Customers in the Mid-Atlantic region have recently seen several rate reductions as a result of competition, and this week businesses in Delaware experienced firsthand the benefits of choice in the electric market. On Wednesday, members of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce announced they had secured a long-term electricity contract nearly 15 percent below their default rate, or the standard rate offered by their existing power supplier.

More than 30 individual businesses banded together to shop for competitive energy prices within the PJM Interconnection market, resulting in welcomed cost savings during a period of economic downturn. 

The group is expected to save more than $225,000 over the three-year fixed rate contract, or roughly $12,000 per member depending on their individual electric use. As Chamber President & CEO Jim Wolfe commented, “This type of program helps our members stay in business in these tough economic times.”

The state’s commercial and industrial retail electricity market also recently received a positive ranking from the Energy Retailer Research Consortium, an independent research consortium. The findings mean that customers in Delaware enjoy options unavailable in traditional monopoly electric markets such as long-term energy prices, hourly energy pricing, energy efficiency services and opportunity for customers to participate in bulk power markets.

These latest developments once again demonstrate the ability of competitive electricity markets to deliver lower price options for customers.