Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • February 11, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy STATE GOVERNMENT At DCP, Lamont and Bysiewicz greet workers, talk a little policy S ince the election, Gov. Ned Lamont has toured a half-dozen state agencies and counting. The point is to shake hands with employees and management alike, conveying that the administra- tion cares about their work, including any additional duties that would come from proposed legislation. "What do governors do if they don't go around and find out what people are up to and see what they need?" Lamont asked during a Jan. 29 walk-through of the Department of Consumer Protection, where he was accompanied by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysie- wicz. "Isn't that your job?" DCP wasn't a flashpoint in the cam- paign, unlike agencies overseeing motor vehicles, economic development and the potential rollout of highway tolls. Nonetheless, there's plenty of sig- nificant legislation under discussion at the state Capitol that would ultimately involve DCP, which employs 219 people and has a $13.8 million budget. During their recent tour, accompa- nied by an HBJ reporter, Lamont and Bysiewicz quizzed DCP officials about the possible legalization of sportsbetting and marijuana — two policies the gover- nor supports, and which, if approved by lawmakers, would almost certainly mean an expansion of DCP's oversight roles. Asked about sportsbetting, William Ryan, DCP's gaming division director, replied: "We're ready." The agency already regulates off-track betting, which includes brick-and-mortar wagering as well as bets placed online. New Jersey rolled out online sports- betting last year, and uses a geofenc- ing technology to block out-of-state bettors from logging in through their cell phones. "People are telling me if you drive across the bridge, as soon as you hit the New Jersey line, you can pull out your phone and start placing bets on your phone," Bysiewicz told Lamont. "Think about all that revenue." Estimates say it could generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues annually, but to get it, Lamont will have to hash out a deal with Connecti- cut's two casino-owning tribes, which argue they would have the exclusive rights to sportsbetting under their state-revenue compacts. On another floor at DCP, drug con- trol division director Rod Marriott's duties include overseeing the state's medical-marijuana industry. He said it would be up to lawmakers to decide exactly what role DCP would play if Connecticut legalized recreational pot. Meantime, Lamont has pledged to digitize state government to make it more efficient, and during the tour, he was on the hunt for evidence of out- dated methods. While DCP has moved more of its licensing and registration online, paper files were on display. Lamont recently nominated former IBM exec and entrepreneur Josh Ge- balle to spearhead agency digitization efforts as commissioner of the Depart- ment of Administrative Services. "So he's going to be getting rid of these file cabinets," Lamont said. STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS E. Windsor's Bidwell Energy takes aim at utility auctions U tility companies buy wholesale electricity and natural gas rou- tinely, shopping for the lowest bids they can find in online auctions to help them meet customers' fluctuating energy demands. Though largely invisible to everyday ratepayers, the auctions are an impor- tant way for utilities to ensure they buy power at the fairest prices available. That purchasing activity is enabled by a competitive niche industry that offers auction software and related services. Now, an East Windsor startup is hoping to break into that market with its own energy-auction software. Bidwell Energy was founded late last year by Elisabeth Charnley Bottomley, Lorraine Alexander, Tim Lockwood and Russ Monroe, who all used to work for Worcester, Mass.-based World Energy Solutions, a pioneering company in the online-auction space. All four left not long after World Ener- gy was acquired in 2014 for $77 million by Enernoc, which recently rebranded as Enel X and maintains a dominant presence in the auction market today. Bidwell offers a wholesale-energy auction platform called Pricelock, which it recently acquired from a now- defunct California company. Charnley Bottomley said she was impressed by Pricelock when it hit the market years ago, seeking to compete with her then-employer World Energy. She and Alexander had long dis- cussed forming a business in the wholesale-auction space. Those talks took on momentum a year ago, when they learned Pricelock was for sale. Now she and her team own the tech- nology, and are developing new fea- tures with hopes of convincing utilities to use it. Their other customer targets are power generators, energy market- ers and commodities traders, who pay commissions for the using the service. The Bidwell partners, three of whom operate another local company called Yolon Energy, which is a retail energy supply broker for commercial and industrial clients, hope their expertise and industry relationships will allow them to take the Pricelock platform further than its prior owner could. While Pricelock had eye-catching features when it came on the scene, it ultimately couldn't make the sales it needed, Charnley Bottomley said. One advantage of the Pricelock plat- form is that it can be customized, which Alexander said could help as Bidwell tries to win business in a competitive space. "Earning the right to customize the live-streaming procurements for utili- ties is a tall order," she said. A normal auction involves a seller trying to get the highest price they can. But energy auctions turn that no- tion on its head, with a buyer trying to attract the lowest possible price. Bidwell specializes in what's known as "Anglo-Dutch" auctions. It's a hybrid of two traditional auction formats. The "Anglo" portion means bidders are allowed to see other bids in close to real-time, but there's a "Dutch" auction component that includes sealed offers invisible to competing bidders. "[Bidders] can see themselves get- ting underbid in real-time," Alexander said. "It creates an anxiety through human nature. It drives the bidders to try to win." Bidwell Energy's managing partners are (clockwise from upper right): Russ Monroe, Lorraine Alexander, Elisabeth Charnley Bottomley and Tim Lockwood. Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov Susan Bysiewicz chat with Department of Consumer Protection liquor agent Richard Fedor during a recent tour of the agency. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED HBJ PHOTO | MATT PILON

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