Practice Overview

Anyone who reads the newspaper or watches television is aware of the tremendous upheaval in the energy and utilities sector. Energy service providers (ESPs) are coping with industry restructuring (both in gas and electric markets), energy supply shortages, unstable prices, environmental impacts, and regulatory indecision – all of which compounds an already risk-replete environment. Enron’s collapse, the merchant power business meltdown, the continuing liquidity crisis and attendant asset fire-sales, have ushered in severe cost-cutting, as energy companies do everything possible to bolster bond ratings and maintain stock price levels. Restructured energy markets have resulted in only small pockets of customer acceptance and delivered scant profits. As a result, energy service providers are retrenching in core energy delivery business areas, and jettisoning once heralded innovative new ventures and cross-industry service forays.

What’s more, FERC’s proposed standard market design portends yet another unknown for energy industry players. Furthermore, the potential impacts to date of door-to-door retail energy strategies, municipalization efforts, new governance, financial disclosure laws and green energy initiatives have yet to play themselves out.

Good, actionable intelligence about markets, customers, and competitors is more essential than ever before to successfully navigate through these difficult and volatile times. Fuld & Company’s Global Energy Practice offers the experience in addressing the specific and unique intelligence means of the energy sector. Our staff has focused on satisfying the ever-involving intelligence needs of energy service providers since the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. As such, we have a robust understanding, spanning a wide range of relevant issues across upstream, midstream, and downstream aspects of the business. A selective sampling of our intelligence assignments for a diverse array of energy provider companies includes:

• Market evaluations of energy technology investments;
• Competitor assessment -- new energy software product development;
• Acquisition due diligence;
• Evaluation of the energy market’s transition to the retail market;
• Monitoring competitors’ response to regulatory changes

For more information about how Fuld & Company’s Global Energy Practice can support your needs, please contact Mark Chodnowsky at Mchodnowsky@fuld.com or (617) 492-5900.

Project Experience

New Product Rumors

Price & Cost Structure

Productivity

New Rival

Operations & Processes

Innovation

Positioning

Deregulation

Use of Information Technology

Mergers & Acquisition