M-co, (formerly the Electricity Marketing Company, Emco), has failed to sell Singapore the market monitoring software it developed for the New Zealand electricity market.
The software was being touted alongside its contract to supply expertise for Singapore to set up a market monitor company for wholesale electricity trading.
M-co came to the party too late. The client, Singapore’s Energy Market Company (EMC), had already chosen PA Consulting to provide the market regulation software when M-co entered negotiations, say company sources. They referred Computerworld to chief Philip Bradley for a citeable quote, but Bradley was unavailable, despite several phone calls.
The company will definitely be going after overseas clients for the main market monitoring software. This will be easier under its new ownership, the sources say. Originally set up by the New Zealand government, M-co is now owned by the Rand Merchant Bank group.
As part of the Singapore contract, M-co has taken a 49% shareholding in EMC.
Earlier this year M-co supplied its market monitoring software to the European Community for a simulation of a proposed “green” electricity scheme. What will be traded in this scheme is not the electricity itself, but the value attached to the “green” nature of electricity produced by power stations using renewable fuel. This value is enshrined in certificates, for which a market can be built.
More recently, M-co concluded a contract to participate in a similar “green electricity market” (GEM) system in Australia. Here M-co supplied software facilitates a register, to keep track of who owns what certificates.