Stream Energy

Stream Energy is a retail electricity provider active in the Texas deregulated power sector and headquartered within the [http://www.infomartusa.com/history_home.html Infomart] building in Dallas. Stream Energy services residential power customers located within Texas jurisdictions and natural gas in the state of Georgia. Stream Energy's primary method of marketing is a wholly owned pyramid-based marketing arm called Ignite, which has exploded Stream Energy's customer base.

Infobox_Company
company_name = Stream Energy
company_type = Privately held
foundation = 2004
location = Dallas, Texas
key_people = Rob Snyder, Chairman
Chris Domhoff, Managing Director
Lisa Holliday, Managing Director
Pierre Koshakji, Managing Director
Trei Henri, Managing Director
Eric Hendrick, Managing Director

industry = Retail electricity provision
num_employees = 340 (June 2008)
homepage = [http://www.streamenergy.net]

History

Stream Gas & Electric Ltd. (d/b/a Stream Energy) was founded in August 2004 in response to the deregulation of the Texas electricity market by the mandate of the Texas state legislature. Stream Energy was licensed as a Retail Electrical Provider by the [http://www.puc.state.tx.us/about/index.cfm Public Utility Commission of Texas] on January 21, 2005 (license number 10104) and formally began operations through the initial enrollment of electricity customers on March 7 2005. Stream energy is an energy company.

Competitive landscape

Since the onset of electricity deregulation in 2002, the regional ex-utility companies active in the Texas power market -- "i.e.," TXU Energy in north Texas, Reliant Energy in southeast Texas and Direct Energy in coastal and west Texas -- continue to retain roughly 50% of their pre-deregulation former monopoly residential bases. Stream Energy competes for customers throughout Texas against these incumbent power retailers as well as other other start-up electricity providers such as Gexa Energy of Houston and Green Mountain Energy of Austin.

Stream Energy also began serving natural gas customers in the Georgia deregulated gas market during April 2008 and maintains its Georgia office in the Cobb Galleria Centre complex in northwest Atlanta.

The Ignite organization

The Ignite concept is to make money by gathering a few customers and recruiting new reps to do the same thing in order to grow the reps customer base exponentially. Stream Energy is an energy company the same as companies like Texas giants TXU and Reliant. Independent Associates also maintain Ignite internet-based "homesites" that serve as online ad vehicles for the education and training of Ignite sales representatives and also provides an easy access line for customers to switch their electricity to Stream Energy.

Since its first promotional event held on 27 January 2005, Stream Energy's marketing arm Ignite has attracted through this Ignite organization more than 90,000 independent salespeople which, focus on enrolling customers and new reps from within their "warm market" (family, friends and acquaintances) and for those more ambitious they share the business opportunity with strangers that may want to join. This use of network marketing allows Stream Energy to grow its business through an internal army of paid sales associates and without expensive advertising campaigns. Critics argue that Ignite has reached a limit on market growth and that significant customer attrition is occurring, which requires Ignite to expand to additional states as quickly as possible.

As of mid-2008, Stream Energy's enrolled customer base was approximately 330,000 of the Texas households and businesses able to choose their electricity supplier and now are starting to do the same in the state of Georgia. More states are reported to be rolling out in the near future.

See also

*Deregulation of the Texas electricity market
*Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)

External links

Firm information

* [http://www.streamenergy.net Stream Energy website]
* [http://www.igniteinc.com Ignite website]
* [http://www.streamenergy.net/about_stream_management.asp Stream Energy senior management]

General

* [http://www.powertochoose.com Power To Choose informational website]
* [http://www.puc.state.tx.us Public Utilities Commission of Texas website]
* [http://www.ercot.com/index.html Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)]