Autonomous Vehicle, Utility Transformation Vets Form Start-up Retail Supplier Focused On Electrification, Clean Energy Transition -- EnergyChoiceMatters.com

Autonomous Vehicle, Utility Transformation Vets Form Start-up Retail Supplier Focused On Electrification, Clean Energy Transition

Will Offer Membership Service With Pass-through Of Energy Costs

Founders Say, "No Competitive Retailer Has Stepped Into The Void To Bring Low-Cost Utility-Scale Renewables To The People"

September 3, 2021

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-21 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The following story is brought free of charge to readers by EC Infosystems, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com

Start-up Elephant Energy, LLC has been formed to, "accelerat[e] the transition to a sustainable future by building a 21st century energy supplier that (1) delivers an amazing customer experience, (2) integrates low-cost renewables and demand flexibility, and (3) delivers products for consumers to decarbonize their homes, businesses, and transportation."

"Elephant Energy is a start-up stage company that whose primary purpose is to become a retail supplier of electricity, serving end use customers," the company said in an application for FERC electric market-based rate authority

Elephant Energy indicates that it will offer a membership service with a flat membership fee plus a pass-through of energy costs, with no mark-up. Pennsylvania will be among its initial markets.

Elephant Energy is wholly owned by its co-founders, David Richardson and Joshua Lake (principals).

Richardson was previously a partner at Vision Ridge Partners, LLC, an asset manager focused on sustainable real assets, where Richardson focused on utility transformation and electrification of transportation. Richardson has also previously served as a consultant at Community Energy

Lake previously founded Evercar, which was a, "mobility as a service platform in Los Angeles for the on-demand economy." Lake also served as Head of Operations at Nuro, a builder of unmanned autonomous vehicles for food and grocery delivery. Lake has also served as consultant in the autonomous trucking and fleet electrification industries

Lake also held several positions, including Sr. Program Manager, at, Amonix, a solar power system developer, and was co-founder and COO of solar developer 532 Solar

While it will soon be offering retail supply service, Elephant Energy currently operates as a REC marketer in Pennsylvania, offering a subscription service ($10/month) under which it matches 100% of the customer's usage with Pennsylvania wind and solar RECs. Under the service, Elephant Energy offers to act as the customer's agent for utility billing purposes (but does not require the customer to elect this option). In such case, Elephant receives the utility's bill and bills the customer for the utility's service plus its membership fee. Customers pay Elephant, and Elephant pays the utility.

Elephant Energy also indicates it will donate a portion of its membership fee to causes such as Penn Future, the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, National Parks Conservation Association, and others

In a letter announcing the launch of Elephant Energy, Richardson and Lake stated that, "no competitive retailer has stepped into the void to bring low-cost utility-scale renewables to the people."

The letter further states, "There are significant benefits to entering into long-term contracts directly with renewable energy projects. It will enable us to better manage our risk (think about Texas in February when the suppliers faced huge cost risks while the generators made significant profits). It will enable us to access lower cost power. It will enable us to more directly supply our members with renewable energy (vs merchant RECs). However, the most important benefit is that it enables us to deliver an even better membership as we pass along lower costs directly to our members, giving them (you) ever less-expensive, greener electricity."

Elephant Energy also said that it will be releasing products to directly enable and encourage electrification, including:

• Lower cost electricity for EV charging when renewables are available (e.g. night time and mid-day).
• An EV charging passport to enable members to charge at any EV charging station - with 100% renewable energy - and pay for the usage directly via their electricity bill.
• Local contractor network for EV charger station and heat pump installations.

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Energy Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Senior Account Operations Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Energy Procurement Manager
• NEW! -- Natural Gas Retail Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Associate Director of Market Strategy -- New York/Anywhere
• NEW! -- Energy Risk Professional -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Energy Customer Support Specialist -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Business Development Account Executive - Indirect Broker Sales -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Customer Engagement Manager -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Energy Customer Service Specialist
• NEW! -- Energy Sales Executive
• NEW! -- Senior Energy Intelligence Analyst
• NEW! -- Energy Advisor

Email This Story

HOME