Consumers

A major Pennsylvania environmental group has endorsed competition’s benefits, just as rate caps expired across the state and millions of consumers gained the ability to shop for their electricity on January 1. PennFuture’s report, “Consumers Win: A Decade of Electricity Competition,” touts the success of competition, saying “the benefits to Pennsylvania ratepayers cannot be disputed.”
 

Several major competitive power suppliers have recently entered Maryland’s electricity markets, and the resulting competition is driving switching rates higher among consumers – a trend noted in a recent COMPETE report on the success of retail electricity markets.
 
These developments come fast on the heels of similar upward switching trends in other Mid-Atlantic states, and happen as lower energy prices present opportunities for consumers to lower their costs.
 

Smart meters combined with enhanced information from utilities could significantly reduce electricity consumption and costs, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
 

Demand for competitive power has overwhelmed the second market opening of additional supply in California’s retail power market, reports Electric Power Daily.
 

Consumers in New England strongly support the power of competitive markets to stimulate investment in clean energy and combat global warming, an annual survey by the New England Energy Alliance (NEAA) demonstrates.
 

During last week’s regular open meeting, staff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission presented their 2009 State of the Markets Report, and the outcome for energy consumers was profound.  Prices for natural gas were down by 50 percent across the country, and as a result electricity rates declined proportionately in the organized competitive markets, where gas is a key generation fuel. Costs for both natural gas and electricity were at the lowest levels seen since at least 2002 – even earlier in some regions, FERC staff reported.