B2B picks Tampa for headquarters

The arrival of Enporion, a company that links utilities with supplies, is seen as a boost to the bay area's high-tech push.

By KYLE PARKS

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001

TAMPA -- Enporion Inc., a new company that wants to help electric and gas utilities do business deals on the Internet, is moving its headquarters to Tampa's Harbour Island.

The company, a partnership of seven utilities, plans to bring 120 jobs to town within two years at an average salary of $60,000, twice Hillsborough County's average. The positions range from programmers to marketing experts to financial executives.

The move is a victory for the Tampa Bay area, which is trying to attract more high-tech jobs. Economic development officials hope companies such as Enporion can help the Tampa Bay area build a reputation as a high-tech center.

"Once you get a tech community going, the suppliers move in nearby, and then you get more growth from spinoffs," said Gene Gray, Hillsborough's director of economic development.

Enporion is one of several fledgling providers trying to get utility companies to buy everything from plant turbines to tree-trimming services on the Internet. But unlike many Internet business-to-business companies, this undertaking has old economy companies behind it.

Seven small to medium-size utilities, such as Allentown, Pa.-based PPL Corp. and St. Louis-based Ameren Corp., got together in August to form Enporion. (The name is derived from the Greek word for "marketplace.") Each partner put in more than $1-million to get it started.

The company, which has been working out of offices in Chicago, started offering its services in October. Its pitch is that it can help a utility save an average of 6 percent to 9 percent on its supplies, Enporion chief executive Joe Zelechoski said.

Part of the business is conducting "reverse auctions," where a company puts out word that it wants to buy a product or service and waits for bids. Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Keyspan Corp., an Enporion partner, says it used the service to save 30 percent on truck chassis. Another partner, Allete of Duluth, Minn., says it saved 20 percent on tree-trimming work.

Now, Enporion is ready to start selling its business-to-business capabilities to other utilities.

Its main competition is Pantellos Group, a similar partnership in The Woodlands, Texas. It includes such giant utilities as Southern Co. of Atlanta and Duke Energy of Charlotte, N.C. Also among its 21 founders: Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy, the parent of Florida Power.

"If Pantellos is the Hertz of this business, we are the Avis," Zelechoski said. "With hundreds of utilities out there that can benefit from this, there is room for more than one provider."

Utilities spend more than $130-billion a year in the United States to build, repair and operate their plants and distribution systems, industry officials say. This business would not be drastically affected by an economic downturn, they say, because utilities are consistent in how they spend their money.

The challenge for Enporion is to build a business from scratch: hiring the right employees, building a network of suppliers and convincing utilities that the service is worthwhile.

Among the utilities it hopes to sign up is TECO Energy Inc. But like many other utilities, the Tampa company is in the wait-and-see category, hesitant to jump until it's proven that the savings are real.

Enporion's goals are to land a second round of financing this year and turn a profit by early next year.

"They appear to have a lot of the elements they need to succeed," said Ted Fernandez, chief executive of Answerthink Inc., a technology consulting group in Miami. "In each industry, there will be one to three B2B companies that end up standing. The key will be whether they build a platform that saves their customers money."

Like John Hancock Financial Services, another high-tech outfit that's putting an operation in Tampa, Enporion officials were attracted to the idea of being a big technology fish in a smaller pond.

That was a key factor as the company chose Tampa over four other finalists: Chicago, Atlanta, Northern Virginia and Ann Arbor, Mich.

Tampa's wooing of the company got serious in November when it hosted Enporion's board members for a dinner at downtown Tampa's swank University Club and a bus tour of the area.

Enporion made its decision soon afterward, and don't underestimate the power of sunshine.

"We wanted a nice place for our clients to visit, that was a factor," Zelechoski said. "Actually, I have been frustrated several times lately by potential clients who say, "We want to visit, but we want to wait until you've moved to Tampa.' "

The company is in final negotiations to take about 35,000 square feet in the Two Harbour Place office building on Harbour Island. The move qualifies the company for as much as $600,000 in tax refunds from the state, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa under the Qualified Target Industries Tax Refund Program, spread over at least four years.

Enporion has started hiring and plans to have 80 workers on site by April.

- Contact Kyle Parks at parks@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3405.

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