The NYC Energy Marketing Conference (EMC) presented its “Industry Leadership and Integrity Award” to IDT Energy, Inc., at a sold-out event attended by over 375 retail energy marketing professionals at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel in New York City on Monday, September 8.

This past winter the retail energy industry in the Northeast was faced with unprecedented cold temperatures and a perfect storm of operational issues in the wholesale energy markets that fell far outside any retail energy provider’s ability to control. Demand for natural gas soared and supply was severely constricted. These factors drove up prices that suppliers were forced to pay in the wholesale markets and were then forced to pass through to their customers. This award recognized industry leaders who took initiative, and gave back to customers who were affected by the winter’s Polar Vortex.

Four nominees were named; IDT Energy, North American Power, Plymouth Rock Energy and Xoom Energy. After much deliberation, EMC’s board handed this prestigious award to IDT Energy. Geoffrey Rochwarger, IDT Energy’s CEO, was present to accept the award from Jack Doueck, EMC’s founder.

“JFK was once quoted as saying, that when written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is made up of two symbols: one representing danger the other representing opportunity. Most CEO’s of REPs saw the crisis of 2014 as dangerous and catastrophic. Yet the CEO of IDT Energy saw it as an opportunity: a chance to separate his company from the industry, to grow as a business, to improve the customer offerings, to show his integrity and to lead by example,” said Jack Doueck, EMC Founder. “IDT voluntarily suffered economically, but they did the right things, the painful things, and in so doing, they overcame and grew from the adversity and became a better, stronger, and more responsive business,” added Doueck.

Many REPs had no choice but to pass through rates per kWh that spiked as high as $0.40/$0.50. Instead, IDT Energy took a different path and conceded profits and managed to hold rates to half of most comparable variable rate programs. In addition, the company gave back almost $5 million dollars to its impacted customers.

“We listen very carefully to our customers and will continue to deliver on our promise to offer new supply choices and added-value programs that will help consumers to better manage their monthly expenses and budgets,” said Geoffrey Rochwarger, CEO of IDT Energy. “We are thankful to EMC for recognizing our organization with their Leadership and Integrity Award,” added Rochwarger.

About The NYC Energy Marketing Conference:

The mission of the NYC Energy Marketing Conference is to provide the competitive energy industry with exciting conferences in premium locations at very affordable prices. The goal of the conference is to bring together hundreds of energy companies, utilities, marketers, vendors and suppliers in the competitive energy industry to network and learn more about our industry. http://www.energymarketingconferences.com/

About IDT Energy:

IDT Energy is one of the largest independent retail energy providers (REP) supplying natural gas and electricity to residential and small business customers in the Northeastern United States. IDT Energy is a subsidiary of Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE:GNE, GENPRA). For more information, visit www.idtenergy.com or Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IDT.Energy