Competitive electricity market

Pennsylvania’s competitive electricity market crossed a major milestone this week, with 1 million customers actively shopping and choosing their electricity provider. Since rate caps expired across the state at the beginning of the year, nearly 300,000 new accounts were established, the clearest indication yet that Pennsylvania customers are embracing competition.

Two regional organized markets demonstrated the benefits of competition through the Regional Transmission Organizations/Independent System Operators this week. The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) unveiled major long-term transmission plans and the Midwest ISO (MISO) reported more than a billion dollars in market benefits over the past year.

 
Today’s Baltimore Sun features an op-ed by COMPETE Co-Chairman Federico Pena. His column highlights, among other things, the myriad benefits Maryland’s competitive electricity market has delivered to the state – from efficiency, innovation and reliability to greater customer choice and competitive prices. Since introducing competition in the late 1990s, Maryland has been one of the greatest success stories around the country. The full column, which details that success, follows…
 

COMPETE Coalition member Beacon Power announced it has successfully brought on line the first flywheel facility to provide commercial service on the U.S. electricity grid.  Beacon brought the first 8 megawatts (MW) of athe facility's planned 20 MW capacity into service, clearly showing how competitive electricity markets drive innovative technology development not possible in protected monopoly regions of the country.
 

The number of consumers switching to competitive suppliers has continued its trend of upward growth in four states with competitive markets, bringing competitively priced electricity to even more customers. These switching numbers come from recently released state data posted in Restructuring Today, and reiterate that electricity customers switching their power suppliers is a clear sign of the success of competitive markets.
 

A new poll conducted on behalf of the Electric Competition for Michigan NOW! coalition shows strong sentiment among consumers to create greater customer choice in Michigan. The survey, conducted with 600 state residents, found 79 percent of those polled think homeowners and businesses should have the ability to select their electric company.
 

Multiple layers of regulatory oversight protect our nation’s competitive electricity markets from systemic risks such as those that led to the recent financial market crisis. Much of the nation’s electric industry has undergone restructuring to promote competition and consumer benefits, but regulation and oversight at the federal and state levels are as strong as, or stronger, than they have ever been.
 

The percentage of customers shopping for alternative energy suppliers has grown in six restructured markets, according to recently released data from state regulators highlighted in Restructuring Today.
 
These new numbers compiled from earlier this year, combined with continued growth in regions across the nation, are the latest evidence competition is working by delivering economic benefits and competitively priced electricity options to consumers.
 

The movement to restore Michigan’s competitive electricity market is growing, with state legislators and businesses taking action in the fight to roll back a poorly conceived statewide cap on competition. 
 

In an op-ed this week, leading economists with MIT and Harvard urged policymakers not to “demonize” market-based policies to achieve national environmental and energy goals. The economists underscore the benefits of using market forces to bring about good policy outcomes in a least-cost manner, echoing COMPETE’s support for markets and market-based climate-change policies in a joint position paper with the Environmental Defense Fund.