Listen to this articleEnergyX Solutions is a SaaS startup company in the cleantech sector. Below is our recent interview with Nishaant Sangaavi, CEO of EnergyX Solutions:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to EnergyX Solutions?
A: Our software is licensed to utilities and other energy efficiency providers, and it gives customers access to audit-grade insights that identify the best retrofit opportunities for them to lower their energy costs and improve the energy efficiency of their commercial or residential property.
Utilities find value in our technology as we help them effectively automate and manage their energy efficiency programs so that they are cost effective and successful. We do this by empowering utilities to ‘virtually audit’ their entire portfolio of customers and segment their market at scale, digitize their customer experience and manage all of their operational workflow processes.
At EnergyX we believe that energy efficiency and conservation are essential for us to achieve our climate change goals and sustain quality of life for future generations. We also believe that when people are empowered with the right information about their homes and businesses, they will make smart choices about their energy use. Our solutions are geared towards bridging the knowledge gap that exists between everyday people and the energy they use, and also to help facilitate those energy efficiency conversations between utilities and consumers, which we feel is the best way for these companies to engage their customers.
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Q: You’ve recently announced a partnership with Energy New England; can you tell us something more?
A: Energy New England is the largest energy trading and service organization in the New England area, and this year we partnered together to launch our MyEnergyXpert online audit platform and Integrated Intelligent Marketplace for six participating Municipal Light Plants in Massachusetts. This partnership marks the 16th utility partnership we have secured across North America.
Energy New England had been offering video in-home assessments since March, and the organization saw MyEnergyXpert as another way to provide its customers with a digitally-forward option for informing themselves about energy-saving decisions and investments for their homes. Virtual energy audits are a timely topic and a particularly valuable option during COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions, as they can be completed remotely and are therefore poised to become the norm going forward.
Overall, I think this recent success displays a good product-market fit for our software, and I’m excited about the potential for future success that it carries.
Q: Who is your ideal client and why?
A: Our ideal clients are companies who see the world the way we do, and whose priorities align with what our team and technology do best. As a venture-backed startup, a primary concern of ours is the repeatability and scalability of our platform. One of the biggest lessons we learned during our early growth stages was that not every partner or investor is necessarily the right one for us. Sometimes saying no and walking away from a sale is actually better for the company in the long run.
This is a very important learning as one of the key ingredients for success, especially for start-ups that are always battling with limited capital and resources, is to be able to focus on the value you provide. We must be able to exponentially bring that value to a multitude of clients as quickly as possible. Hence, when you have clients that expect you to develop customized products and services that you may not necessarily be able to scale, it’s very important to go back to the mission and purpose of your company and evaluate if that is indeed the right client for you to be working with.
We have had our share of clients that we have had to say no to and as hard as those decisions are, we know that staying true to our mission and focusing on product market fit is the only way to achieve true scale and repeatability, which is the holy grail for all successful start-ups.
Q: What can we expect from EnergyX Solutions in the next 6 months?
A: The Canadian government’s most recent Speech from the Throne highlighted how energy efficiency, and particularly deep retrofits, are key elements of the new economic recovery plan to help cut energy costs, reduce emissions and stimulate the economy. EnergyX’s data science team has been working to optimize the delivery of energy efficiency programs and maximize the associated emissions reductions using our RetrofitAI technology. The Throne Speech reinforces that EnergyX’s vision and mission is aligned with the government’s priorities, and we are excited to continue finding ways to build partnerships to advance our shared goals and help make Canada the most competitive jurisdiction in the world for cleantech companies.
Recommended: Q: What’s the best thing about EnergyX Solutions that people might not know about?
A: Our greatest strength is our team. We have decades of experience in the utility and energy efficiency sectors, and a multitude of diverse skill sets and backgrounds that allow us to do the heavy lifting for our partners. We understand energy efficiency programs, the barriers, and how to make them work better. The diversity of our team is our strength, and this makes up the culture and DNA of EnergyX.
In addition to our awesome team, it’s the way our software helps automate the red tape that goes along with energy rebates and retrofits, which can be one of the biggest barriers for customers looking to lower their energy costs. Using data science, we have the capability to identify and pre-qualify individuals who would be the best fits for these programs based on the areas or types of properties in which they live. This allows for customers to skip having to provide personal information like income status or smart-meter readings, which they may be hesitant to share with their utility provider, just to determine whether they qualify.
For the providers themselves, this capability also helps reduce their cost of acquisition for new customers into these programs. In some cases, we estimate our software can lower a utility’s cost to acquire an energy efficiency program participant by 75 per cent. These excess costs for the provider almost always get billed back to the customer, and are a big part of what contributes to people’s high energy bills. Beyond providing opportunities to improve energy efficiency, mitigating the utilities provider’s excess acquisition costs is another way EnergyX helps make energy more affordable for the customer.
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