.ca, Vector and Wainwright.
Nick and Madeline didn’t stop there. They set up an easy way for their customers to make a donation through their retailers.
“Top it up,” said Madeline. “Just add $5, $10 or whatever you can afford to your monthly utility invoice,” said Nick. The difference in this donation program? Zero administration fees.
“We know that rebuilding will take time. Donations through this program will continue to roll, month after month for the balance of the year,” said Nick.
Vision? You bet. Mayor Melissa for whom I’ve had endless admiration on the community-building side as well as Nick Clark and Madeline Low in business.
Different worlds. Each passionate in their own way.