AIMEE K. WILES Terry Sick says his company places these eNode boxes in offices to collect data on energy consumption and allow it to be monitored in real time via the Internet.

By Ben Rand
Democrat and Chronicle

(Monday, February 4, 2002) -- If ever there was a company that illustrated the potential of the "knowledge economy," eBidenergy Inc. of Henrietta is it.

The 5-year-old company works with industrial customers to collect, analyze and act on information about how much energy they use, when they use it and why.

Such data may seem dry and inconsequential to an outsider, but in business the information could make a big difference when it comes to calculating profit and loss.

Energy is one of the major overhead costs in running a business. By understanding energy use better, companies can figure out how to consume less and conserve more, thereby increasing profitability.

For example, during last summer's August heat spell, eBidenergy was able to pinpoint places where customers could generate electricity in-house instead of using public supplies. New York energy authorities pay companies incentives to make that shift.

Altogether, eBidenergy helped customers generate $220,000 in incentives, said Terry Sick, the company's founder and chief executive officer.

The company's chief tool is a special metering device with an Internet server that sends energy information directly to a secure Web page. Managers can then monitor their energy needs and make decisions in real time.

Understanding energy use also makes eBidenergy customers more powerful as consumers. Sick's company will collect the energy needs of its customers and offer them for bid on the open market. Because the customers are buying power together, they tend to get a better price, he said.

Sick founded eBidenergy in 1996 after 20 years as a local energy consultant. He did so to take advantage of energy and gas deregulation, which was just starting then but is now in full stride.

Deregulation offered an opportunity because, in the future, public utilities might not provide meter reading or other once-exclusive services.

Companies like eBidenergy might proliferate as deregulation progresses, said Mike Power, a spokesman for Rochester Gas and Electric Corp.

"I think it's going to be slower to evolve than first thought, but it's still going to happen," he said.

Located in the Lennox Tech Enterprise Center business incubator in Henrietta, eBidenergy has 11 employees. It was profitable last year. Sick declined to give details but said revenue doubled.

His company hasn't been derailed by the meltdown at Enron Corp., the energy services giant that tumbled into bankruptcy court -- although Enron did provide power to some eBidenergy customers. Enron also was a competitor, with its own information management division.

So eBidenergy is now talking with some customers of Enron's energy information division and working with customers to find new providers, Sick said.

The Enron debacle has made new investors a bit gun- shy about eBbidenergy. But Sick hopes that will change as the economy recovers.

For more information: www.ebidenergy.com.