2025 Hotel Aggregation | Energy: Electricity & Natural Gas

A Message to Ohio’s Hotel Owners

If you operate a hotel in Ohio, you’ve likely felt it — the sharp rise in energy costs driven by recent PJM capacity rate hikes. What used to be a manageable line item has become one of your biggest controllable expenses. The question is:

How can independent and small-portfolio hotel owners push back against a market that feels stacked in favor of the big players?

The answer: leverage collective buying power and the right partner.

A Track Record That Spans Nearly Two Decades

Ananta Energy Source’s story starts long before energy procurement was fashionable. Our founder, Merrill Mangalasseril, began brokering energy in 2006, working directly with businesses in deregulated markets like Ohio, Illinois, and Texas. What started as one-on-one consulting quickly evolved into helping groups of business owners — especially hoteliers — buy energy in bulk to level the playing field.

By 2010, Merrill was already organizing early-stage energy aggregations — long before “buying groups” became industry buzzwords.

Clients printed and faxed wet-signed contracts to meet supplier deadlines, and Merrill personally scanned and uploaded dozens of agreements before the 5 p.m. hedge window closed.

Those early experiences shaped what Ananta stands for today:

• Transparency in pricing
• Fiduciary-style advocacy for clients
  
• Protecting small and mid-sized business owners from overpaying in complex markets

How the Market Changed — and Why It Matters

Fast-forward to 2025, and the energy world looks entirely different. Suppliers who once valued relationships are now laser-focused on risk and performance metrics — largely because many lost millions during the Texas Winter Storm of 2021 and more recently during capacity cost surges in PJM for June 2025–May 2026.

As a result:

• Suppliers now demand Power of Attorney (POA) documents to include accounts in bulk buying groups.
  
• The decision window has shrunk — from 5 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST for same-day booking.
  
• Win-rate performance dictates how brokers like Ananta are treated; suppliers prefer brokers who execute efficiently and bring serious volume.

That’s why Merrill and the Ananta team are assembling Ohio’s next major hotel aggregation — one that unites 146 entities, 190 accounts, and over 60 million kWh of annual usage across AEP, AES, Duke, and FirstEnergy territories.

Why This Aggregation Matters for Ohio Hotels

Hotel owners face unique challenges in energy procurement:

• Usage patterns peak in the evening when energy costs are highest.
• Seasonal fluctuations make budget forecasting difficult.
  
• Many franchise and management groups have fragmented portfolios spread across utilities.

By combining usage across dozens of hotels, Ananta can attempt the following:

✅ Negotiate rates ½¢–1¢ per kWh lower than individual properties could obtain alone

✅ Lock in more favorable terms (6–60 months) with supplier flexibility

✅ Simplify decision-making — one procurement event instead of 100

✅ Create long-term stability through transparent, open-book pricing

Why Merrill and Ananta Are Different

While most brokers promise “transparency,” few actually live it. Ananta discloses margins, educates clients on supplier cost components, and encourages apples-to-apples comparisons across bids — even when it means losing a deal.

After nearly 19 years of working with every major supplier in Ohio, Merrill knows which ones consistently deliver on their promises — and which quietly build hidden fees or capacity pass-through surprises into contracts.

When Merrill says his mission is to look out for the “little guys,” it isn’t just rhetoric. It’s personal. Ananta’s hotel clients are often first-generation business owners, families who’ve built their livelihoods property by property. The company’s role is to protect their bottom line with the same care a CFO would.

So, What Can You Do Now?

If you’re a hotel owner in Ohio, you have a choice:

• Go it alone, negotiating one contract at a time in a volatile market, or
  
• Join a collective, with Merrill and the Ananta team leading an RFP designed specifically for Ohio’s hospitality community.

With notarized Power of Attorney documents in place, Ananta can lock in rates on your behalf within approved parameters — ensuring you don’t miss market dips due to supplier deadlines or decision bottlenecks.

In Summary

The energy market has changed — but so has Ananta.

What began as one broker helping hotels fax in signatures has become a full-scale, data-driven procurement platform representing millions of kilowatt-hours.

And as capacity rates climb, the value of experience, trust, and bulk negotiation power has never been higher.

If you’ve ever thought, “Why can’t smaller hotel owners get the same energy leverage as the big REITs or management groups?” — this is your chance.

Purchase in bulk. Hedge smart. And let Merrill lead the way.

Ready to Learn More?

📧 Email us at merrillm@goananta.com

🌐 Visit www.goananta.com/blog

🗓 Schedule a call with our team to join the Ohio Hospitality Aggregation Initiative