Javier Loya and the growing importance of energy intelligence in modern business

Photo courtesy of Javier Loya.

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Business leaders rely on a trusted, familiar set of numbers when evaluating how a company is performing. Revenue, labor costs, margins and capital allocation are usually at the center of those conversations because they show what is working and where adjustments need to be made.

Energy, telecom and utility costs are rarely looked at the same way, even though they affect nearly every physical part of a business.

The issue is not that these expenses are ignored or considered unimportant. It is that they are scattered across different systems, vendors and locations, making it difficult to understand what is being spent or where there are inefficiencies.

As a result, these costs tend to be treated as routine expenses instead of something that can be actively measured, compared and improved.

For Javier Loya, this kind of inefficiency is familiar. Over the course of his career, he has built companies around solving problems like this, where systems are fragmented and difficult to manage.

Today, as Chairman of GETCHOICE!, he is applying that same thinking to energy, telecom and utility management.

Creating structure where none exists

GETCHOICE! was built to bring order to a process that most companies have learned to work around.

The platform centralizes utility data across electricity, natural gas, water and telecom, pulling together information from separate systems. Once everything is in one place, companies can see their expenses across locations and over time.

That changes how these expenses are handled. Instead of looking at one invoice at a time, leaders can step back and see the full picture. They can compare locations, track changes month to month and understand how infrastructure decisions are affecting overall performance.

Loya points out that many companies do not realize what they are missing.

“Most companies think their utility bills are an expense,” Loya explained. “They don’t realize it’s an operational blind spot.”

That blind spot shows up in small ways at first. Invoices come in different formats, with some including detailed usage data and others providing very little to go off of. Contracts regularly renew without much review, and errors are easy to miss. Over time, those minor issues begin to add up.

GETCHOICE! addresses that by organizing and standardizing the data, then making it easier to track and act on. For most organizations, the biggest change is not just cost reduction, but gaining control.

“What surprises clients isn’t just the savings,” Loya said. “It’s how much control they didn’t know they were missing.”

Leaders can identify which locations are operating efficiently, which are not and where contracts need to be updated. Instead of reacting to expenses, companies begin managing them.

The cost chaos that comes with scaling operations

Utility management becomes increasingly difficult to control as companies expand, making systems like GETCHOICE! even more valuable.

A business with one or two locations may not feel the strain. But as that footprint grows, so does the number of utility accounts. A regional or national company can quickly find itself managing hundreds or thousands of accounts across different services and providers.

Even within the same company, similar locations can operate under very different cost structures. One site may be locked into an older contract with higher rates, while another benefits from more recent pricing.

Billing formats can also differ from one provider to the next. Some invoices are processed digitally, while others still require manual review.

Individually, these differences may not stand out. Together, they create a system that is difficult to track and even harder to compare.

Leaders may struggle to determine whether a site is overpaying, underperforming or operating under outdated agreements.

At that point, the issue is not a lack of data. It is the opposite. There is too much information, and not enough structure to make sense of it.

Each invoice carries details about usage, rates, fees and timing. Across hundreds of accounts, that becomes a dataset that most companies are not set up to manage.

Once that data is organized by GETCHOICE!, patterns begin to appear. Costs that were once hidden inside individual invoices become visible across the entire organization. That is when companies can start to make decisions based on that information.

Turning utility data into actionable insight

 Javier Loya sees the shift toward energy intelligence picking up in the years ahead. What used to be handled in the background is starting to play a bigger role in daily operations, especially as energy, telecom and utility management become more data-driven and automated.

“It’s going to become a data business disguised as an infrastructure business,” he said.

In Loya’s view, a lot of that change will be driven by technology. 

Artificial intelligence is making it easier to process large volumes of invoice data, and automation is reducing the need for manual work. Systems are becoming faster at identifying patterns, inconsistencies and changes in cost.

“Transparency will become non-negotiable,” he added.

As those tools improve, expectations will also change. Companies will begin to expect the same level of clarity in their utility data that they already have in their financial reporting. 

That will create a divide between organizations that adapt and adopt systems like GETCHOICE! and those that continue working with fragmented information. 

What was once a back-office function will be used by businesses to measure efficiency, make decisions and stay competitive.

The ownership mindset behind energy intelligence

Loya’s approach to GETCHOICE! comes from his broader experience building other businesses.

In 2007, he founded OTC Global Holdings with the goal of bringing more efficiency and transparency to global commodity markets. The company grew from a startup into the world’s largest independent interdealer commodity brokerage, serving clients across energy and commodity sectors.

From the beginning, OTC was competing against larger, more established firms with more resources. Instead of trying to match them step for step, Loya focused on doing things differently.

“We realized we couldn’t win by doing things the traditional way,” he said. “We had to innovate faster and empower our team more aggressively.”

That mindset proved to be a key advantage. OTC Global eventually scaled internationally and built a strong reputation in a highly competitive market, showing that a more agile and innovative model could compete at the highest level.

Years later, he faced one of the most difficult decisions of his career when OTC entered a strategic transaction with BGC Group. Letting go of something built over nearly two decades was not easy, but it came down to what the business needed next.

“The sale wasn’t an exit, it was an evolution,” he said. “Sometimes letting go is the most disciplined form of ownership.”

That idea of ownership carries into his work at GETCHOICE! today. For Loya, ownership is not about holding onto control at all costs. It is about taking responsibility for outcomes, making decisions with intention and building systems that can continue to grow.

“Ownership isn’t a slogan. It’s a filter,” he said. “It means you don’t ask, ‘Is this my responsibility?’ You ask, ‘Is this my standard?’”

That perspective has also changed how he evaluates new opportunities. Earlier in his career, he focused heavily on upside. Now, he looks for alignment and long-term value.

“I ask one question before I commit: Does this opportunity give me leverage or does it just give me activity?” he explained. “If it’s just activity, it’s a distraction.”

A new standard for modern businesses

While much of Loya’s work has focused on building companies, his broader goal has always been about creating opportunity for others. He continues to invest in businesses that solve real problems and contributes to organizations that bring people together. 

As a minority owner of the Houston Texans, he is part of a franchise that plays a major role in its community. Through the Greater El Paso Showcase, he has created a platform that gives high school athletes exposure to college recruiters.

“Exposure changes trajectories,” he said.

In one case, an athlete who had little recruiting attention before the event was able to earn a college scholarship after being seen by coaches. For that family, it meant access to education and a different path forward.

That focus on creating opportunity is rooted in his upbringing.

Loya grew up in a household with seven siblings, where resources were limited and expectations were high.

“I grew up in a household where nothing was given—and everything was earned,” he said. “When you grow up like that, you don’t think in terms of ‘How do I succeed in the system?’ You think, ‘How do I build something of my own so I’m not dependent on the system?’”

That belief runs through everything he builds.

As companies continue to grow and operations become more complex, the ability to understand and manage infrastructure will matter more. 

Energy, telecom and utility costs are no longer just routine expenses. They are becoming part of how businesses operate and compete. For Javier Loya, GETCHOICE! is where his work has been leading all along.