Today we’d like to introduce you to Energy Ogre CEO Jesson Bradshaw.
Hi Jesson, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Thank you for having me! Really, I very much was in the right place at the right time. Out of school, I was fortunate enough to find myself with a small company that was focused on the wholesale electricity market at a time when things were opening up. The wholesale electricity market was undergoing changes due to some new federal rulemaking. This allowed open access for transmission services, and also allowed more people to buy and sell electricity freely. It was an exciting time because the whole landscape of the industry was changing, and I was lucky enough to have a front row seat.
I got to do a little bit of everything. Over time, I eventually co-founded multiple companies, and we got a lot more focused on the retail side of the electricity business. We ended up growing our own proprietary brands, selling a couple of those in the 2011-2012 time frame.
A lot of what we’re doing here at Energy Ogre is meant to unlock the benefits of a competitive market and solve some of the frustrations I saw consumers facing. The competitive electricity market has been a huge opportunity and a great win for the average consumer in Texas. But the catch is, they need to be able to fully take advantage of it. Whether it be through confusion or tricky wording on electricity plans, some people are not fully getting the benefits out of the marketplace. That’s exactly why we focused the business structure of Energy Ogre on solving those kinds of problems. We’re always checking the market, keeping our members in great, fixed-rate electricity plans at the lowest cost possible.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Early in my career, the environment was very dynamic and fast paced. That was because the business was growing so quickly, and the market environment was changing fast. This placed a real premium on making decisions rapidly.
When I later started my own businesses, I realized that I never learned the kind of patience and circumspection that it really takes to successfully grow and evolve a new business. When you are leading a business, you really need to have all of the tools in your tool kit and understand when the time is appropriate to use each one of those skills. Because I had never really learned patience in the business setting, I paid some serious “tuition” in developing that understanding, but it was a completely necessary step for me. When I started my own business, even if I wanted things to go faster than they could, I wasn’t in control of a bunch of the outcomes or things that would affect us. Having to learn real patience was crucial.
There’s also a big change when you don’t have all the infrastructure and resources of a very large company behind you to accomplish what you’re doing. Building all that from scratch was a challenge. Even if folks know who you are and have faith in your abilities, they don’t know what you’ll do outside of a big organization. That was an eye-opener for me.
In addition to that, when you’re ultimately accountable and responsible for employees and the strategic direction of the organization, it’s a lot of responsibility. It’s not just going home and worrying about your piece of the business. You have other people’s livelihoods that are dependent upon the decisions that you make.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
90% of Texans overpay for electricity. Why? Because there is an overwhelming amount of options, complex pricing structures, and hundreds of gimmicky electricity plans that are “too good to be true!” Now is the best time to check out what Energy Ogre can do for you. In 2014, Texans finally got the consumer advocate they desperately needed when our company was founded. Since we began, Energy Ogre has saved our members more than $150 million by effectively managing their electricity. Here’s how the process works from start to finish:
1. We select and enroll you in the cheapest plan out of thousands of options
2. We ensure your account is properly set up, and we verify you’re billed the proper amount each month
3. We perform market checks to see if you can save more money by enrolling in a new plan
4. Before each contract ends, we repeat steps 1-3 for your next contract
Learn more at energyogre.com/texas.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
My parents were divorced when I was very young. In my early childhood and through high school, I spent part of my life in El Paso and part of my life in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Two very, very different environments, not just socioeconomically, but culturally. With different countries, it was a multicultural and diverse mindset of things that I was able to see and get exposed to.
I was always super interested in STEM. I still have a huge passion for that. Like a lot of people, I was pretty intellectually curious about things. One thing that’s stayed with me is an amazement and a wonder for emerging technology, technological change and how it all occurred.
The nice thing about the electricity/power business is that it’s continuously evolving and improving. There’s always something new to discover. It can have massive impacts on the quality of life for people – accessibility of electricity, how that electricity is created, and what the environmental effects of those things are. Our modern way of life is dependent upon having reliable supplies of electricity. I feel fortunate that all the new types of technologies and new opportunities keep my focus and intellectual appetite growing, as we continue to evolve Energy Ogre.
Pricing:
- The first 100 VoyageHouston followers to sign up with Energy Ogre using the promo code VOYAGE will get a free month of service!
- Energy Ogre membership is $10 per month, and our service can help lower your electricity bill drastically.
Contact Info:
- Email: membercare@energyogre.com
- Website: www.energyogre.com/texas
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/energy.ogre/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/energyogre
- Twitter: twitter.com/EnergyOgre
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/EnergyOgreElectricitySimplified
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-ogre/
