Utilipro Inc., an 80% AGL Resources-owned billing and customerservice provider, announced last week it is cutting staff andreorganizing because energy deregulation is taking hold too slowly.

In order to accommodate this slow pace, the management atUtilipro decided to reduce the workforce by 10%. It currentlyemploys 280 people in its Atlanta, GA, headquarters. The reductionsare ongoing, a company spokesperson said.

Also as part of the changes, Utilipro announced that JamesHopkins, formerly director of information technology at Utilipro,is now president, having day-to-day operating responsibilities forthe company. Neil Stewart, formerly director of informationtechnology operations at Utilipro, is now the chief informationofficer. Brian Gillespie, who had been president and CEO of thecompany, is now its full-time CEO.

“The transition to a deregulated energy market is occurring at aslower pace than anyone anticipated,” said Gillespie. “With therecent exit of key players, such as Sierra Pacific Energy Corp. [inNevada] and PSEG Energy Technologies [in New Jersey], from thederegulated energy market it is clear that the complexion of thecompetitive landscape is changing.”

Utilipro serves electric and gas suppliers in California,Georgia, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. This marks thelatest in a string of companies that have recently scaled backtheir efforts in deregulating markets. Earlier this year both DTEEnergy and Cinergy entirely pulled out of the retail marketingarena, saying the markets are not developed enough to turn seriousprofits.

In Nevada, Sierra Pacific Power and Nevada Power have both filed lawsuits against the state commission to halt the application of the current electric deregulation legislation (see NGI, April 3). The utilities claim the system, as it stands now, would be unfair to its customers and shareholders if implemented.

It’s this kind of setback that has caused Utilipro to pull back.”If you look at the Nevada situation,” Gillespie said, “there was acase where the deregulation process was supposed to move swiftly,like in Georgia. Now, people are saying ‘no way,’ and want thewhole thing changed. This type of setback has shown us thatderegulation will move at a much slower pace than we originallythought.”

John Norris

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