CLEVELAND and DALLAS, January 4, 2022 | Align Capital Partners (“ACP”) announced today the closing of its eighth strategic add-on for its utility market intelligence, data science and consulting platform, E Source (the “Company”). Headquartered in Columbia, SC, AAC Utility Partners (“AAC”) provides vendor-independent customer information systems (“CIS”), program management and consulting services to municipalities and utilities throughout North America. AAC assists clients in the areas of strategic software assessment, selection, project implementation, system testing and cloud consulting.
Since 2005, AAC has been guiding electric, gas, water, wastewater and multi-service utilities through successful technology projects. AAC will become part of E Source’s Technology Planning and Implementation (“TPI”) business unit which currently focuses on the areas of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart grid/water, water loss analytics and smart city initiatives. With this acquisition, E Source can now partner with utilities to accelerate the transformation of becoming digital, data-driven organizations and fully leverage the cloud to optimize value for its clients.
“There is no substitute for AAC’s proven expertise and track record of success in implementing large technology projects that are foundational to becoming a modern, digital utility,” says E Source CEO Ted Schultz. “When combined with E Source’s TPI capabilities supporting AMI and GIS — plus our ability to make data useful using our research and predictive data science products — the addition of ACC further enhances E Source’s ability to drive value for our utility clients by delivering What’s Next.”
The AAC acquisition is an important step in E Source’s continued effort to build a comprehensive, tech-enabled, customer-first portfolio of digital, data-driven solutions that help utilities manage rapidly evolving customer, infrastructure and business needs.
“AAC Utility Partners developed the award-winning, NavigateOne methodology and tools because utilities needed superior processes to find success with their technology projects,” says Edwin Crow, Managing Partner of AAC. “Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of completing over 75 fully functional projects. By joining the E Source team, we’ll be able to bring our capabilities to more utilities to help them become technology leaders.”
“This acquisition brings to life an important connection from hardware to software to predictive data science,” says Rob Langley, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Align Capital Partners. “This powerful combination offers utilities a partner that can connect the dots like no other.”
ACP acquired E Source in June of 2019 and will continue to invest in strategic add-ons to broaden the Company’s offering of tech-enabled, customer-first solutions to help utilities effectively manage the customer and infrastructure sides of their business. Operating Partner Dave Perotti, Principal Matt Iodice and Associate Scott Robbins worked alongside Mr. Langley on the transaction.