Competition Supported at Pennsylvania State Senate Hearing

Retail competition in Pennsylvania is benefitting consumers, said several members of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission this week at a public hearing. Chairman Jim Cawley, Commissioner Wayne Gardner, and Commissioner Robert Powelson made their supportive comments before the PA Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.

 

Commissioner Powelson dispelled tired arguments made by critics that consumers can’t make informed decisions and won’t respond to market signals, by submitting the PJM independent market monitor’s 2009 State of the Market Report into the hearing record. The report found PJM electricity markets competitive for the ninth year in a row, with wholesale electricity prices dropping over 40 percent from 2008.

 

I was a witness at the hearing and shared Leggett & Platt’s perspective on competition as a Pennsylvania consumer. During my testimony, I told the senators “I represent an industrial customer that is a proponent of well-functioning competitive markets like PJM.”  Leggett & Platt has used the opportunities presented through electricity market restructuring to drive inefficiencies out of our operations and employ the discipline of risk management to deliver value to our bottom line. Leggett operates two production plants in Pennsylvania and competition has directly benefited our business through demand response strategies, energy efficiency upgrades, and the ability to shop for competitive suppliers.

 

  I encourage policymakers in Pennsylvania to recognize the success of its restructuring reforms to date. I urge them not to retreat to the failed, vertically integrated monopoly model that existed before restructuring, but instead maintain the opportunity for all customers to choose their power supplier.

 

By Steve Elsea, Director of Energy Services, Leggett & Platt, Inc.  Leggett & Platt, a member of the COMPETE Coalition, is a diversified manufacturer that conceives, designs and produces a broad variety of engineered components and products for customers worldwide.

Steve Elsea, Director of Energy Services, Leggett & Platt, Inc. | April 16, 2010