Q.

Why should I pay a consultant to administer an energy supply procurement process?

A.

Think of your own business. Say you manage a commercial real estate building. Do you personally handle all aspects of the building? For obvious reasons you likely have neither the time, understanding, or experience to become expert at the nuance and detail needed to operate elevators, HVAC, parking, and all of the other major building components. Yet, their proper operation is essential and therefore must be handled by knowledgeable professionals.
 
The nuance and detail inherent in understanding energy offers, contracts, and invoicing also makes it worthwhile having experienced, knowledgeable people implement an energy supply procurement process. It is too large an expense to leave to chance.


Q.

Why should I use The Cornerstone Energy Group, Inc. (CEG) to administer an energy supply procurement process?

A. 

CEG is an independent energy consulting firm that is not associated with any supplier in any way, even for billing. We firmly believe that independentunbiased procurement rewards you with most compelling price, contract terms and conditions available in the market. To be clear, we are NOT energy providers, rather, experienced, knowledgeable participants in the energy supply industry.

Our principals are degreed engineers with nearly 50 years of electric industry experience here in Illinois. We have been involved in electric supply open access since before its inception. Having worked on the supply, delivery and end user sides of the industry, and we have a broad understanding of the dynamics that drive this industry.

The CEG procurement process produces tangible results. Shown below are metrics derived from some recent procurement bids analytics completed on dozens of client accounts.

  • Average annual % difference between the highest cost and lowest cost offers: 15%
    • For a client spending $500,000 annually on electric supply, that is a difference of $75,000
  • Largest annual % difference between the highest cost and lowest cost offers: 32%
    • For that same $500,000 annual bill, the difference between “best and worst” would be $160,000

Q.

Does it really matter which energy supplier I choose? They can’t be that different…

A.

Again think of your own business. Do you believe there are worthwhile differences between your business and competitors? If so, don’t you believe those same differences exist across industries?

As shown in the quantitative results above, there is a real difference in cost among the suppliers. And that’s just the cost side of the story. Contract language, invoicing and other aspects of their business are what provide the contrast between suppliers.