When it comes to supplying electricity to large enterprises with multi-building complexes, the allocation system is outdated. Unlike homeowners, who pay for exactly what they use, premises purchase a standard monthly capacity. This capacity, as required by common sense, should be based on maximum usage requirements. This is true even if the company reaches such maximum usage only occasionally, such as during a busy season.
It was a situation that deeply troubled Salissa Berrien, founder and CEO of COI Energy. After earning his degree in mechanical engineering (and later an MBA), he spent 25 years as an energy engineer at major utility companies such as PECO, ConEdison and Exelon, as well as some clean energy startups.
Beryan chose this field because many times during his childhood, his parents were unable to pay the electricity bill. “We were in a lot of darkness. And as a kid, I had low self-esteem,” he told TechCrunch. Other children who knew his condition used to tease him.
So when she got her degree and got a job at an electric company, “All my friends started saying, ‘You’re crazy. That’s a stagnant area. It’s a white, male-dominated, older-male area. Why are you doing this?’ And for me, it was personal, because I knew what it felt like to be a child,” she said. Beryan wanted to make electricity more efficient, more affordable, more available so that no child would go without electricity.
He worked on customer operations, smart grid, clean energy programs.
“As an engineer, I will go in and make recommendations about how they can improve the energy performance of their buildings, how they can eliminate bottlenecks on production lines,” Berrien said.
They learned how to use big data to optimize energy efficiency. But no one was solving the core problem: Companies were reserving far more energy than they were using, and paying for it.
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Commercial customers constantly asked him why he was being charged more. “I agree,” she said. “Why can’t you pay on demand for what you’re using?”
Berean’s answer resulted in three patents (and counting) on that technology and the founding of COI Energy, assembling a team that included building management, energy engineers, a former energy executive. He hired people skilled in everything from regulation to pricing.
COI’s solution is a marketplace where enterprises within the same utility company can sell some of their energy allocation when COI’s data predicts they will not need it. COI is a Startup Battlefield Top 20 finalist and will be presenting its technology at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco this week.
COI installs a patented energy gateway at each customer site to measure energy usage. It connects to the building’s systems as well as the SCADA system. It’s hardware-agnostic, Berrien said, meaning it can work with any existing utility or building energy system. After collecting data for a period, the platform predicts how much electricity a company will actually need. “We can predict 90 days out,” he said.
The enterprise can then determine how much unused energy it would like to release. COI pays businesses for that capability, and buyers in the marketplace pay COI to get it. “If a customer gives us 100 kilowatts, we will pay them for that 100 kilowatts, and then the buyer will buy that from us.”
COI is still in its pre-seed stage, having raised $3.5 million from investors like former Talon Energy executive Paul Farr, Morgan Stanley Inclusive and Sustainable Ventures, Kachuva Impact Fund, Clough Capital and some crowdfunding on Republic.
However, the startup is already generating revenue through five pilot customers, all of whom have a minimum of 50 buildings. It is operating in California, Florida, Massachusetts and New York and has a waiting list. Also, Berrien said, COI is in talks to become a solutions provider for Switzerland as it implements a national energy policy where businesses and households can share capacity starting in 2026.
Additionally – recalling her plight as a little girl – Beryan’s startup has dedicated 1% of the savings earned by businesses on the platform to donate to non-profit organizations that help the underprivileged with their energy needs. These are organizations that help pay bills, provide weather information, and offer energy programs such as solar power.
“We’re paying it forward in what we call Kilowatts for Good,” Berrien said.
Their goal is to offer technology that helps now overwhelmed energy systems. “Instead of wasting the potential, you’re sharing it. So we’re making the planet better. We’re making our bottom lines better. And then at the same time, we’re also helping and uplifting our communities,” he said.
If you want to learn more about COI Energy from the company itself – as well as check out dozens of others, hear their pitches, and hear from guest speakers on four different stages – join us at Disrupt from Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco. Learn more here.
