Skipping Stone Releases Japan Gas Market Landscape Report

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – July 11, 2017 – Skipping Stone LLC™, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that it has published a Japan Gas Market Landscape Report.  The report is a comprehensive guide to the recently deregulated retail gas market in Japan. It includes information on how the reformed gas market works, gas utility structures and customer statistics, supply and LNG terminal data, tariffs and requirements for entering the retail gas market in Japan and much more.

For retailers, wholesalers and trading companies exploring expansion opportunities in newly deregulated markets, the Japan Gas Market Landscape Report provides an excellent first look in assessing the reforming Japan gas marketplace.  For more information and to view the report table of contents, click here.

Japan is undergoing a complete transformation and deregulation of its gas and electricity markets, which represents a once in a generation opportunity for U.S. retailers and wholesalers to leverage their experience in domestic markets to expand into Japan,” said Peter Weigand, Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO. “We are already seeing U.S. retailers who have entered Japan’s deregulated electricity market getting early traction in that market and expect, like in the U.S. market, that retailers will add gas to their product offering.  For U.S. wholesalers playing in the LNG export market, Japan’s gas deregulation represents new and innovative ways to leverage or trade gas between markets,” continued Weigand.

“The report saves hundreds of man hours of research, most of which is in Japanese and scattered across numerous sources,” said Sam Matsumoto, Skipping Stone Japan Managing Director.   “We not only consolidated all the source data, we translated it into English and recast the content such that the market rules and research intent is clearer to the American reader.  Too often a straight translation misses the true meaning as Japan regulators craft language in a very different way than U.S. regulators,” explained Matsumoto.

The Japan Gas Market Landscape Report complements Skipping Stone’s Japan Electricity Market Landscape Report, which has recently been updated since its original publication last summer.

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is a consulting and technology services firm that helps natural gas and electricity utilities, market participants and solution providing clients globally to navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. From innovation through strategy development, market research and assessment to implementation of business plans and technologies, the firm provides a wide array of services. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry executives has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit www.SkippingStone.com or www.SkippingStone.co.jp.

 

/by

Skipping Stone Principal John Landry Speaks on TEPA Panel with Focus on Global Energy Retail Markets

NEW YORK CITY, NY– June 14, 2017 – Skipping Stone LLC™, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that Skipping Stone Principal John Landry, will present on the “Energy Markets Outside of The United States: Best Practices, Resources and Opportunities” panel during The Energy Professionals Association’s (TEPA) 3rd Annual Northeast Conference today at 4:15-5:15 EST p.m. in New York City.  Held at the Convene, 237 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10017, TEPA’s Northeast Conference is expected to draw more than 200 energy executives and professionals from across the country.

 

“I am looking forward to the international panel and sharing some insights from Skipping Stone’s substantial work in Japan helping major retailers and technology firms pursue the fully deregulated electricity and natural gas markets,” said Mr. Landry. “We also recently released an International Retail Energy Markets Report that covers the European and Australian markets,” continued Landry. “There are just so many opportunities in the international energy markets.”

 

This year’s Northeast TEPA Conference will include presentations and panel discussions that address important topics facing the national energy market. Speakers will include Brian Habacivch, Principal, Commodities Management Group at Constellation Energy; John Williams, Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs with NYSERDA; and Amy Harder, energy and climate journalist for Axios and a regular contributor on CSPAN, MSNBC, Fox News and NPR.

 

“TEPA was founded over a decade ago to serve as an education resource and advocate for the energy retail market,” said Andrew Barth, TEPA’s National Board President and Executive Vice President of Sales at Incite Energy. “The topics, speakers and featured panellists who will be a part of this year’s Northeast Conference are a wonderful reflection of that mission. We’re especially looking forward to the discussion and insight from those who will be a part of our panel focusing on global energy retail markets.”

 

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is a consulting and technology services firm that helps natural gas and electricity utilities, market participants and solution providing clients globally to navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. From innovation through strategy development, market research and assessment to implementation of business plans and technologies, the firm provides a wide array of services. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry executiveshas delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit www.SkippingStone.com or www.SkippingStone.co.jp.

 

About The Energy Professionals Association
The Energy Professionals Association (TEPA) www.tepaUSA.org is a 501(c)(6) organization whose community of energy professionals adhere to a code of conduct, serve as an educational resource, and advocates for deregulated energy markets across the country. TEPA members include aggregators, brokers and consultants (ABCs), retail electricity providers (REPs) and affiliate members, and are the clear choice for consumers seeking to benefit from competitive energy markets. For more information contact Aaron Cook at ACook@TPRM.com, www.TPRM.com, or call (214) 520-3430, ext.302. Follow TEPA on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

John Landry

 

/by

Skipping Stone Receives Global Excellence Award for Outstanding International Energy Consultancy

Press Release

Boston, MA – June 13, 2017 – Skipping Stone LLC™, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that it has received its second award in 2017, the Global Excellence Award for Outstanding International Energy Consultancy. The first award Skipping Stone received this year was in March, for the Energy Best International Energy Consultancy  recognition for our clients’ successes.

