This post was originally published on Simple Energy’s website. Simple Energy is now Uplight.

Simple Energy, the leading provider of utility-branded marketplaces and omni-channel instant rebates, has announced plans to double its level of investment in 2019, which will allow utility clients to deepen engagement with consumers. This announcement comes on the heels of a stellar 2018, during which Simple Energy increased its client base over 50%, doubled revenue to more than $40 million and grew the company’s reach to 40 million households across 25 U.S. states and Canada. The company has secured funding for expansion of capabilities and its team, including executive leadership, accelerating momentum for utilities to enable a more consumer-centric and environmentally sustainable energy system.

The year saw the launch of marketplace solutions for several new clients including Baltimore Gas & Electric, SRP, Columbia Gas of Ohio, and Indianapolis Power & Light. Particularly notable was the groundbreaking success of NYSEG’s newly expanded marketplace, which saw over 10,000 devices sold over Black Friday and a demand response program enrollment level of 70%, double the typical rate.

Justin Segall, Simple Energy President and Founder, provided perspective on this particular accomplishment: “Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday — basically a long weekend — we sold the enabling technology to build the equivalent of a 50 MW peaker plant. Thanks to our patented Instant Rebate engine, we were able to instantly enroll customers’ devices in their utilities’ demand response programs.”

PECO President and CEO Mike Innocenzo detailed the immediate value of opening up an ecommerce marketplace in a recent article he authored in the Edison Electric Institute magazine. “In its first month of operation, the PECO Marketplace had more than 36,000 visits, $230,000 in sales and 1,000 transactions. This shows us that customers are engaged, and we expect that to continue as we expand the marketplace and its offerings.”

“The marketplace will allow customers to customize their energy experience, and will allow Exelon’s utilities to evolve their business models through new types of transactions. Exelon’s utilities are evolving into platforms for both energy services and products, while positioning themselves as trusted energy advisors.”

The growing success of Simple Energy marketplace solutions opens the door to additional offerings for utilities. Justin Segall, Simple Energy co-founder and President added, “We are looking forward to expanding our solutions to allow for increasingly sophisticated, data-driven SaaS and service offerings and more insights on consumer preferences and behaviors.”

Key to carrying the momentum forward is adding new leadership expertise in corporate marketing, business development and regulatory affairs. As the first of these hires, Tanuj Deora, will be joining the company as VP of Market Development in January 2019, after four years as Chief Strategy Officer of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). Deora brings a variety of experience from across the clean energy industry, including developing wind energy projects in Colorado and serving as the first head of Governor Hickenlooper’s Colorado Energy Office.

“While Simple Energy’s success helping utilities more effectively engage, enable, and empower energy-wise actions by consumers is ground-breaking, what most attracted me to the team was their vision for the future,” remarked Deora. “In particular, the company’s broader commitment to integrating consumer insights through a suite of solutions for utilities will secure them at the center of the clean energy transition, delivering value to both individual consumers, and collectively to the grid. I’m excited to help our partners further evaluate and execute on their consumer engagement solutions and enabling it to become increasingly strategic to their core business operations.”

Additional investment in the team will include hiring more engineering, product, and partner success professionals to ensure continued growth at a high level of service and continued advancements to excite clients and consumers.

“I’m extremely proud of our team’s success in 2018, from maintaining 100% uptime for our clients’ marketplaces to exceeding our sales targets across new and existing partners,” said Yoav Lurie, Simple Energy CEO and Founder. “The team’s continued dedication to creating lasting change in the way consumers think about and use energy has helped our utility partners create demand for flexible grid resources, and we are excited about an even bigger and better 2019.”