Energy network commerce system
First Claim
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1. A computer-assisted method of facilitating a retail energy transaction between one or more energy consumer-clients desiring retail energy contracts and energy suppliers, comprising:
- storing energy usage patterns for said one or more energy consumer-clients;
aggregating energy demand for said one or more energy consumer-clients based upon at least one similar attribute;
constructing an aggregated buy order that includes said usage patterns of said one or more energy-consumer clients;
posting said aggregated buy order in order to satisfy said aggregated energy demand where said energy suppliers can access said buy order via a computer network;
examining, by said energy suppliers, said usage patterns;
receiving bids from said energy suppliers via said network, each of said bids comprising one of a fixed price bid and a variably priced bid based on a market index;
ranking said bids based on one of a price difference between a highest bid and a lowest bid and a price difference relative to said market index;
accepting one of said bids via said network when a precondition is met; and
providing each of said one or more energy consumer-clients an account specific transaction.
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Abstract
A computer-assisted method of facilitating a transaction between an energy consumer-client desiring an energy contract and an energy supplier. The method includes posting a buy order where the supplier can access the buy order via a computer network and receiving a bid from the supplier via the network. The method also includes accepting the bid via the network when a precondition is met.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A computer-assisted method of facilitating a retail energy transaction between one or more energy consumer-clients desiring retail energy contracts and energy suppliers, comprising:
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storing energy usage patterns for said one or more energy consumer-clients;
aggregating energy demand for said one or more energy consumer-clients based upon at least one similar attribute;
constructing an aggregated buy order that includes said usage patterns of said one or more energy-consumer clients;
posting said aggregated buy order in order to satisfy said aggregated energy demand where said energy suppliers can access said buy order via a computer network;
examining, by said energy suppliers, said usage patterns;
receiving bids from said energy suppliers via said network, each of said bids comprising one of a fixed price bid and a variably priced bid based on a market index;
ranking said bids based on one of a price difference between a highest bid and a lowest bid and a price difference relative to said market index;
accepting one of said bids via said network when a precondition is met; and
providing each of said one or more energy consumer-clients an account specific transaction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15)
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13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform the steps of:
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determining a plurality of energy consumer-clients'"'"' energy needs based on data in a database;
grouping a plurality of clients having at least one similar attribute to create at least one group of said clients;
creating at least one bulk purchase buy order for said group;
posting said bulk purchase buy order where said energy suppliers can access said buy order via a computer network;
receiving bids from said energy suppliers via said network;
ranking said bids based on one of a price difference between a highest bid and a lowest bid and a price difference relative to a market index;
accepting one of said bids via said network when a precondition is met; and
providing each of said one or more energy consumer-clients an account-specific transaction from said bulk purchase.
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14. An apparatus for facilitating retail energy transactions, comprising:
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means for storing energy usage patterns for one or more energy consumer-clients;
means for aggregating a retail energy demand for said one or more energy consumer-clients;
means for constructing an aggregated buy order that includes said usage patterns of said one or more energy consumer-clients;
means for posting said aggregated buy order to satisfy said aggregated retail energy demand where energy suppliers can access said buy order via a computer network;
means for examining, by said energy suppliers, said usage patterns;
means for receiving bids from said energy suppliers via said network;
means for ranking said bids based on one of a price difference between a highest bid and a lowest bid and a price difference relative to a market index;
means for accepting one of said bids via said network when a precondition is met; and
means for providing each of said one or more energy consumer-clients an account-specific transaction from said bulk purchase.
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Specification