Thursday’s Hartford Courant brought good news for electricity consumers: “Many CL&P Customers To See Lower Rates Starting Jan.1” Electric rates will decrease 5.2 percent in January for most of Connecticut Light & Power’s 1.2 million customers, continuing a trend of declining electricity prices in competitive electricity markets as reflected in the state’s declining costs.

The rate reduction is a result of Connecticut’s participation in New England’s wholesale competitive market managed by ISO New England, a regional transmission organization. Consumers who shop for competitive energy suppliers in Connecticut have benefited directly from falling electricity prices in the past year – a trend recently noted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

According to a recent assessment of 17 North American restructured electricity markets, the number of residential consumers in Connecticut switching energy suppliers has more than doubled over the past year from 6.6 percent of customers to 17.7 percent. Even more impressively, business customers choosing competitive suppliers have surged to 76.7 percent of generation sales overall — and large customer switching exceeds 91 percent.

Connecticut Light & Power, the state’s largest utility, has seen a 62 percent boost in competition, from about 85,000 customers purchasing from competitive suppliers in May 2008 to 134,255 as of May 2009. This figure represents almost 11% of the customers in the utility’s service territory and nearly 46% of the total load.

Connecticut consumers also have benefited from the dramatic increase in demand response programs in New England’s competitive electric market. Demand response programs reduce the need for generation during periods of high demand for electricity through financial incentives. ISO New England reports that demand response programs grew 28 percent in 2008 and total demand resources increased 556 percent from January 2005 to December 2008. In October, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Connecticut third overall among all 50 states in doing the most to implement energy efficiency measures.

COMPETE Co-Chair and former U.S. Senator Don Nickles urged New England to stay the course on competitive reforms in an address delivered at the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association’s 2009 Power Markets Conference. Senator Nickles highlighted the significant consumer benefits achieved through competition in New England – including reliability, efficiency and price benefits – as well as the importance of strong policymaker support at the state level that has allowed competition to thrive.