Chad Starnes

About Chad Starnes

Chad Starnes is a Senior Trader for Spark Energy. Mr. Starnes is responsible for developing and implementing electricity trading strategies in the Northeast, ERCOT and Midwest energy markets. He has experience in managing Retail Energy Portfolios, Speculative Short and Long term Energy trading, risk management of Energy Derivatives, E-Market (Virtual Bidding), Financial Transmission Right (FTR) strategies, regulatory affairs, and power plant strategies in PJM, MISO, NEPOOL, New York and Electric Reliability Council of Texas. He is an active electronic trader on several Energy platforms including CME, ICE, DME and Energy Match as well as trading OTC Brokered Products. He also was a market maker for the Chicago Climate Exchange, mainly focusing on trading their SFI and RGGI Contracts. Prior to joining Spark Energy, Chad worked for Wolverine Trading as Director of East Power Market and Director of Operations for STAT Energy. Chad worked in the ERCOT market for Gulf States Energy and TXU Energy Trading in Dallas, TX. At TXU, Chad was responsible for managing the Physical Operations of all TXU’s Northeast Power Plants and the 24Hr Trading Team. In addition to plant management, Chad and also brought electricity to/from ERCOT to help maximize the value of TXU’s fleet of of generation.Before moving to Dallas, Chad worked for several Energy companies in Houston including Valero, PG & E, Avista and Enron. It was at these companies where he learned to trade physical power in every wholesale market in the country. Chad has traded physical power in ERCOT, MAPP, WSCC, SERC, NYISO, NEPOOL and some parts of Canada. It was from this experience that Chad gained an understanding of how utilities priced the power they were selling both to their customers and in the wholesale market. Chad has spent many years studying the Northeast Markets which have since become the Standard Market Design for Power Markets gaining extensive knowledge of the workings of Zonal and Nodal Markets. He has a BBA degree in Finance from University of Texas at Austin.

Experience

1. Senior Trader

   Spark Energy

   Nov 2025 — Present

Education

• Texas McCombs School of Business

  BBA, Finance

  1993 — 1997

Skills

• Valuation
• Options
• Risk Management
• Natural Gas
• Power Trading
• Commodity Markets
• Financial Modeling
• Proprietary Trading
• Derivatives
• Hedging
• Options Strategies
• Energy Markets
• Electricity Markets
• Commodity Risk Management
• Commodity
• Energy
• Trading
• Trading Strategies