Retail Energy CEO, Ex-Wal-Mart Exec: "Lot of Room" to Make Energy Choice Shopping Easier for Customers

There's a "lot of room" for the retail energy industry to make it easier to understand the process for choosing a retail energy supplier, new Choose Energy CEO Kerry Cooper said during a recent interview with EnergyChoiceMatters.com.

As previously reported, Cooper took the reins as chief executive of Choose Energy late last year, coming from outside the retail energy industry as an e-commerce and consumer marketing leader. Cooper previously held a variety of senior positions at Wal-Mart, including as Vice President for Global eCommerce and Chief Marketing Officer for Walmart.com. Most recently, Cooper served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at ModCloth, an e-tailer of independently designed fashion and decor. Cooper began her career at McKinsey & Company, where Cooper did work on oil & gas and utility issues, but not deregulated energy specifically.

Choose Energy's founder Jerry Dyess, who continues to lead supplier-side issues at Choose Energy as Chief Commercial Officer, said that tapping an e-commerce expert from outside the retail energy industry reflected a decision to introduce a different perspective, with someone who has been able to grow an e-commerce platform that keeps the consumer in mind.

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Cooper told Matters that she is bringing her customer-focus from Wal-Mart and her other e-commerce ventures to Choose Energy, knowing that a customer's energy bill is a huge part of their monthly budget.

There's a, "lot of room for the industry to make [energy choices] easier to understand," Cooper said, noting that speaking in kilowatt-hours or therms is not necessarily the language that the average consumer is thinking about.

Cooper sees her task as, "helping people work through the decision-making process," something she's familiar with from her prior e-commerce roles.

For example, Cooper notes that about half of those responsible for paying their energy bill each month will be moms, "and that mom I know very well, whether she was my 'Wal-Mart mom' who was working through her budget or even from the ModCloth side."

Cooper noted that a challenge will be, as retail energy products become more innovative and service-oriented, to offer simple and meaningful comparisons.

The goal is to, "make sure customers are not surprised" once they've made their choice, and in that respect, Cooper said the retail energy industry suffers from what plagues the credit card industry -- too much fine print, with things like teaser rates and early termination fees not often well-understood by customers prior to enrollment.

"At the end of the day, we need to make sure we're creating a marketplace that is all about customer trust," Cooper said.

As previously reported, Choose Energy is expanding to all open and electric and natural gas markets in 2014.

After this expansion, Choose Energy's footprint for electricity will include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington D.C.

For natural gas, Choose Energy's footprint after the expansion will include California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The first areas for expansion for natural gas are Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey.