Vista Power

What do they actually do

Vista Power provides energy-as-a-service for commercial, industrial, and multifamily properties. They design, finance (with $0 upfront), install, own, monitor, and operate lithium‑iron‑phosphate (LFP) battery systems, and add rooftop solar and inverters when it improves economics. Customers keep their utility service and pay Vista an agreed share of verified monthly bill savings; Vista retains ownership of the equipment and manages performance over the contract term (Vista site; About).

A typical project starts with analysis of historical utility data and rate structures to find savings from demand-charge and time‑of‑use optimization, followed by permitting, interconnection, insurance, installation, and 24/7 monitoring/O&M handled by Vista. After commissioning, Vista measures and verifies savings monthly and bills for the contracted share. The systems are positioned to reduce bills by shifting/limiting peaks and to provide backup power (Vista markets “4+ hours” of backup). Vista states it uses UL‑listed Tier‑1 hardware and LFP chemistry, and includes required fire‑suppression and code‑compliance work (About; Vista site).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Multifamily property owners/operators: Common‑area and amenity electricity costs are rising and volatile. They need simple ways to split or pass through savings to tenants without managing complex metering, and they prefer no‑CapEx upgrades with outsourced permitting and maintenance.
• Grocery stores and food retailers: Large, variable electricity loads from refrigeration and lighting drive high bills, and outages can cause costly spoilage. They want predictable energy costs and reliable backup without paying upfront for complex systems.
• Warehouses and light industrial facilities: Material handling, chargers, and equipment cause short, high peaks that trigger demand charges and penalties. They need to cut peak costs and avoid downtime while minimizing capital spend and operational burden.
• Data centers, labs, and hospitals: Power interruptions risk data loss, patient safety, and expensive downtime. They require dependable backup and transparent performance verification, but prefer not to buy and operate energy assets in‑house.
• Commercial owners and municipal sites facing new codes: Codes like California’s Title 24 add PV and storage requirements, creating compliance and delivery complexity. They need turnkey engineering, permitting, interconnection, and verified performance to satisfy rules without internal expertise or upfront capital.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led outbound to known owners/operators, grocers, and facility managers; offer fast, no‑upfront pilot projects with Vista taking early operational risk and handling permitting/installation end‑to‑end to close quickly.
• First 50: Hire a small direct sales team for targeted outreach to property managers, grocery chains, and municipal buyers; offer free Title 24/compliance assessments to warm inbound. Sign local electrical contractors/installers as delivery partners to scale installs regionally.
• First 100: Shift to channel and portfolio deals via national property managers, facilities‑service firms, and energy brokers. Standardize EaaS contracts, tenant billing, and verified‑savings reporting to speed approvals and enable multi‑site financing based on the first 50 case studies.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Industry reports size the global energy‑as‑a‑service market at roughly $74–77B in 2024, with commercial solar+storage a smaller but growing multi‑billion‑dollar segment (Grand View Research; Reports & Data).

Bottom-up calculation:

U.S. commercial buildings spend about $190B/year on energy (DOE/EIA). If batteries/rooftop PV economically address ~5–20% of that, the addressable savings pool is ~$9.5–$38B/year; if an EaaS provider captures ~30% of verified savings, that implies ~$2.85–$11.4B/year in provider revenue. Vista markets savings potential up to 30% where well‑matched to tariffs/load, which explains the upper bound in favorable cases (Vista).

Assumptions:

• Treat DOE’s $190B figure (all fuels) as a proxy for electricity spend relevant to storage/PV; actual electric share may be lower.
• Storage/PV can effectively reduce 5–20% of energy costs for the subset of commercial sites with suitable tariffs/load profiles.
• EaaS providers retain ~30% of verified savings on average; actual splits vary by deal.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• PowerFlex: C&I provider of turnkey solar, battery storage, and microgrids with flexible financing options, including arrangements with no upfront capital; focuses on demand charge reduction, arbitrage, and resiliency (PowerFlex).
• Enel X North America: Offers energy storage and solar‑plus‑storage for businesses to lower utility bills and participate in demand response, alongside advisory and demand‑response programs at scale (Enel X).
• Stem, Inc.: AI‑driven storage optimization (Athena) for C&I sites; markets 10–30% utility bill savings in California and tools for Title 24 compliance, with lifecycle support from design to operations (Stem CA overview, PDF).
• Redaptive: Energy‑as‑a‑service provider using shared‑savings/fee models to finance and operate onsite upgrades (efficiency, solar, storage, EV) across multi‑site portfolios, often treated off‑balance sheet (Redaptive).
• Scale Microgrids: Designs, finances, owns, and operates microgrids (solar, storage, dispatchable gen) for $0 down via Microgrid Service Agreements, delivering cost savings and resilience for C&I customers (Scale Microgrids).