Demand for Competition Swamps Second California Electricity Market Opening

Demand for competitive power has overwhelmed the second market opening of additional supply in California’s retail power market, reports Electric Power Daily.
 
As with the first market opening, held in April, the allotted opportunity for lower-cost competitively priced electricity was met within a minute. The July 16 market opening was the second scheduled opening in a series of four planned annual increases that will eventually raise the state limit on retail power market shopping by 8,354 million megawatt hours. Unfortunately for businesses seeking rate relief during tough economic times, the increase only equals 6 percent of the state’s entire load.
 
Demand clearly exists for more competition in the state, as seventy percent of the additional space under the state’s cap has now already been allotted. Customers were required to apply for space within the opening, and many made multiple submissions in order to improve their chances of being accepted. In fact, officials from Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric both reported the number of customers applying to buy electricity from alternative power suppliers increased over the amount received in the April 16 market opening.
 
Competition’s benefits are evident. Market forces drive prices down, empower consumers and stimulate innovations in clean energy and smart grid technology. Legislative action is required to increase the amount of load that can buy power from competitive power suppliers, and COMPETE urges state lawmakers to listen to what the market is telling them – consumers want greater access to competition.

Joel Malina | July 23, 2010