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Skipping Stone Receives Energy Consulting Award

Los Angeles, CA – July 1, 2020 – Acquisition International magazine recently named Skipping Stone Best Specialist Energy Consulting Firm 2020-USA.

2020 Global Excellence recipients are handpicked by Acquisition International (AI) magazine based on the comprehensive analysis and research undertaken by the group. According to AI, “our proven approach ensures that selection of candidates are purely on merit – not popularity – thus recognizing and rewarding the very best in the business that are succeeding in their endeavors, innovating, growing, and improving.”

Skipping Stone’s model for over 20 years has utilized industry veterans with a variety of skills led by seasoned energy executives. This model and its practice of measuring each engagement based on client success metrics have led to thousands of energy consulting projects in over 50 countries.

“It’s always nice to be recognized for what we do by the press,” said Peter Weigand, Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO. “We’ve been fortunate enough to collect a number of awards over the years; however, the truest measure of appreciation for us will always come from our clients’ opinion of our efforts.”

Learn more here: International Services and here: Japan Services

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Skipping Stone Hosts Seminar

Decision-Making Models in Complex Energy Markets

Tokyo, Japan – December 13, 2019 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, hosted a seminar for more than 60 Japanese energy companies at the TOCOM meeting facilities. The topic of Decision-Making Models in Complex Energy Markets is increasingly relevant as the Japanese energy market continues to grow in complexity.

Peter Weigand, Skipping Stone Chairman & CEO, and Shuichi Kishida, President, Skipping Stone Japan, led off the seminar followed by Stuart Kelly, VP APAC, and David Wilson, CEO from Energy Exemplar, whose Plexos software is the global leader in analytics and decision modeling.  In addition, Steve Jenks, former head of Landis & Gyr in Japan laid out the various complexities, not just of Japan’s energy markets, but global markets as well.

“Audience participation was very robust as many attendees seem to be sorting out how to analyze and make sense of the market complexities,” said Shuichi Kishida.  “Many questions concerned the case studies provided for other global markets and how they might be applied in Japan.”

“The progression from a monopoly market to a simple initial market design followed by ever more complex markets is typical of every other liberalized energy market in the world,” indicated Peter Weigand.  “One of the keys for market participants to grow and thrive in complex markets is their ability to analyze vast amounts of data and then be able to make intelligent decisions quickly.”

About Skipping Stone
Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com or www.skippingstone.co.jp.

Media Contact:

Skipping Stone Japan
Japan_info@SkippingStone.com
(03) 5521-1070

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TOCOM Launches Electricity Futures Market

Tokyo Commodity Exchange Launching Electricity Futures Market

Partners with Skipping Stone to attract U.S. Traders and Market Maker Participation

 Boston, MA – May 28, 2019 – The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) is preparing to launch its electricity futures market with an anticipated start date in September 2019 subject to approval of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The electricity futures contract is being designed for 15 forward months with East and West market clearing locations. TOCOM also has existing futures markets for precious metals, rubber, agriculture, and oil.

Japan is the third largest electricity market in the world with over 1,000 TWh of generation and is also the world’s largest LNG market importing over 83 million metric tons annually. Japan has deregulated the electricity and gas markets enabling competition to supply 87 million electricity and 25 million gas end-use customers.

Since full deregulation of the electricity market in April 2016, over 500 retail marketing companies have entered the market and about 18% of the customers have switched from utility supply to a retailer. The customer switch rate has averaged over 400,000 per month. The gas market deregulated in April 2017 with over 10% of end-use customers having already switched suppliers.

Deregulation has also spurred dramatic growth of electricity trading activity on JEPX, the physical spot market, which is now trading over 30% of Japan’s generation. Over the counter and bilateral electricity trading is also growing rapidly. Over 95% of LNG traded in Japan is currently tied to a market index, such as Japan Crude Cocktail (JCC) which is highly correlated with TOCOM’s Platts Dubai Crude Oil futures contract, which closely mimics Japan LNG pricing.

Now that there is adequate liquidity in the underlying physical markets for electricity, the launch of the electricity futures market by TOCOM is in line with Japan’s Growth Strategy to provide a trading environment where multiple energy futures contracts, such as electricity and LNG, are available in one exchange. In addition, TOCOM and the Japan Exchange Group recently announced an agreement to pursue combining their businesses.

TOCOM has partnered with Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting firm, to introduce their electric futures market and attract U.S. trading companies and market makers to join the TOCOM market. Skipping Stone has been active in the Japan energy markets for over five years working with retailers, trading companies, generators, utilities and technology providers. The firm has assisted 10 U.S. companies who have entered Japan’s energy markets.

“We are focusing our marketing efforts on overseas proprietary traders, who make up a large part of TOCOM’s trade volume. These efforts have resulted in increased overseas trading, which now makes up the majority of TOCOM’s customer trades,” said Takamichi Hamada, President & CEO of TOCOM.

