New York

Across the country, residents and businesses are continuing to exercise their ability to choose their electricity provider. Electricity shopping in competitive markets ensures providers are more innovative and efficient in their efforts to attract customers. As a result, consumers have access to the highest quality service at the most competitive prices. 
 

Few consumers when they purchase an airline ticket, pay their electric bill or turn on their gas stove give a passing thought to the money they are saving or the innovation and convenience made possible thanks to Alfred E. Kahn.  But Kahn, an economist who died December 27 at the age of 93, had a pervasive influence in turning back nearly a century of consumer-costly price regulation in industries that span not just transportation and energy, but almost the entire economy.  He was far more than merely the “father of airline deregulation,” as most obituaries are heralding him. 
 

Competitive electricity markets are driving innovation, stimulating new investment, and delivering customer choice across North America, concludes the 2010 Annual Baseline Assessment of Choice in Canada and the United States (ABACCUS).
 

A new study sponsored by COMPETE reveals the volume of electricity sales by competitive non-utility suppliers has doubled since 2003 in the continental United States, and competitive suppliers are increasingly offering innovative products and services allowing competition based on more than just price.
 
The report compiles national statistics and in-depth analysis of several states (New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Connecticut, Maryland, Washington D.C.) that have opened their retail electricity markets to competition.
 

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) credited competitive markets with reducing air pollution by attracting investment in power plant efficiency and clean energy sources, according to a report in Restructuring Today and Platts Electric Power Daily.
 
Stephen Whitely, NYISO’s CEO, stated that competition has combined with carbon control programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to sharply lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide.

“Competition in wholesale electricity markets has stimulated investments in cleaner generation, increased the use of renewable resources – such as wind power – and encouraged operating changes to improve the overall efficiency of power plants,” said Whitely. 

A new report by the Center for American Progress (CAP) identifies the top 10 states for energy efficiency and credits market forces for stimulating innovation and investment. According to the report, Connecticut, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Ohio are the nation’s top energy efficiency markets – all but North Carolina have competitive retail electricity markets.
 

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.
 

A new staff report from Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) urges a full evaluation of the state’s electricity market given the benefits competition could offer the state’s consumers, economy and environment. The report, issued last week, comes as the ACC considers revising state rules to introduce competition to its power market.
 
Competition would create multiple economic benefits for Arizona consumers, according to ACC staff:
 

Competition is helping the nation’s organized markets weather this summer’s peak electricity demands as heat waves gripped much of the country. Both private investment and innovative demand response technology, two of the most distinct benefits of competitive markets supported by the transparent price signals markets provide, have kept the lights on in spite new power-demand records.
 

Competitive electricity markets are helping lead the nation toward a smart grid future. So says a new report from GTM Research, which ranks the top 10 states leading smart grid implementation. Seven of the 10 states participate in competitive electricity markets. California ranks first, followed in the rankings by Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
 
These state rankings result from a mix of effective regulatory oversight and private investment, but all deliver economic and environmental benefits to consumers. “These 10 states are the laboratories for U.S. smart grid policy, and their influence on the pace and scope of deployment is durable and growing,” said Stephen Munro, energy policy analyst for GTM Research.