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Skipping Stone Adds Hiroshi Okuyama as New Executive Vice President in Japan

Tokyo, Japan – October 12, 2020 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, has appointed Hiroshi Okuyama as Executive Vice President to lead the company’s growing risk management services and wholesale markets practice areas. He will be engaged with both Japanese and International companies in the areas of commodity trading, futures, risk management business practices and the related growth strategies.

Mr. Okuyama has extensive experience in global commodities trading and risk management. He has held positions of increasing responsibility from trading on the commodity exchange floor in New York to ultimately the Presidency of Unicom International and US Japan joint venture proprietary trading firms with trading operations in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

As President of Unicom International, Mr. Okuyama led the company in changing and adapting their strategies and risk management practices to fit the evolving commodities markets. Upon his return to Japan in multiple leadership roles with Nissan Securities, he helped develop their international business and corporate strategies.

Working closely with John Brown, Skipping Stone’s Partner in charge of global risk management services, ETRM systems and energy technologies, Mr. Okuyama will leverage the company’s global experiences to bring best practices to the Japan market.  He will also leverage his extensive knowledge and relationships in Japan to assist Skipping Stone’s international trading clients entering the Japan energy markets.

“I’m honored that Hiroshi has agreed to join our company,” said Peter Weigand, Chairman and CEO of Skipping Stone.  “Hiroshi fits extremely well with our leadership team of former executives with global experience.”

Shuichi Kishida, Skipping Stone Japan President commented, “Adding Hiroshi’s deep experience in wholesale markets, international commodities trading and risk management to our Japan team, will reinforce our ability to serve our clients’ expanding requirements in the liberalized power and gas markets.”

Media Contact:
Skipping Stone Japan
+81 3-5521-1070

Skipping Stone US
nyoung@skippingstone.com

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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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Skipping Stone and Implementary Form Strategic Alliance to Promote APAC Business Expansion

Boston, Massachusetts – October 23, 2019 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, and Implementary Pte. Ltd., an Asia-Pacific (APAC) energy consulting and systems implementation firm, today announced a strategic alliance agreement to promote complementary business services to each other’s clients.

With the growing globalization trend in LNG and power markets, energy clients of both firms are requesting expanded reach to cover multiple markets with services coordinated using cross-continent resources. To address client requirements, the two companies have developed an integrated resourcing model that leverages Skipping Stone’s strengths in North America, Japan, and the European Union (EU) and Implementary’s strengths in APAC markets.

The first focus area of the alliance is wholesale trading clients who are either active in or expanding into the recently liberalized Japan power and LNG markets. The companies are planning to roll out a jointly coordinated services menu for this area. In the near future, a webinar and presentation explaining the joint services will be scheduled for clients and other interested parties.

“A number of our clients have approached us about the Japan wholesale market, especially now that the power futures market is up and running. This alliance enables us to leverage Skipping Stone’s Japan expertise and relationships and for them to leverage our APAC experience and relationships. The real winners here are energy companies who need a coordinated project with skilled resources in both APAC and Japan markets,” said Jason Novobranec, Implementary Senior Vice President.

“We are excited about this alliance for several reasons,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO Peter Weigand. “Implementary is well known and respected with unique skills, one of which is CTRM requirements, selection, and implementation projects. This area has huge potential in Japan as they roll out many new wholesale markets, such as futures, capacity markets, ancillary services, and a quickly growing OTC market.”

“In some ways, this is like putting the band back together,” added John Brown, Skipping Stone Partner. “In a prior position, the Implementary team and I worked together on many successful CTRM implementations globally. Already knowing what our partners can do and having worked together in the past will make coordination very easy and benefits our clients in that they don’t have the risk of a team learning curve.”

About Implementary

Implementary Pte. Ltd. provides top-class resources to assist in Enterprise Software Implementations in the APAC region. Headquartered in Singapore and drawing upon over 35 years of experience in the Finance, Technology, Commodity and Trading spheres, Implementary offers a fully outsourced implementation, project management, and post-go-live support service to help your company deliver excellence in this demanding and high-growth region. For more information, visit Implementary.tech.

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.

Media Contacts:
Nancy Young
Skipping Stone, LLC
nyoung@skippingstone.com
+1 (832) 279-3029

Jason Novobranec
Implementary Pte. Ltd.
jason@implementary.tech
+65 9776 0425

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Skipping Stone and New Energy Consulting Announce Strategic Alliance to Promote International Business Expansion

Press Release
NEC_60

 

 

 

Boston, Massachusetts – April 23, 2019 – Skipping Stone, a global energy markets consulting and technology services firm, and New Energy Consulting (NEC), a United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) energy consulting firm, today announced a strategic alliance agreement to promote international business expansion services to each other’s clients.

According to both consulting companies, they intend to jointly develop integrated advisory services to help UK and EU companies participate in US and Japan and for US and Japan companies to develop opportunities in the UK and EU. The companies are planning a webinar and presentation to introduce joint services capabilities, target markets and focus areas as well as explaining how the alliance can benefit clients globally.

“We have a number of UK or EU based clients that have expressed interest in expanding their business into either the US or Japan markets,” said NEC Director Rob Eynon. “This alliance enables us to provide a variety of international expansion services utilizing Skipping Stone’s expertise in both of these markets.”

“The NEC team shares a similar business philosophy and energy experienced based service approach like we do,” said Skipping Stone Chairman and CEO Peter Weigand.  “Our joint ability to leverage each other’s services in our respective markets will provide a better and more cohesive experience for those companies with international expansion aspirations.”

“Together we provide world-class research organizations with strategy, innovation and implementation services that help bridge relationship and market access gaps between the UK, EU, Japan and US for the benefit of clients of both firms,” added Mr. Eynon.

 

About New Energy Consulting

New Energy Consulting Limited, founded in2016, is a UK energy market consultancy set up to support their clients with operational and system challenges. Working alongside all the major software providers for challengers in the UK market, we have assisted new market entrants and existing suppliers – helping them get into the market or getting more efficient once active. With a large network of associates, New Energy Consulting supports across the full spectrum of energy retail, from business model design, trading and hedging, systems and partner procurement to support across the full customer lifecycle. For more information, visit newenergyconsulting.co.uk.

 

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.

 

Skipping Stone Contact:
Nancy Young
nyoung@skippingstone.com  
+1 (832) 279-3029

New Energy Consulting Limited Contact
Rob Eynon
rob@newenergyconsulting.co.uk
+44 (0) 7740 199420

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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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