Wind

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming featured a discussion on the role of competition in helping to move the United States toward a clean energy economy.
 
Committee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), cited the virtues of competition, calling it a “positive force” for advancing clean energy and suggesting it “will be the reason solar energy becomes equitable with the grid system.” Markey’s comments helped highlight the role competition plays in fostering innovation. “The kind of innovation that has been driving down the cost of electricity…is available only in America,” said Markey. “Technology always triumphs.”
 

Customer satisfaction with competition has never been higher in Texas, according to the third annual JD Power and Associates survey on customer satisfaction with retail power suppliers.
 
Retail customers reported increased satisfaction levels and high power supplier switching rates , thanks to a mix of innovative new energy programs, customer service, lower wholesale electricity prices and deals that will save Texas consumers millions of dollars over the next few years while helping to stimulate clean energy technology.
 

A combination of hotter summers, an aging electrical grid and uneven adoption of smart grid technology has increased the need for electric infrastructure investment, according to a University of Minnesota research study cited by CNN reporter Thom Patterson.
 
COMPETE agrees significant investment is needed in our national grid to reach our nation’s sustainable energy goals and maintain electric reliability needs. But CNN missed an important opportunity to highlight how competitive electricity markets are helping ensure reliability and encourage innovation and investment while protecting consumers from the financial risk of poor or failed investment decisions.
 

Average wholesale electricity prices in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) have once again dropped, providing even more benefits for consumers coping with the economic downturn, according to ERCOT’s 2009 State of the Market Report. Prices fell 56 percent from 2008’s average price to $34.03 per megawatt-hour (MWh), the lowest price experienced by any U.S. electricity market.