CHALLENGES

Missed Opportunities, Revenue Leakage, Lack of Critical Insights to Grow the Business

When Star Tex Propane became part of Edge Energy Group, the regional propane company’s existing energy and accounting systems didn’t have the capabilities and cohesiveness required to effectively manage and assess the multi-location business.

According to Mike McLeod, Edge Energy Group’s chief executive officer, the solution lacked the pricing flexibility needed to attract new customers and automation to streamline processes. In turn, that was hurting the company’s bottom line.

“It was a very basic system,” shared McLeod. “We weren’t getting some customers because we couldn’t be very flexible with pricing, and we didn’t have an automated way to put customers back to the regular rate if we offered a discounted price as an incentive to go with us. We were leaving money on the table at every delivery—sometimes for an extended period of time. It had a huge revenue impact.”

McLeod said reporting and analytics capabilities were limited as well.

He explained that while the propane industry seems simple on the surface, there are a lot of moving pieces that can make results variable. All kinds of nuances—like weather patterns and differences in degree days—come into play and make it very difficult to get a consistent comparison of business performance year over year. Without in-depth business insights, the company struggled to improve and grow.

In addition, Star Tex Propane’s software lacked strong integrations and data accessibility via the cloud.

The on-site training helped shore up what McLeod and his team were doing right and reinforced their know-how regarding optimizing and cleaning up aspects of the business. Moreover, it further strengthened the collaborative relationship between Star Tex Propane and Cargas.

McLeod said that by working with Wharton, he’s gained confidence in his own abilities and understanding of the solution, and he can make adjustments independently. “There’s no way I could have done that with other systems or vendors. It’s much easier to work within the Cargas Energy system than the other systems I have used.”

Wharton helped Star Tex Propane put a structure in place to better manage the business, which includes access to meaningful data analytics. Currently, they have approximately 18 viable, valuable reports that they actively use to monitor operational and financial performance.

According to McLeod, one of the significant benefits is how Cargas Energy’s chart of accounts flows directly into Sage Intacct to allow seamless balancing at month-end close. “We now have a month-end close that balances between the two systems from a gallons perspective, total sales perspective, and margin perspective. Our accounting department meets and sometimes beats our deadlines for reporting financials.”

He explained that Cargas Energy covers all the critical elements that businesses in the propane industry need—and then some. For example, he said Cargas’s routing and forecasting efficiencies are far superior to what he’s seen in other software. “There is 100% no comparison. Cargas Energy is more intuitive and user-friendly. It’s much more streamlined for our dispatchers.”

He also said that Cargas Energy provides a simple, common-sense approach for putting customers without tank monitors on a delivery schedule. “Other software companies make it more complex than it needs to be. They’re nowhere close to Cargas.”

And Cargas’s pricing versatility has helped the company offer incentives to new customers without the risk of losing revenue after promotional periods expire.

“I give Cargas Energy an A+ for its flexibility,” McLeod said. “Sometimes you need to entice new customers with a special ‘fill’ price or special rate for a certain time period or number of deliveries. Cargas allows you to put a discounted rate in place and virtually walk away from it without needing to remember to update the customer’s pricing to the regular rate. The system automatically takes care of it.”

The collections process in Cargas Energy and its integration with ARM solutions, a collections agency, has also eliminated manual work via automated workflows.

“Cargas Energy is helping us get to our vision quicker. Without it, we’d be six months behind where we are today for sure. No doubt in my mind,” shared McLeod.

Wharton said he enjoys helping Star Tex Propane get to where it wants to go by empowering McLeod and his team with training and knowledge to enable them to do more with the system on their own.