Energy management firm EnerNOC said Monday it had acquired energy procurement service provider MDEnergy for $7.9 million in cash and stock, the latest deal in an industry that has seen increased consolidation in recent months.

The deal marks EnerNOC’s first acquisition since its $97.5 million IPO in May. It also represents the Boston, Massachusetts-based company’s first foray into the energy procurement arena, in which businesses buy electricity more cheaply from competitive commodity suppliers, lowering their costs.

MDEnergy uses an online auction bidding system, now re-named EnerNOC Exchange, to enable some 400 customers to buy electricity at a lower cost than they would be able to through regular channels, said EnerNOC CEO and Chairman Tim Healy.

“The two companies are offering different services to different customers,” said Mr. Healy. “Now we can cross-sell.”

The acquisition, which closed on Friday, was comprised of 40 percent cash and 60 percent EnerNOC common stock, said Mr. Healy. Stamford, Connecticut-based MDEnergy could also receive up to $3 million in performance-based payments next year, depending on 2007 revenues, he said.

EnerNOC helps companies track their energy use in real-time and to reduce their electricity consumption, especially at peak times, or emergencies, when demand is highest. That service, known as demand-response, enables companies to reduce their electricity bills and helps utilities avoid blackouts, according to the company.

Now EnerNOC hopes to tap its 600-odd commercial and industrial customers to contract for low-cost electricity from the suppliers MDEnergy has cultivated, Mr. Healy said. It also wants to sell its demand-response services to MDEnergy’s customer base.

Both companies are active in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, although EnerNOC has also branched out into Florida, California, and the Southwest. MDEnergy works with “all of the most obvious and all of the largest [suppliers] in the Northeast,” Mr. Healy said, although he wouldn’t disclose how many or which ones.  

Customers include data centers, hospitals, grocery store chains, office buildings, factories, and universities, he said.

The acquisition comes on the heels of energy management rival Comverge’s buyout of Enerwise Global Technologies in July. Meanwhile, online energy auction specialist World Energy bought EnergyGateway, a natural gas and electricity brokerage company in June.

EnerNOC itself was an active acquirer prior to its IPO. In 2005 it bought Pinpoint Power, a supplier of demand-response power in New England, and in May of 2006, it purchased Seattle-based Celerity Energy Partners for $3 million, Mr. Healy said.

MREnergy, a company that was founded in 2001 with capital from private investors and 10 employees, is its second technology acquisition. With its purchase of eBid in February 2006, EnerNOC acquired the technology it now uses to track electricity usage in real-time, according to Mr. Healy.