Energy Service Companies in a Post COVID Environment

The emergence of the energy service provider in the 1980s was nothing short of a wild surge up in the case of demand. Energy service providers cover a broad array of energy sector services. An ESCO is a company that provides specific energy solutions to their clients, which includes auditing, improving and developing changes to the ways the customer consumes energy, the definitive target being boosted efficiency.

Relating to the newest reports and headlines by energy media outlets, heading to 2022 we’re positioned to see historic high big oil prices. Considering though that several nations have promised to become carbon neutral in the years to come, this creates complications for energy generating countries. Alberta, a Canadian province, is a good example of this whereas the province produces the bulk of it’s oil reserves but the government continuously obstructs advancement of the industry through that province by refusing to approve projects.

As the world emerges from the gripes of the COVID we’re witness to the development of the ESCO. Technologies plays a sizeable role in the energy market and intrinsically ESCOs have adjusted to serve this now technically sophisticated field.

energy service company
Image used with permission: The Energy Report

Typically energy service companies focus on decreasing energy expenditure and saving organizations on energy spending by a variety of ways which includes regulatory energy consumption and low priced rate agreements regarding energy consultants. With deregulation in the United States energy market in the ’90s, the energy solutions business experienced a swift boost. Utilities, which for a long time experienced the shelter of monopolies with guaranteed revenue on power-plant assets, now were forced to compete to supply power to several of their biggest clients. Three years in to the Trump presidential term we’ve observed a considerable sweeping deregulation in the energy sector which obviously benefits energy service companies.

A worthwhile assessment between the United States Of America and Canada displays the contrasting variances with a deregulating government like the USA is at the moment, and the progressive government of Canada. If truth be told, as of writing this article Total has revealed they’re going to be writing off over $6 billion in Alberta oil sands resources in Canada.

With such a assortment of OandG services these companies provide, it’s difficult to list only a few whilst excluding lots of other important varieties. but it’s really worth remembering that amongst this industry, technology has played a top role in helping the sector advancements. A couple other services include boiler rentals, water treatment, transportation, pipeline screening, automation, midstream & downstream solutions and leak detection and repair (LDAR).

Consulting and negotiating energy costs is an additional in-demand service as energy management companies have-been springing up all over Canada and the US to fill the demand for low cost rates. The primary focus of energy consultants is to always save their customers dough by reducing energy rates and making existing functions more cost effective. The first step any energy management firm will carry out is a full and comprehensive energy audit in an effort to recognize a starting base line. Working with a recorded starting position after a company executes its energy audit is fundamental. Organizations that hire energy management companies realize the relevance of these reports by these energy service firms and thus often work closely with each other. The importance of the close working relationship amongst the energy consultant and the organizations top executives can not be understated given during any energy audit it’s vital to have corporate leaders readily available.

Some of the service providers these firms perform might include things like turnarounds, fabrication, environmental impact studies, meter proving, mobile boiler trucks, transport and others. You don’t have to look very far to see the devastation created by COVID19. Tens of thousands of jobs in the energy sector were lost in the first half of 2020 throughout the US and Canada.

mobile boilers
Image used with permission: The Energy Report

We spoke with Broderick Culbreth, an operations executive with Barton Energy service providers and here’s what he had to say.

“While it’s correct that we’re seeing a paramount shift within the energy sector since COVID, we’re also experiencing the introduction of new technologies and standards of how we behave ourselves on the job. Energy service providers is definitely taking a blow while on the other hand will re-emerge sturdier than ever.”

ESCOs are privately owned firms, either independent or an integral part of a large conglomerate, state-owned, non-profit, jv partnerships, manufacturers or manufacturers’ subsidiaries.

Market guidelines and government and industry regulations are the prime focal point to which all energy service providers must function. They are experienced in refining and simplifying the entire project to provide maximum efficiency and energy savings.

Long ahead of COVID we’d already began to see utility firms begin to reinvent themselves and make themselves more pertinent by grouping solutions you may not of previous thought they could offer. Things like internet providers now offering bundles with TV and home phone on top of the internet service. In Canada we commonly see energy providers partnering with government so they’ll further increase their scope with customers which includes the principal natural gas company in Canada called Enbridge, Enbridge has worked diligently to grow their service and products to capture more of the energy consumer sector. Basically as this happens, energy providers become energy service organizations offering a broad range of solutions versus concentrating on just supplying it.

You’re likely asking yourself that if this indeed is taking place then would not that make independent ESCOs obsolete? That said we hope that 2021 brings much prosperity to the energy sector and we can look back at 2020 as a year of lessons.