Competitive Energy Supply Shopping Continues to Grow Across the Country

The percentage of retail electricity customers switching to competitive energy suppliers increased in the first quarter of 2010, according to new state-level data compiled by Restructuring Today. 
 
Reports from Ohio, Connecticut, and Maine combined with similar growth in four other key markets across the country highlight how competitive markets are delivering lower-cost, competitively priced electricity to consumers.
 
In Ohio, more than a million customers reported shopping for their power supplier and total competitive electricity sales increased in five of the state’s six utility service areas. Moreover, three utilities reported total combined residential, commercial and industrial shopping percentages above 40 percent, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
 
Maine reported modest growth in the total across the state’s three utility territories. Two of the three utilities reported more than 35 percent of total load was obtained from a competitive supplier, and the third reported 23 percent came from a competitive source, the Maine Public Utilities Commission reported.
 
In Connecticut, where customers have expressed strong support for competitive markets, customer choice accounts in the United Illuminating utility service territory rose to 29 percent of the residential market while commercial and industrial accounts rose to 46 percent, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control. 
 
This steady drumbeat of increasing competitive shopping rates in competitive retail markets continues to demonstrate that our nation’s competitive electricity markets are providing economic and environmental benefits for consumers and the environment.

Joel Malina | June 30, 2010