Plugged In with WattBuy

The Washington D.C. Public Service Commission today held a hearing - GD 117, "for an investigation into the business practices of alternative energy suppliers in the District of Columbia". The Commission has received 335 complaints since January 2013 regarding claims of "slamming" and "cramming" by some of the 121 suppliers of electricity in the DC region. Slamming refers to the practice of switching your electricity provider to another provider without a customer's consent, and c

Some customers in Pennsylvania have been unhappy with their decisions to switch power providers. This problem continues according to Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), with some providers advertising their services as fixed price when they are anything but. The PUC’s stance can be summed up in the following statement: “[w]hile consumers are expected and encouraged to carefully review the disclosure statements, presenting a product as having a fixed price that in fact vary for any n

Deregulation of electricity markets in Pennsylvania has opened a variety of opportunities for easier access to renewable power. For example, the Sustainable Energy Fund (SEF) aims to help communities in Eastern Pennsylvania fund sustainable energy projects.  Deregulated electricity markets put more power in the hands of the consumer, and with this power comes the need to be educated about different potential sources of a

Maryland’s electricity market is plagued by higher prices than many neighboring states as a result of its lack of local generation capacity, with over 30% of its required electricity being pumped in from other states. This electricity costs more due to transportation charges and technical losses, raising the final price for service delivery.  Some lawmakers have suggested reducing Maryland’s dependence in electricity imports by constructing a new power plant in Maryland that would be pai

The Public Service Commission of Maryland has established an interesting system for regulating electricity costs for consumers, based around the idea of “Standard Offer Service” being provided by utilities at the best possible price “in light of prevailing market conditions” for customers. While this sounds good in theory, the PSCM has actually found that third party suppliers are on average 10% cheaper than Standard Offer Service. This price difference represents a service overpayment of $15

While neighboring Pennsylvania saw explosive growth when retail customers were first able to purchase electricity from competitive suppliers, customers in Maryland have switched to alternative suppliers at a much slower rote. Only 3% of residential customers had actually switched to a new supplier as of 2009, a paltry figure when compared to the near half of customers switching in Pennsylvania.  Late 2011 and 2012 began a dramatic upswing in residential electricity purchasing in Maryland

Indiana lawmakers recently commissioned a report to be delivered no later than November 2013 to assess the potential benefits of moving to competitively supplied electricity. This study follows on the heals of increasing pressure to consider some form of modified or deregulated market for the state’s consumers. In a recent interview former FERC Commissioner Bill Massey stated that deregulated markets have delivered average costs that are 11.8% lower than their conventionally regulated counter

There have been increased conversations in Michigan regarding further deregulation of electricity markets following on the heels of legislation introduced in October of 2012. At present, only 10% of Michigan’s electricity sector is open to competition and most customers are still locked into purchasing from major state utilities. Many customers are interested in accessing the same low rates made available to customers in other states through deregulation, but so far proposals to increase the

The Energy Information Agency reported that average electricity usage in Pennsylvania was 870 kwH/month in 2011. Using that as a standard consumption rate, I calculated the different types of average costs to a consumer for choosing an ESCO versus the default distributor. First, in 4 out of the 9 distributor regions, it turned out to be cheaper to use an ESCO on average. In Duquesne, Met