Energy Force
For Livia Whisenhunt, Knowledge is Power
Energy experts
advise that with energy prices extremely volatile and the worldwide supply of
oil scarce, business owners should evaluate their current utility contracts
and have a clear long-term strategy for saving money on energy.
Oil is going
up and gas is affected by oil. Some say the fear in the Middle East is adding
$10 to $20 to the price of a barrel of oil. The range for natural gas is $12
to $15 per MCF when just a few years ago, anybody could buy it on the street
for $3 to $5 per MCF. In mid December, the price was remarkably over $15 per
MCF.
“It is priced so
high on the open market that people cannot afford deregulated prices,” says
Steve Bobick, president of UtiliTech, Inc., a company that offers utility and
telecommunications analysis. Many businesspeople are just beginning to feel
the effects of the most recent increase-where they might have expected a 12 to
13% increase, many customers are getting hit with 40, 50, or even 60%
increases over last year’s bills. Energy is an integral part of everyday life
and everyone – from corporations to the government to the average consumer –
is looking for the most cost-effective way to meet their energy needs.
Finding success in the high stakes, extremely competitive energy arena is not
for the fainthearted. It takes drive,foresight, and an ability to roll with
the punches.
Livia Whisenhunt,
who entered into the industry when it was still largely dominated by men, has
broken barriers and left her permanent footprint in the energy industry. CEO
and founder of PS Energy Group, Inc, Whisenhunt attributes her success to 20
plus years of experience in purchasing and marketing fuels for transportation
and production. This success has resulted in the energy and resource company’s
revenues to rise to the tune of $160 million dollars last year. “I’ve been in
this business for a long time, so it was just natural that I start my own
company within the energy industry,” said Whisenhunt. PS Energy Group is a
privately owned company based in Atlanta, Ga. that offers business, industry
and government a full range of energy and transportation solutions.
When PS Energy
was founded in 1985, the company was established as a wholesale marketer of
bulk transportation fuels. Now the company has expanded to offer several key
components in the industry. “Our services include, electricity,
emergency fueling, fuel management, natural gas, risk management and vehicle
tracking,” said Whisenhunt. PS Energy was one of the first federally approved
marketers of electricity.
The electricity
sect of the business meets the needs of utility, industry and government,
according to Whisenhunt. Another unique sect to PS Energy is emergency
fueling. It is designed for utility companies and disaster response
organizations. According to Whisenhunt, when conventional fueling is
unavailable or ineffective, PS Energy’s emergency fueling program can provide
several relief options specific to a variety of regional needs. For
example, during the 1996 Olympics, the company was awarded a contract with The
Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority to build and manage temporary fueling sites for transit buses
brought in to accommodate increased transportation needs, according to
PSEnergy.com. They were also on-hand during the wake of Hurricane
Katrina she said. Under it’s fuel management umbrella, the company monitors
and maintains control of inventory and retail-dispensed fuels. Fuel
management combines authorization, fueling and usage data collection into a
single device for retail purchases, she said.
Upon the
deregulation of gas, PS Energy jumped on board to become a certified marketer
of the product. “In 1998 we introduced the brand name GasKey as a certified
supplier of natural gas to residential and small to midsized business in
deregulated retail markets,” Whisenhunt said. GasKey has business
partnerships with largely known companies such as Coca Cola, Delta Airlines,
Lockheed Martin, United Parcel Service, Georgia Power, Bellsouth, Yamaha and
many others. PS Energy also offers risk to customers who want to be proactive
about controlling their energy expenses.
“By employing risk
management techniques, end-users are able to reduce the effect of market
volatility, budget further costs, manage energy requirements as an asset and
eliminate speculative purchasing strategies,” she said. The latest addition
to the company’s services is vehicle tracking. PS Energy offers this service
through the etrac™ Automated Vehicle and Location (AVL). This refers to the
ability to electronically locate and track vehicles utilizing Global
Positioning Satellites (GPS), a communications network and a desktop
application accessible by a user. AVL systems are now widely used by
organizations that rely on vehicles in the delivery or maintenance of their
product or service Whisenhunt said. Why is PS Energy growing so rapidly?
Whisenhunt said she thinks it’s because she’s still a “small yet agile
company.”
“There isn’t
a lot of red tape to sift through or a chain-of-command list of approvals when
decisions need to be made she said. Whisenhunt credits her company’s agility
and petite stature to her success. “So being small and agile has its
advantages, because we’re able to move a little faster than larger companies,”
she said.
