Welcome Your New Expert Interview Series: Michael Foley, New Expert in the Digital Utility Group - [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Expert Interview]
For years there have been calls for the utility sector to adapt to new technologies and opportunities and embrace innovation. Energy companies have been risk-averse as they focus on compliance with complex regulatory regimes, optimizing rate-payer costs, and addressing immediate reliability concerns. While those factors are still ever-present in the energy industry, the emerging energy landscape driven by Net Zero ambitions and the explosion of distributed energy resources on the grid has hammered home the importance, transformation, and modernization.
As this era for utilities, the most technology-focused and forward-looking in the sector’s history, marches on, agreeing that we must embrace change does not make the process straightforward or obvious. Looking to experts on these new technologies and their proper deployment remains critical. With that in mind, Energy Central constantly seeks to add to its Network of Experts, especially in the Digital Utility Group.
For the next entry in our Energy Central Power Perspectives “Welcome Your New Expert Interview Series,” we’re thrilled to welcome Digital Utility Expert Michael Foley. Michael is the Senior Business Development Manager at Wipro, who brings nearly three decades of experience to the table.
Matt Chester: Thanks for being one of our experts, Michael. Please tell us about your background in the industry.
Michael Foley: In 1995, I was approached by the CEO of Direct Energy, who wanted to sell natural gas in the United States to commercial and residential customers. He spoke to me because he had a real problem. He knew how to acquire natural gas but did not know how to handle the billing and customer interactions that take place when starting to do business with end users. He wanted to tap into my background and experience in the bank card industry and how to deploy a customer billing system.
I live in Georgia, and coincidentally the Georgia natural gas market was deregulating. In months, I went from an idea to a business plan. Six months later, I launched a business to do the back-office functions—the billing customer services and the systems needed to support retail gas marketers in Georgia. That company grew rapidly, and in 2002 we sold the company to what was then Alliance Data, today Vertex One.
That experience put me at the forefront of the utility industry, doing things that utilities told me they would never do, such as outsourcing. From there, I joined IBM and became intrigued and involved in many smart cities and AMI projects on the East Coast. I have worked with large investor-owned utilities, retail energy marketers, and municipal utilities for more than 28 years. During my career, I’ve interacted with most major utilities in one form or fashion.