NOCO has been at the forefront of energy innovation since the family-owned company was founded in Tonawanda in 1933.
Its offerings naturally flowed with the demands of its customers, starting with coal before transitioning to oil in 1948, followed by propane, natural gas and electric. NOCO also managed a chain of convenience stores for years, but they were sold in 2019 to help kickstart its current focus.
“It was probably a third of our business, but not many people knew all the other things that we were doing,” says NOCO president and CEO Jim Newman, whose grandfather founded the company 90 years ago. “But there was also, at that time, a thought to pivot and offer more energy-related services to our customers.”
Today, NOCO is combining its commitment to customers, community and the environment by investing in the sustainable powers of tomorrow. NOCO is also extending its geographic footprint past Western New York and Rochester to Syracuse and Albany.
"I still have friends asking, ‘Are you retired? What are you doing?’” Newman says. “I'm busier now than I was when we sold the stores. Sustainability is a threat to our existing business, but it's also an opportunity for our future business. The world has to change how we produce and use energy, and it creates an opportunity because our customers that do business with us want to continue to do business with us.”
NOCO continues to serve its existing customers who use traditional fuel sources. But with some government mandates already in place and with more forthcoming, it’s also investing in growing sustainable energy offerings such as community solar, geothermal and waste management.
Community solar and geothermal produce energy in an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient way. Waste management includes the recycling of oil or taking of solid waste like food or carbon and instead of throwing it into a landfill, repurposing it into compost or soil enhancement to create a circular economy.
“We’re not setting policy,” Newman says. “When the mandates become clear, we’ll be here and be able to solve it for you. We’re taking purposeful steps, proactively and reactively, to be there for our customers.”
NOCO is also acquiring businesses, such as Shanor Electric Supplies, that align with its goals.
“We can provide two different products to the same customers,” Newman says. “So we can sell a lot of electrical supply out of Shanor, but we can also fuel their trucks. We’re using our horsepower to help them grow while using their expertise to continue to drive deeper.”
Newman anticipates that as society becomes more sophisticated about lifestyle discussions, there’s going to be a new attitude about how to buy, eat, ingest and burn forms of energy. Once consumers zero in on the things they want to have brought to market, NOCO wants to be there with a solution.
“We don’t necessarily know what the energy or waste stream management of tomorrow will be,” Newman says, “but we’re continuing to grow with an open view of what the company could be.”