The road to
success of course wasn’t without struggles. Whisenhunt said that several
obstacles got in her way on the way up but “you have to get around them.”
Being that the energy industry is predominately filled with males, Whisenhunt
said that was an obstacle she had to overlook in order to get to the bigger
picture. “In the early days, clearly it was a man’s world. Now through the
years, things have changed greatly and have I’ve subsequently wellestablished
PS Energy and myself within the industry. So it’s no longer an issue,” she
said. Another obstacle Whisenhunt said she faces and continues to face is the
capital issue.
“If you
don’t grow, you won’t ever need more money. It’s always a struggle to grow as
a company by offering more to the customers because ultimately as the provider
you will spend more,” she said. Through the years, PS Energy has received
several awards for its success, service to the community, industry diversity
practices and promotion of economic development:
·
Administrator’s Award for Excellence by the U.S. Small Business Administration
for five consecutive years
·
1995-Won Administrator’s Award for Excellence - U.S. Small Business
Administration.
·
1997-Hammer Award, presented by Vice President Gore’s National Performance
Review Board; and
· Lockheed Martin
Aeronautical Systems’ Subcontractor of the Year for two consecutive years.
This year, PSE was recognized by Georgia
Governor Sonny Purdue as one of Georgia’s Small Businesses of Excellence.
Ranked by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation’s leading multicultural B2B online
portal, PS Energy is number 43 in the Top 50 Diversity-Owned Companies in the
State of Georgia and number 15 in the nation’s Top 500 Diversity-Owned
Companies.
Personally
Whisenhunt has received several honors, awards and recognitions as well
including being named the Small Business Person of the Year by the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce and Southeast Wholesale Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst
& Young. In 1999 she served as a member of the Federal Regulatory Fairness
Board (REGFAIR), a board established by Congress and the President, under the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. On the board she
represented small businesses and commented on the enforcement activities of
federal regulatory agencies. She was later appointed the REGFAIR Region IV
Chairperson. Additionally, just last year, she was appointed by Georgia
Governor Sonny Perdue to the Board of Directors of the Georgia Regional
Transportation Authority, the State of Georgia authority that works to improve
the state’s mobility, air quality and land use practices.
Since PS
Energy is Hispanic woman-owned corporation and one of the few diversity-owned
businesses in the energy industry, diversity is taken very seriously. PS
Energy is a member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)
and they take part in several Minority Business Opportunity Trade Fairs across
the country. The company also fosters diversity in the energy field through
its supplier diversity program. The company defines diverse businesses as
minority, women, or small businesses meeting the following criteria:
Minority
business enterprises (MBE’s) are defined as businesses that are at least 51%
owned and operated by a minority individual or group.
· Women business
enterprises (WBE’s) are defined as businesses that are at least 51% owned and
operated by one or more women.
· Small
businesses are defined as concerns that have a number of employees and/or
average annual receipts not exceeding the size standards as defined under the
Federal Acquisitions Regulations. Certification requirements include
validation of a supplier’s diverse status. Certification documents from the
following qualified agencies are acceptable: National Minority Supplier
Development Council (NMSD) or its affiliates; National Association of Women
Business Owners (NAWBO); Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBENC); United
States Small Business Administration (SBA) Through her own experiences of
going through the ranks in this industry, Whisenhunt has a host of advice to
offer other M/WBE’s in their quest to grow their businesses.
“Minorities
have a unique role to play in this industry, well, in all industries for that
matter,” she said The advice I would give is pay attention to your customers,
employees and vendors. Treat them all with respect because any component
missing could lead to failure.
“You want your
customers to feel respected so they will buy from you and your employees and
vendors should feel that same respect. If you have no one to sell your product
to or buy it from; you have no business,” she said. PS Energy is committed to
building and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction through
personal service, well-trained employees and fair business policies, she said.
To ensure employee contentment, PS Energy strives to provide employees a
strong sense of proprietorship, professional respect and pride, resulting in
high morale, low turnover and exceptional company loyalty, she said.
Through the years,
the corporation has been committed to serving the community. PS Energy made a
25,000 pledge to the Latin American Association through GasKey. The Latin
American Association is a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive
transitional services for Latinos as they strive for self-sufficiency and an
enhanced quality of life.
As far as PS
Energy’s future is concerned, Whisenhunt is optimistic about its growth. “In
the next five years I see us growing significantly through acquisitions and
development,” she said.
For more
information about PS Energy Group, Inc. and its affiliate companies, visit
them on the Web at
www.PSEnergy.com, www.GasKey.com and www.etracllc.com.
