Where energy meets facts: Empowering People to Reduce Energy Costs
Channel: Digital Oil and Gas
Date: 24/04/2024

#energytransition #powerconsumption #consumer 

The average western energy consumer has no idea how much energy they use. It’s not really their fault — the energy system was never designed to give the consumer visibility into their energy consumption. We even measure energy in many different and confusing ways. Gasoline is in gallons. Power is in kilowatt hours. Propane is in pounds. 

Structurally, energy companies are not incentivized to provide their consumers with data about their energy use. Collecting the data is a huge exercise in building integrations from various data sources to build up a picture of energy use. Households have many different energy suppliers (power and gas utilities, gasoline retailers), and there are many individual buyers.  It’s not clear consumers will pay for that insight. 

Jotson is setting out to challenge that problem and fix it. To quote Mark Little, the CEO and co-founder, it’s baffling that mankind can put people into orbit around the planet, and land astronauts on the moon, but the average household can’t figure out how much they’re spending on energy. By giving consumers real data about their energy use, Jotson hopes to empower people to take charge of their energy consumption and to make better personal choices to reduce their demands on the energy system. 

In this interview, I speak with Mark about his start up,  Jotson, and his mission to empower Canadians to manage household energy cost and consumption. 

Mark has more than 35 years of leadership experience in the Canadian energy industry, including 23 years at Imperial/Exxon, and most recently as President & CEO at Suncor Energy. During his career, Mark has led large complex organizations working on multi-billion-dollar energy projects, from the conceptual design, development, and project implementation through to operations and maintenance. 
 
Mark has led the startup and operation of large wind, solar, and biogas projects, and is one of the founding CEOs of Pathways Alliance, an initiative that sets the six largest oil sands companies in Canada on a path to reach net-zero CO2 emissions.  

He is a board member of General Fusion, and an advisor to both the Coalition for a Better Future and Cycle Capital. 

Mark holds two degrees – one in computer science from the University of Calgary, and one in applied petroleum engineering technology from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the advanced management program at Harvard Business School. 

From 2003 to 2007 he served as Honorary Colonel for the 409 and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons at 4 Wing Airforce Base in Cold Lake, AB; a role that reflected his commitment to the relationship between the Air Force, the community and industry.

Mark was also the Recipient of the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business’ Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations 2024.

Timestamps:
0:00 Opening
01:53 About Mark and his background
03:20 Why management of personal energy is so hard
09:00 People don’t understand their energy use
12:15 Why is the energy system the way it is
15:20 Jotson’s scope in energy management
17:38 Geographic focus for energy data
19:22 Consumer reaction to real data about energy consumption
22:16 Biggest barriers to transforming energy system
24:40 The commercial model
28:00 Jotson approach to privacy
30:06 Benchmarking possibilities
32:07 Jotson’s future
36:54 Personal insights

Additional Tools & Resources:
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You might find this related article of interest!
👉https://digitaloilgas.substack.com/p/the-epic-contest-for-tomorrows-energy-customer

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Disclaimer: 
The views expressed in this video are my own and do not constitute professional advice.

Contacting the Guest:
Mark Little

📧email : info@jotson.com
📇 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-little-93b87530/
👨‍💻http://www.jotson.com/