ATCO to rival competition by launching electricity and natural gas retail company

The ATCO Group is getting into the electricity and natural gas retail business with the launch of its new company, ATCOenergy.

The new venture will be province-wide and is a new competitor to ENMAX here in Calgary.

ATCO Chair, President and CEO Nancy Southern said the company is also setting sights outside the province.

“We see this as being just the start of a new business for us,” she said.

The company is promising lower prices, green options, a lower administration fee and better customer service, without door-knockers and unsolicited calls.

“There is an opportunity to provide something better and more optionally to Albertans, so we did embark on these focus groups and a very formal process to understand exactly what that might be,” she said. “Transparency and accountability and the ability to talk to a real live person when they wanted to talk.”

Senior VP and Chief Development Officer Steven Landry said their strategy is divided into three different plans, focusing on new customers as well as those that are already with competitors.

“The packages that we developed through our focus groups was really clear, give me a reason to switch of signup,” he said. “Reward me for being loyal.”

Landry was also asked if he was concerned about ENMAX and other companies responding with new packages to combat ATCOenergy.

“You have to be prepared for something like that if it’s going to happen and I think from a business standpoint, you don’t want to have a race to the bottom,” he said. “But there’s room for another competitor in the Alberta market.”

The launch comes after a 10-year no-compete agreement ended between ATCO and DirectEnergy in 2014, as well as recent layoffs in 2015.

“This company as a startup company doesn’t come close to bringing back all of the people that we lost, but our hope is and my commitment to those people is that we are going to continue to drive new opportunities so that we can rehire all of those people and many more back over the course of the next few years,” she said, although she didn’t provide exact numbers.

Southern said tens of millions of dollars have been invested into ATCOenergy, although it isn’t at the $100 million mark.

“Whenever you launch a new business, you’d be very, very successful if you were able to have a complete payout in three years and we’re being a little more conservative, we’re probably looking for five years to seven years,” she said.

When asked if ATCO will eventually be the largest retailer of electricity and gas in the province, Southern paused before answering with a reference to the future.

“One of, but not just in Alberta,” she said. “Globally.”

“My father always said never stop selling, never stop dreaming and we’re always, we’re always thinking about what our future’s going to look like and where the next opportunities will come from.”