Patent ID: 8527389

Claim:
A method for creating an automated bidding process among energy Providers in which a moderating computer collects bids from each Provider of a plurality of energy Providers, processes the bids and designates at least two Providers of the plurality of energy Providers to provide energy, consisting of electric power or natural gas, to at least one reseller for use by at least one customer of the at least one reseller, based on an economic choice in accordance with auction rules, wherein the method comprises: a. transmitting at least a portion of historical energy usage data associated with the at least one end-user customer of the at least one reseller to at least a portion of the plurality of energy Providers; b. receiving, from each Provider of the plurality of energy Providers, including at least one energy Provider to whom the at least a portion of historical energy usage data has been transmitted in Step a., bids to provide electric power or natural gas to the at least one reseller for use by the at least one end-user customer of the at least one reseller; c. processing the bids in accordance with the auction rules to produce processed bid data; d. storing the bids and the processed bid data in a data base as first bidding data; e. transmitting at least a portion of the first bidding data to at least one bidding Provider of the plurality of energy Providers; f. designating at least two Providers of the plurality of energy Providers to provide electric power or natural gas to the at least one reseller for use by the at least one end-user customer, with each of said designated Providers to supply at least a portion of the electric power or natural gas needed by the at least one end-user customer for use during at least a portion of a specific future time interval; and g. transmitting, to at least one of the designated Providers, data indicating at least a portion of the quantity of electric power or natural gas used during at least a part of the at least a portion of the specific future time interval by the at least one end-user customer, wherein each of Steps a., d., e., f. and g. is performed by at least one of the moderating computer, the moderating computer working in conjunction with at least one adjunct computer, the moderating computer working in conjunction with a control computer, or the moderating computer working in conjunction with both at least one adjunct computer and the control computer, and wherein each of Steps b. and c. is performed by at least one of the moderating computer or the moderating computer working in conjunction with at least one adjunct computer.