Two Canadian energy retailers soon will be served byAtlanta-based Utilipro Inc., provider of customer care solutions.Utilipro recently signed a letter of intent with Direct EnergyMarketing Limited (DEML), Canada’s largest independent gasmarketer, and Apollo Gas Inc. (AGI), a subsidiary of Apollo GasIncome Fund, to directly bill customers for gas and energy-relatedservices.

Utilipro will open its operations in the metropolitan Torontoarea to provide billing and customer management services later thisyear. DEML and AGI currently depend on government-regulatedutilities to provide a commodity bill on behalf of the energymarketing companies.

“That arrangement has not allowed those companies to communicatedirectly with their most valued asset – their customers,” saidUtilipro President Mike Foley. “Today DEML and AGI’s customerrelationships demand improved communications, especially with theintroduction of increased deregulation in the energy field.Utilipro’s state-of-the-art software and customer managementsolutions will allow DEML and AGI to treat their customers like’customers’ as opposed to traditional utility ratepayers.”

In the future, DEML and AGI intend to cease using the utilities’billing services and instead will take advantage of Utilipro’sservice to fully serve customers’ requirements.

“We decided to go with Utilipro because of their experience,technology, and affiliation with AGL Resources,” said NinoSilvestri, senior vice president of Direct Energy Marketing Ltd.AGL Resources, the majority shareholder in Utilipro, is the parentcompany of the Atlanta Gas Light, the largest gas distributioncompany in the southeastern United States, serving more than 1.4million customers.

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