The Global Excellence Awards are based entirely on merit and allow judges to recognize firms of all sizes, from multinational conglomerates to pioneering entrepreneurs, in all locations, who have gone above and beyond in the last 12 months. “The Global Excellence Award proves we have done extraordinary and innovative work in our energy industry,” said Skipping Stone President Greg Lander.

“Having your body of work be recognized with a Global Excellence Award speaks volumes about the team of experts we have assembled and their dedication to providing our clients with innovative strategy development, insightful market research and implementation assistance,” continued Lander.

“Now that we have set the bar high, we plan to try to raise it over the next 12 months with some of our ground breaking work in various countries,” remarked Ross Malme, Skipping Stone Partner. “A hint of some of these areas include revisions to wholesale market rules in the United States that will synchronize those markets, Japan gas and electric liberalization initiatives, international retail energy, Case Studies market research, emerging strategies for various countries in microgrids and demand management, to name but a few,” continued Malme.

Corp-vision-award

 

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is a consulting and technology services firm that helps natural gas and electricity utilities, market participants and solution providing clients globally to navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. From innovation through strategy development, market research and assessment to implementation of business plans and technologies, the firm provides a wide array of services. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry executives has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit www.SkippingStone.com or www.SkippingStone.co.jp.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Skipping Stone Publishes International Retail Energy Markets Report

Atlanta, GA – May 23, 2017 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that it has compiled comprehensive information on every competitive retail energy market in the world.  This new International Retail Energy Markets Report covers Mexico, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.

Over 170 pages, this report is an indispensable tool for energy retailers exploring expansion into international markets.  Skipping Stone Principal and report author John Landry indicated, “Many of the U.S. retailers I talk to have recognized that the domestic market has matured and they are looking to international markets for expansion opportunities.”

“This report is a great first stop,” continued Landry, “to look at all the open markets and provides a quick method of narrowing the focus to those markets that may be more interesting than others.”

Each country profiled includes market rules, utility information, billing and data exchange, customer types and switch rates, competitors, wholesale markets, exchanges, market operators, licensing information, key agencies, maps, diagrams and much more.

When purchasing the International Retail Energy Markets Report, Skipping Stone includes a one-on-one meeting to review the content, answer questions and share their international retail experiences. To learn more about the International Retail Energy Markets Report visit www.SkippingStone.com and schedule a call with John Landry: 770.676.0965 X132.

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an international energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com or www.skippingstone.co.jp.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Skipping Stone Announces Alliance with GSL Consulting in China

Press Release

SHANGHAI, China –May 3, 2017 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today an alliance agreement with GSL Consulting, a Chinese marketing and research firm in China.  Under the agreement, GSL Consulting and Skipping Stone will partner to provide GSL clients services in North America provided in partnership with Skipping Stone, and provide Skipping Stone services in China provided by GSL Consulting.

The first two initiatives between the companies are already underway.  One initiative is a market research study for Chinese energy companies to determine demand and interest in U.S. energy technologies. The other initiative is to invite U.S. smart grid technology providers to see the opportunities in China while attending the GSL Consulting conference METERING China 2017 & Trade Mission 2017 held during June 17 – 24, 2017 in Shanghai & Wuxi.

“These are the first steps of a more intensive collaboration between Skipping Stone and GSL Consulting in China, opening opportunities for Chinese businesses in the U.S. as well as U.S. business opportunities in China,” said GSL Consulting President James Lau.

According to both consulting companies, they intend to jointly develop integrated media and advisory services to help Chinese companies participate in North America and for Americans to develop opportunities in China.  The inaugural launch with core communications will be discussed in an upcoming webinar in both the U.S. and in China, explaining how the alliance can benefit clients globally.

“We are excited to have this alliance with GSL Consulting,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO Peter Weigand, “because the opportunities in China for energy solutions and technologies is enormous and having a partnership with GSL will add value for our clients.”

“Together we provide world-class research organizations, strategy and innovation services that help bridge relationship and market access gaps between China and the U.S.” said Mr. Lau.

