Cinergy, the Cincinnati-based provider of gas and electric energy services to customers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, has signed an agreement with Enporion, a provider of advanced and efficient sourcing and procurement services for the energy industry. Cinergy is immediately initiating, via Enporion's high-availability transaction-routing service, secure electronic connections with nearly 50 suppliers.

Cinergy and Enporion have completed the implementation of electronic connections to fifty of Cinergy's suppliers in less than thirty days. Cinergy is now exchanging purchase orders via Enporion's highly reliable managed marketplace service with these suppliers on a daily basis. Additional purchasing documents, such as acknowledgements, change orders or advance shipping notices, can also be exchanged quickly and efficiently when desired. In future phases, Cinergy will investigate expanding their connection to more suppliers and the use of other Enporion electronic commerce services.

"This agreement with Enporion is a significant step in our continuing efforts to provide the most cost-effective energy rates for our customer base," said Sheri Straw, director, Supply Chain Performance, Cinergy Corp. "Enporion's customer-service reputation and its record of providing a high-availability, highly reliable service were keys to our selection. In our continuing effort to drive costs out of our supply chain, we are pleased to partner with Enporion, and look forward to expanding our relationship with them."

Enporion's electronic commerce services include electronic-RFx, spend aggregation contracts, full-or-self-service forward and reverse auctions, and other capabilities. Over the past three years, Enporion customers have identified millions of dollars in documented savings by using these services. These companies are assured, through Enporion's process, of receiving competitive pricing as well as other levels of service and terms and conditions. Many electronic-commerce services are pivotal in being able to meet the compliance and control requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition, suppliers have benefited by gaining access to new business opportunities and by the efficiencies of participation in Enporion's electronic order management services.

Enporion also provides many other sourcing services to its buyers and suppliers, including Supply Chain Manager, the company's software platform to enable electronic procurement, marketplace catalog management, document routing, and electronic invoice presentation and settlement.

George Gordon, chairman and CEO of Enporion, commenting on the growth of the business, noted that, "Every day there are more and more examples of companies that are realizing the cost and process advantages of electronic commerce. Enporion is pleased to be at the forefront of providing those benefits to the energy industry, as well as to others. Enporion's suite of services is developed in direct response to the requirements of our customers. We are excited to add Cinergy to our customer roster and extremely pleased that they have experienced important benefits with such a quick implementation."