Energy Deregulation Opportunities

With energy being deregulated in Pennsylvania, entrepreneurs are eager to earn a piece of the pie. One such possibility was shared with local residents Wednesday night at the North Coventry fire hall.

After outgrowing their previous meeting place on High Street, Ignite, Stream Energy's marketing arm, moved to the new location. Ignite looks to offer an opportunity for people to make money off of the electricity deregulation.

Electric companies buy their electricity off of a grid. With the deregulation in effect, companies other than PECO can purchase and provide energy off this grid. In this scenario, PECO would still deliver and service the energy, but Stream would provide it.

According to the presentation, Stream keeps rates lower than other companies by not spending on traditional advertising.

This is where Ignite comes in.

Ignite team members join the service at a cost of $299 for training, and $24.95 a month for a website. They are paid to attract other customers to Stream -- those customers in turn setup their own teams to attract more customers.

Stream began in Texas, where it has become the largest network marketer of energy in the world.

According to the company's press kit, CEO Rob Snyder saw an unusual trend in Texas: people were not switching electric providers.

Scared to alter such an important aspect of their lives, Snyder came up with the idea of compensating people to explain the switch, hence Ignite was born.

Stream and Ignite have since moved into Georgia for gas and Maryland and Pennsylvania's energy industries.

Privately held, the company selected the Pottstown area as a new market of interest and will continue to hold meetings at the North Coventry fire hall.