Donald Greenwell

The site will focus first on the U.S. and then seek opportunities overseas , said Donald Greenwell , vice president for business development for Aquila , which was the second-largest power wholesaler and the third-largest natural gas wholesaler in North America in 1999.

Eventually , the site aims to become a complete energy management portal for buyers and sellers.For example , energy buyers will also be able to buy data management services , real-time metering and automated control systems , among other services.Energy suppliers will be able to do credit checks on prospective buyers , online invoicing and automated utility enrollment , among other things , Greenwell explained.

The service will at first operate as a system for posting forward request for proposals.But within six months , it would be transformed to allow both forward and reverse auctions , Aquila said.

Through the site , suppliers can extend their market reach and reduce costs to the customer by cutting down on direct sales force , according to Aquila.The site will also help retail suppliers manage risk and package the product for the retail customer.

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We're an energy company becoming a technology company , Greenwell said.Not a technology company doing energy. This means , in part , that Aquila will be able to jumpstart activity on the site.

Aquila is a subsidiary of Kansas City , Mo.-based UtiliCorp United.And the UtiliCorp Energy Management unit , which provides energy management for about 300 industrial and large commercial facilities in 40 states , will use YourEnergySource to procure energy for its clients , Greenwell said.

The soon-to-be-launched auction platform is part of Aquila's new focus on the Internet.In August , UtiliCorp invested $50-million in Aquila's e-commerce business.Besides the retail auction site , Aquila launched GuaranteedWeather.com , which offers custom-made weather-risk contracts for hundreds of cities around the world and provides access to forecasts and historical weather data.Aquila is also part of the IntercontinentalExchange , an Internet trading platform for energy and energy-related products.

Aquila does not expect to sell a significant portion of energy through YourEnergySource , Greenwell said.Although Aquila expects to put some of the load it manages out for bid on the system , the company expects more of its revenues from the site will come from transaction fees sellers pay based on sales volumes.The company also will charge for the range of other services it expects to add by the end of the year.

Media Contacts : Aquila Energy