Aquilon Energy Services
Collaborative, Automated Wholesale Energy Transaction Settlement

Technology industry veteran, Jeff Wagner, President and Founder of Aquilon is eager to channel his years of technical expertise into the modernization of the wholesale energy industry’s settlement infrastructure. “I was actively involved during the adoption of electronic trading and settlement at one of the world’s largest commodities futures exchanges. Today’s scalable technology is much more capable of swiftly connecting critical business activities. At Aquilon, we are connecting the nation’s wholesale energy settlement departments into a collaborative network – the Energy Settlement Network – so that each company’s settlement department can immediately match large volumes of energy transactions with multiple counterparties prior to exchanging cash,” says Wagner.

Wagner is excited by the wholesale energy marketplace in North America. As growing supplies of natural gas and renewables drive change deep into the generation stack supplying the nation’s power grid, the business of trading wholesale energy products including power, natural gas and oil is growing rapidly.

The company’s unique service, the Energy Settlement Network, automates the settlement of bilateral wholesale energy trades between counterparties. “I was surprised that automated settlement technology had not been deployed in the marketplace. Over time, I realized that the service was perfect for the SaaS model because the process requires two counterparties to match, approve and reconcile very detailed energy specific activity prior to making payment,” notes Wagner.

By joining ESN, an organization automatically matches and ties-out their transactions with each energy counterparty. Automated matching enables companies to reduce settlement time-frames from weeks to days resulting in reduced risk and improved corporate performance. Aquilon has also introduced an industry-first look into settlement data analytics.

“I am excited to see how these efficiencies and performance tools can shorten the settlement cycle and improve the processing of wholesale energy transactions,” reveals Wagner.

We are implementing the Energy Settlement Network through a team of early advisors to ensure that the service is reliable, delivers value and improves industry settlement practices

“The Energy Settlement Network is built for counter parties of all sizes to settle physical and financial bilateral energy transactions,” says Wagner. ESN’s SaaS model enables two or more counterparties to collaboratively work on transactions. Collaboration enables both companies to simultaneously review, adjust and approve transaction data. “Aquilon is focused on closely aligning our products with the energy industry’s needs. We work with industry advisors who assist us in product functionality and features by using our products in their day-to-day business. ESN is an excellent example of an industry-led approach to product development.

Our advisors insisted on making ESN a platform for all types of wholesale energy participants,” explains Wagner. Today, ESN meets the business requirements of investor owned utilities, marketers, non-utility generators, municipals, cooperatives, marketers, pipeline operators, governments and other participants. Going forward, the company has a full product plan that has been established with the input of advisors. “By the end of the year, ESN will be settling power, natural gas, and several other high-priority wholesale energy products,” concludes Wagner.