Catalyst with Shayle Kann – Episode Summary

Episode: How Base Power Plans to Use Its Fresh $1B
Date: October 9, 2025
Host: Shayle Kann
Guest: Zach Dell, CEO & Co-Founder, Base Power

Overview:

This episode of Catalyst dives into how Base Power, a rapidly scaling energy technology startup, plans to deploy its historic $1 billion Series C fundraise. Host Shayle Kann interviews CEO Zach Dell about Base Power’s unique business model—vertically integrated home battery storage at residential scale, coupled with retail energy offerings—and how it aims to outcompete legacy energy companies, disrupt both deregulated and regulated markets, and what its trajectory means for the future of distributed energy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Base Power’s Model and Value Proposition

• Business Overview:
  • Base Power acts as an energy provider, installing large home batteries (25-50 kWh, soon 80 kWh systems) that it owns and operates, while also serving as the retail electricity provider.
  • Customers pay a low monthly rate, receiving both grid energy and reliable home backup.
  • Distinct from legacy “gen-tailers” with centralized assets—Base’s “generation fleet” is entirely battery storage, distributed at residential scale.
• Customer Benefits:
  • “We are able to provide a level of resiliency to the home that the competition can’t at a price that they can’t compete with... It’s the most affordable [home backup] option on the market.”
    • (Zach Dell, 05:25)
  • Customer can use 20% of battery capacity at any time for backup.

2. Cost Structure & Vertical Integration as Competitive Edge

• Why Residential-Scale Batteries?

  • Unlike utility-scale projects, Base avoids land and interconnection costs, queue delays, and the margin stacking of subcontracted installations.
  • “Vertical integration is the magic.”
    • (Zach Dell, 12:16)
  • “Compared to our system, [utility-scale developers] have to buy or lease the land... pay for interconnection to the grid... wait in the interconnection queue... hire big EPC firms, all adding cost... On a fully landed basis, we can beat utility scale by a pretty significant margin.”
    • (Zach Dell, 12:16)

• Product Positioning:

  • The focus is on lowest possible cost and reliability, not luxury appeal.
    • “We take a very different view... what matters to homeowners is cost and reliability...as you drop price, CACs go down too.”
      • (Zach Dell, 12:16)

3. Technical Design & Installation Efficiency

• Battery Design Choices:
  • Moving from wall-mounted to ground-mounted units grants design freedom and reduces install complexity.
  • Installation process: Decoupling heavy lifting (mounting, racking) from electrical work so truck drivers do setup and licensed electricians only do brief connection work.
  • “If you own the whole system—the logistics, the warehouse, installation, hardware design—you can build the whole system to be more efficient. That’s actually a massive, massive cost efficiency.”
    • (Zach Dell, 20:17)

4. Workforce & Scaling Challenges

• Managing Labor with Demand:
  • Base is currently “supply constrained”—demand is greater than they can serve, making workforce optimization more manageable.
  • “Our installers are the front lines and they are incentivized to surprise and delight our homeowners...we really value that and invest in that.”
    • (Zach Dell, 23:42)
• Sunrun, SolarCity Parallels: Past vertical integration failures traced to insufficient demand or demand spikes; Base believes consistently superior value will sustain growth.

5. Customer Retention and Churn in Texas (ERCOT)

• Low Churn through Value:
  • High churn is typical in deregulated Texas retail energy, but Base has just “one customer churn ever” owing to its combination of affordable backup and competitive rates.
  • “The best way to limit churn is to have a killer product...most affordable home backup on the planet...we’ve had a number of customers email us and say ‘I really want Base on my new home, how do I make sure I don’t lose Base?’”
    • (Zach Dell, 27:11)

6. Market Risk: ERCOT Volatility & Revenue Streams

• Multi-Pronged Revenue:
  • Homeowner fixed monthly payments, battery trading in wholesale markets, and retailing energy.
  • “Batteries are more profitable in times of high volatility, full stop.”
    • (Zach Dell, 30:14)
  • Base’s position as both retailer and battery owner provides a hedge: “Because we have a long position [storage], we can be more creative with our short position [load book]... Our job is to build the best technology in the world, scale grid infrastructure, maintain a strong balance sheet, and make sure our risk posture is one that will be here to stay.”
    • (Zach Dell, 30:14 & 32:08)

7. Expansion into Regulated Utility Markets

• Different Model:
  • No longer a retailer—Base sells “megawatts” directly to utilities, acting as a technology provider.
  • Utilities seek rapid capacity additions due to load growth (data centers, electrification).
  • “If a utility is looking for megawatts, we can deliver them faster and cheaper than anyone...our assets are just as capable as a natural gas peaker plant or coal plant.”
    • (Zach Dell, 32:57)
• Value to Consumers:
  • In some markets: lowest-cost home backup (fixed monthly fee).
  • In highly reliable regions: homeowners could be compensated for hosting batteries.

8. Distributed vs. Centralized Capacity – Utility Sentiment

• Changing Perceptions:
  • Utilities warming to distributed batteries as legitimate capacity resources: “Our asset is reliable, responsive, high uptime...we have triple nines, uptime and subsecond telemetry...utilities [are] wrapping their heads around the idea these are high quality assets.”
    • (Zach Dell, 36:18)
  • Goal: distributed battery fleets treated in procurement like gas/coal plants.

9. Vision: Rapid, Nationwide Scale

• Deployment Speed:
  • Presently deploying 20 MW/month in Texas; aims for 100 MW/month next year, “and, hopefully, gigawatts a month in the not too distant future.”
    • (Zach Dell, 38:07)
  • “In the situation we find ourselves in with the demand that’s coming in the electricity sector, we need solutions to deploy capacity quickly and cost effectively. And that’s where we are positioning ourselves.”
    • (Zach Dell, 38:07)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the business model:
  • “Literally what we are is an electricity provider. So we are your power company. You buy electricity from us every month. We install a battery on your home that we own and operate.”
    • (Zach Dell, 03:56)
• On vertical integration:
  • “Vertical integration is the magic.”
    • (Zach Dell, 12:16)
• On churn:
  • “We have had one customer churn, ever. I remember her name. I remember the day it happened. I won’t say it on the pod, but it has been that low because the product is really good.”
    • (Zach Dell, 27:11)
• On scalability:
  • “We are deploying megawatts in Texas very quickly, like on the order of 20 megawatts a month. We think by this time next year we’ll be deploying on the order of 100 megawatts a month. You can’t find that kind of deployment speed really anywhere in the country.”
    • (Zach Dell, 38:07)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:56 – Zach Dell’s elevator pitch: Base as a “Gen-tailer” with batteries
• 05:25 – Consumer and system-level benefits of the model
• 12:16 – How vertical integration drives costs below utility-scale storage
• 20:17 – Battery design efficiency: ground-mount vs. wall-mount, install optimization
• 23:42 – Workforce and brand management in home installs
• 27:11 – Customer churn minimized by robust value proposition
• 30:14 – Managing ERCOT volatility, business hedges
• 32:57 – Business model in regulated utility markets
• 36:18 – Utility perceptions of distributed battery capacity
• 38:07 – Deployment speed and future scaling vision

Conclusion

In this in-depth conversation, Zach Dell explains how Base Power’s strategy leverages vertical integration to drop costs, improve installation and reliability, and challenge traditional utility and retail power providers—both in deregulated and regulated markets. Their ability to scale rapidly, minimize churn, and gain favor with utilities positions Base Power as a likely major force in U.S. distributed energy and virtual power plants.

For more: Visit latitudemedia.com for links and further resources from the episode.