Rolling with ROI opportunity

IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE: Despite the data-driven part of the business, First Point Power relies on building trust with customers to help fuel its commercial energy-supply business, says Chief Operating Officer Stephen Bestwick, right, pictured here with CEO Peter Schieffelin.
IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE: Despite the data-driven part of the business, First Point Power relies on building trust with customers to help fuel its commercial energy-supply business, says Chief Operating Officer Stephen Bestwick, right, pictured here with CEO Peter Schieffelin.

CEO (or equivalent): Peter Schieffelin 2015 Revenue: $78,335,000 2013 Revenue: $23,499,000 Revenue growth: 233%

Few landmarks in Rhode Island are as iconic as the Newport Pell Bridge, especially at night, when its expanse of sparkling lights is reflected in Narragansett Bay. For many of us, images of the bridge conjure memories of summertime boat rides and evenings spent in Newport’s harbor district. But just how much electricity it takes to power the bridge’s lights on a given evening is something most of us probably never consider.

The opposite must be true for Peter Schieffelin, CEO of First Point Power LLC, a Rhode Island-based competitive energy supplier. FPP supplies the power that lights up the Newport Pell Bridge, in addition to providing electricity for commercial consumers – such as colleges, hotels and sports arenas – in nine states across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Schieffelin founded FPP in 2010, using his parents’ Jamestown residence as a home base, and built the company up to what it is today: one of the fastest-growing competitive energy suppliers in the Northeast, with nine full-time employees and annual revenue that was upwards of $78 million during fiscal 2015, an increase of roughly 233 percent on the company’s 2013 figure.

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“When you’re in startup mode, you basically take on any business that you can,” said FPP’s Chief Operating Officer Stephen Bestwick, who joined the company in 2013. “You … generate revenue any way you can until you figure out what it is you want to be when you grow up.”

Which is exactly what FPP was doing during the winter of 2013, when a fluctuating polar vortex sent temperatures plummeting in the Northeast, causing energy prices to spike. It was during this time, says Bestwick, that FPP began carving out a niche that would ultimately help steer the company out of its infancy.

“During that January through May we crafted a well-defined strategy,” which previously hadn’t existed, said Bestwick. By focusing solely on commercial and industrial customers, and using energy brokers with long-standing careers in the business, FPP was able to leverage the platform that Schieffelin had conceptualized back in 2010. Said Bestwick, “We looked at the opportunity in that space as the greatest return on our investment, and we rolled with it.”

Three years later, FPP is still rolling with it, having since expanded its footprint to more than half of the 17 states in the United States where energy is deregulated. That includes all of the deregulated New England states, plus Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. FPP recently became licensed in Ohio and plans to expand coverage there in the coming year as well. The competition includes about 400 other competitive energy suppliers.

“I’m the more consumer-centric, touch-feely side of the business,” said Bestwick, who joined FPP after a 20-year career with Crabtree & Evelyn, “and Peter is definitely the brains of the operation.” Schieffelin founded FPP with 14 years of experience in various energy and finance-related positions with investment banking groups.

According to Bestwick, the company’s recent success lies in the ingenuity of its founder and the combined skill sets of its team of employees.

“When I look at the principles that guide this business, it’s all about building great relationships based on trust, transparency and honesty,” he said. “We are in the people business; we just happen to sell electricity.” •

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