About GSL Consulting

GSL Consulting Ltd, founded in 2002, positions itself as a key strategic information, event development and advisory service provider to utility metering, meter to cash and customer-end technology sectors and as an insider in Chinese utility industries.  The company has a focus on the electricity, water, gas and heat utility market segments in the energy industry and is recognized for its leading events and print magazines.  The Asian market-leading brand names include: GSL Events, Metering China and Heat Metering. For more information, visit www.gsl-consulting.com

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com or www.skippingstone.co.jp.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Global Energy News Magazine Announces Clean Tech 2016 Winners

 Press Release

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – March 16, 2017 – Skipping Stone LLC™, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that Global Energy News Magazine awarded Skipping Stone with a 2016 Clean Energy Award as the Best International Consultancy for 2016.

“As the world gets to grips with the realities of global warming and consumers become more conscious about helping the planet, clean energy has been thrust into the limelight,” said Tom Jones, Global Energy News Awards Executive. “Companies are under increasing pressure to utilize more clean, renewable energy sources and as such are turning to the firms, consultants and experts across the clean energy market who are committed to supporting this energy revolution.”

“We are proud to be winners of the prestigious Best International Energy Consultancy 2016 award by Global Energy News,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Weigand.  “The award is a recognition of our company commitment and team efforts over the years to work with our global clients to develop and implement economically beneficial strategies that also benefit the environment,” continued Weigand.

Mr. Jones commented on the awards: “It has been a genuine pleasure to showcase the commitment and ingenuity of every one of my deserving winners, and I would like to wish Skipping Stone the best of fortunes going forward.”

Clean EnergyAward-March-16

About Global Energy News

Published quarterly, Global Energy News features the latest deals, appointments, research, news and all you need to know about the latest developments in the energy sector. Industry experts in their field, government and think-tanks from around the world shed light on the issues that matter, with special sections on energy efficiency, infrastructure and technology, oil and gas, renewable energy.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Skipping Stone Celebrates 20 Years of Innovation at Smart Energy Week

Press Release

Tokyo, Japan – March 1, 2017 – Skipping Stone™ LLC, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today that they are exhibiting in Booth W7-23 at the 3rd Energy Smart Energy Week Event in the Market Liberalization Expo in Tokyo held at the Tokyo Big Sight from March 1-3, 2017. For more information, visit www.skippingstone.co.jp in Japanese or www.skippingstone.com in English.

Skipping 20 years transparent (002) (002)

“We are celebrating our 20 Years of Innovation this year and are excited to exhibit for the third year in a row at the largest trade show conference in the Japan energy industry,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Weigand. “Since opening our Japan operations three years ago, we have been fortunate to work with utility and technology clients in Japan as they explore and implement a variety of new strategies due to market reforms. In addition, we have now assisted several U.S. companies with our market entry services in the retail and systems market verticals, participated in developing wholesale market concepts through our partnership with PJM and are at the forefront of biomass renewables with our partner Enviva.”
“Skipping Stone is filling a unique niche in the Japan energy market because of its global perspective and history of innovation,” said Skipping Stone Japan Managing Director, Sumitaka Matsumoto. “We are successful because our clients are successful when collaborating with us. We help our clients either entering Japan, or in transitioning to a liberalized energy market with a road map to guide them in marketing electricity and gas commodities to every customer nationwide in Japan.”

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com or www.skippingstone.co.jp.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Capacity Center Releases 2016 Top 20 Capacity Traders Report

Press Release

Boston, Massachusetts – February 16, 2017 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced that their affiliate Capacity Center has released its 9th annual Top 20 Capacity Traders Report.  In addition to the Top 20 Traders, this report lists Top 10 Pipelines traded on, together with an analysis that reveals trends in the natural gas trading market, including the numbers, duration and quantities of deals entered into during 2016.

1-capacitycenter-logo

“Tenaska was once again the top capacity Trader based on annualized capacity acquired,” said Skipping Stone President Greg Lander. “BP came in second with Direct Energy third, Sequent fourth, and Constellation coming in fifth to round out the top five. We are also seeing an emerging trend toward more longer term, forward-dated deals that are being done many months prior to the traded capacity being ‘effective,’ for example, deals done in April to start the following November as well as in the fall to start the following summer.”

The report provides the Top 20 rankings by utilizing the 2016 entries to Capacity Center’s database of all the transportation capacity release deals on interstate pipelines.  Rankings were determined based on annualized capacity acquired through capacity release trades excluding volumes done due to acquisitions and between related affiliates.  Methodology details are described in the report.