To support the launch and attract new members, Skipping Stone is scheduling a series of June introductory and informational meetings with U.S. trading firms that Masahiro Yamashita, Head of TOCOM’s Power Market Preparatory Office will attend.

“The futures trading and energy market opportunities in Japan are extremely attractive,” said Peter Weigand, Chairman and CEO of Skipping Stone. “It’s been years since a new market has opened and none that I can recall that have Japan’s size and attributes. With retailers clamoring for hedge products, deregulated electric and gas markets with numerous futures, swaps, options, spark spreads and more trading instruments in their early stages, the profit and arbitrage opportunities don’t get much better than this.”

TOCOM offers four types of memberships. Two of the membership types are designed for foreign trading companies and do not require a business location in Japan. Foreign trading companies are also able to trade TOCOM listed products through Broker members.

For more information on the Japan energy markets and futures market or to schedule a call or visit with Mr. Yamashita, please contact Atsuyo Miller, amiller@skippingstone.com  714-316-1914 (PDT)

About Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM)
Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) is Japan’s largest commodity futures exchange with a trading representing a 98% market share, and one of the most prominent exchanges in Asia. Futures and Options contracts on a variety of industrial products are traded (i.e.: gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the precious metals market; crude oil, gasoline and kerosene in the oil market; aluminum and rubber). TOCOM was established in 1984 as a result of a merger between the Tokyo Textile Exchange, founded in 1951, the Tokyo Rubber Exchange and the Tokyo Gold Exchange.

For more information about TOCOM, please visit www.tocom.or.jp

About Skipping Stone
Skipping Stone is a global energy markets consulting firm that works with clients to navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. The firm has delivered bottom line results for over 270 clients in more than 50 countries engaged in gas, electric, renewables, distributed energy and energy technologies. Consulting services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, innovation, outsourced launch services, technology services, M&A services and project management.

For more information about Skipping Stone, please visit www.skippingstone.com

Media Contact: 
Nancy Young, Director of Marketing, Skipping Stone  Nyoung@skippingstone.com  +1 (832) 279-3029

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XOOM Energy Japan is #24 and the Fastest Growing Retailer in Japan

Tokyo, Japan – November 29, 2018 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, has assisted several U.S. based retail energy marketers to enter the Japan electricity market.  Skipping Stone client, XOOM Energy Japan GK, recently achieved the rank of #24 among the 400 electricity retailers in the Japan market. Skipping Stone analyzes regulatory and market activities and tracks market share statistics in its monthly Japan Energy Market Report, which also indicates XOOM Energy Japan is the fastest growing retailer in Japan.

“Congratulations to XOOM Energy Japan, this achievement is remarkable given the company only launched its Japan operations two years ago,” said Peter Weigand, Chairman and CEO of Skipping Stone. “There are challenges to expanding to any new market; however, going to a different country with language barriers and hiring people who don’t have retail energy experience is an even greater challenge. The fact that XOOM Energy Japan was not only able to overcome those challenges, but also grow so rapidly is a credit to their management team,” continued Weigand.

“We knew, being the first non-Japanese company to be registered by METI to serve low-voltage consumers and being early to this new market would present unique challenges,” said Thomas Ulry, CEO of XOOM Energy Japan.  “But with our roots in a wide range of North American retail markets, we understood this experience would give us an advantage in Japan. We have been working hard to transfer this know-how to our Tokyo team while adapting our business practices to Japanese culture and the evolving market.  While much work remains, we are pleased with our progress.”

The Japan retail electricity and gas markets are open to every customer to switch their supply from the utility to a retailer. With 83 million potential electric customers and 25 million gas customers, the Japan retail energy market is the largest and newest in the world.  Switching activity in electricity has been robust with an average of 400,000 switches per month.  As of September 2018, there are still over 85% of the customers who have not switched.

“We expect the switching activity to get even more robust as the price to beat from utilities is slated to be dissolved in April 2020,” added Weigand.  “We fully expect to see some of our other US retail clients we have assisted in entering the Japan market to hit the Top 25 in the not too distant future.”

About Skipping Stone

Skipping Stone is an energy markets consulting firm that helps clients navigate market changes, capitalize on opportunities and manage business risks. Our services include market assessment, strategy development, strategy implementation, managed services, technology selection, technology implementation, project management and talent management. Our sector focus areas are natural gas and power markets, demand response, technology services, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources. Skipping Stone’s model of deploying energy industry veterans has delivered measurable bottom-line results for over 270 clients globally. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London. For more information, visit SkippingStone.com or www.skippingstone.co.jp.

For information about our monthly Japan Energy Markets Report (in English), please contact Atsuyo Miller.  AMiller@skippingstone.com (714) 316-1921

Media Contact:

Nancy Young
Director of Marketing
Skipping Stone
NYoung@skippingstone.com
(832) 279-3029

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