News

Direct Energy Acquires Wireless Energy Monitoring Tech

November 15, 2015 by Jeff Shepard

Direct Energy, through its parent company Centrica, agreed to acquire Panoramic Power, a provider of device-level energy management solutions, for $60 million. The Panoramic Power energy management solution offers commercial and industrial business customers a unique wireless and self-powered circuit-level technology with cloud-based analytics. The solution is designed to give customers unmatched real-time visibilty into their business operations through meaningful and actionable energy insights, enabling them to lower their energy consumption, reduce operating costs, and increase overall operational efficiency.

Direct Energy President and CEO Badar Khan announced, "It's an exciting time to be in the energy industry. Direct Energy has seen remarkable success this past year with our existing Panoramic Power partnership, which supports our brand promise to help customers buy less of what we sell. With this exclusive technology, Direct Energy is now an even more innovative and effective energy solutions provider and partner with our customers."

"The commercial industry trend is moving toward more centralized energy management solutions with a focus on automated energy data collection and reporting, which is why Direct Energy aims to seamlessly incorporate Panoramic Power's technology and analytical expertise into what we offer our growing customer base," said John Schultz, president, Direct Energy Business. "Customers will be able to see energy insights, such as once unpredicted device failures, energy-related infrastructure investment ROI, and other valuable information that can inform and affect major business decisions in the future."

Founded in 2009, Panoramic Power quickly became a global pioneer in energy management solutions. They have deployed more than 25,000 sensors at 700 sites across 30 countries. Panoramic Power is the recipient of numerous awards, and was recently named one of the top 100 IoT startups by Forbes magazine.

"I look forward to Direct Energy's integration of Panoramic Power into their successful business model for commercial customers, leveraging the market footprint of Direct Energy to scale and grow our vision. I am so grateful to our hardworking Panoramic Power employees for their years of steadfast effort and significant contributions to our success, and I know this effort will continue in working with Direct Energy for future growth," said Yaniv Vardi, CEO, Panoramic Power.

The acquisition builds upon an existing exclusive partnership between Panoramic Power and Direct Energy that began in June 2014, supporting Centrica's growth strategy by offering unmatched energy management technology and expertise to further increase customer growth through its new global business unit, Distributed Energy & Power. The Panoramic Power solution is recommended for businesses throughout North America, Europe and APAC, ranging from offices to multi-site retail to industrial and large commercial operations such as factories or hospitals.

Due to the ease and speed of installation, customers have found the energy management solution extremely practical and helpful in managing high energy costs by providing real-time visibility into circuit-level energy consumption. "It's like having an energy manager at every device telling me what I need to do and what needs to be addressed in real time," explains Environmental and Energy Manager Victor Melton, who works for Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD based in Carrolton, Texas.