The annual report also provides:

  • A table with the full list of Top Twenty Capacity Traders, their count of 2016 deals done, multi-year annualized traded capacity and changes from full year 2015 capacity trading statistics
  • A table with Top Ten pipelines with their annualized and total multi-year annualized traded capacity
  • A discussion of the size and number of capacity traders in forward market relative to all capacity traded in pipeline capacity market

The full report is available at CapacityCenter.com.

For more information about the rankings or about Capacity Center, contact Brendan Tierney, btierney@capacitycenter.com or (978) 717-6144.

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com.

About CapacityCenter.com

CapacityCenter.com is owned and operated by the energy markets consulting firm, Skipping Stone LLC. Its automated services monitor capacity release offers, system notices and deal award information, as well as streaming available transactions and their details as they occur to its customers via email for trading, risk and regulatory compliance, and for deal origination and valuation purposes. Please visit http://www.capacitycenter.com for more information.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Skipping Stone, LLC Celebrates Twentieth Anniversary and 20 Years of Innovation During the DistribuTECH 2017 Conference in San Diego

Press Release

San Diego, CA – January 31, 2017 – Skipping Stone™, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced that they are celebrating “20 Years of Innovation” in their booth #3820 during the energy industry’s leading annual Transmission and Distribution (T&D) event in the world, the DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, January 31-February 2, 2017. Founded in 1996, Skipping Stone provides strategy development, market assessment and strategy implementation consulting to energy clients around the world. Skipping Stone is once again on the planning committee and chairing and co-chairing several track sessions for this conference hosting 11,300 industry peers from 78 countries at the San Diego Convention Center.

Skipping 20 years transparent (002) (002)

“Our reputation for innovation and client success gives me great pride,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO Peter Weigand. “Our original model of using experienced people and focusing on delivering results for clients was viable in the beginning and continues to be viable today. For the past two decades, we have had the pleasure of working with a wide variety of people helping them and their companies solve knotty problems and by providing unique and innovative approaches to the many changes and opportunities in the energy markets worldwide.”  Weigand continued, “My favorite thing to do is collaborate with clients to invent new business models or product and service concepts and then work together to navigate that to success.”

From beginning in the spare bedroom of founder Peter Weigand’s home, the company has grown to offices in Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo.  From its first client, Statoil, Skipping Stone has served over 270 clients in 35 different countries around the world. A sampling of projects, client success stories and the history of driving innovation, is found on skippingstone.com.

Follow Skipping Stone on social media for upcoming webinars and other conferences or events: LinkedIn Skipping Stone, and Twitter.com/SkippingStoneLL and be sure to visit Booth #3820 to participate in the Skipping Stone Twentieth Anniversary Celebration, recognizing “20 Years of Innovation” on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 1:15-1:45 p.m. when attending DistribuTECH 2017.

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by

Skipping Stone Releases White Paper: Avoiding the Technology Trap

Press Release

ATLANTA, GA – January 18, 2017 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, announced today the release of a free whitepaper: Avoiding the Technology Trap. The paper examines the common technology traps companies fall into and offers practical strategies for avoiding these traps, as well as strategies and tactics on how to address the trap if a company is in one.

“We analyzed a significant number of software technology engagements across multiple energy clients we have worked with,” said author John Brown, Partner, Skipping Stone. “Too often we find clients are not happy with their software solutions because they aren’t delivering the value that was expected or required. What we found are some very common traps that companies fall into that are the primary causes of dissatisfaction. I wrote the paper to share the lessons we have learned and to hopefully provide some guidance based on our experience in helping clients either avoid or get out of these common technology traps.”

The white paper examines the experiences companies have when trapped; for example, relying on spreadsheets and “work arounds” instead of using the systems.  The paper also provides a step process involving people, processes, and technology that Skipping Stone has used successfully on numerous client engagements.

“Before Skipping Stone, I was the CEO of a large energy retailer,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO Peter Weigand. “When I took that job, I was shocked at how ineffective our systems were and how many people the company had doing manual or spreadsheet work.   We did an overhaul using a step process similar  to the one described in the white paper.  The impact was dramatic in terms of ability to reduce cost, raise profitability and enable us to realign the business so that it could grow.”

Avoiding The Technology Trap white paper is free and may be downloaded at www.SkippingStone.com.  Mr. Brown welcomes feedback along with discussion and can be reached at jbrown@skippingstone.com or call him at 770-557-0983.

Free Webinar:  At 1:00 p.m. EST, February 15th Mr. Brown will discuss the white paper as part of the Skipping Stone “Fifteen Minutes That Matter” webinar series. To register please email: Kogorman@SkippingStone.com.

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Kelly

Director of Marketing

Skipping Stone, LLC

rkelly@skippingstone.com

O +1 (770) 558-2757  M (770) 401-4044

/by