ABACCUS Study Assesses Ohio's Competitive Electric Market

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 17, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Competitive retail electricity markets are thriving in states like Ohio that foster robust customer choice, as competitive electricity suppliers are competing with one another to offer increasingly innovative products and services, according to a report released today assessing the status of competitive retail electricity markets.

Now in its sixth year, the Annual Baseline Assessment of Choice in Canada and the United States (ABACCUS) cited the customer choice program in Ohio among the leading competitive retail electricity markets in the United States.

"The ABACCUS assessment found that increasingly robust competition among competitive retail electric service providers in Ohio is driving them to innovate to differentiate themselves and attract and retain customers," said Stephen Bennett, the Retail Energy Supply Association's Ohio electricity issues chair. 

More than 40 percent of residential customers in Ohio are purchasing competitively priced electricity, the third-highest rate in the country among the dozen states that ABACCUS cites as having workably competitive retail electricity markets.  More than two-thirds of the state's industrial and commercial customers are purchasing electricity from competitive suppliers.

The ABACCUS study noted that in states with successful restructured electric markets like Ohio's, consumers choose among variable pricing products (month-to-month changes), fixed-price products (three to 60 months), renewable energy or green products, among other offers. In selecting the lowest cost, some residential consumers may choose a pricing plan that changes every month in order to get the lowest near-term price, while others prefer to lock in a price for a period of a year or longer, the report found. 

"The beauty of the competitive market is the ability of energy suppliers to respond rapidly to consumer preferences. Energy suppliers are able to bundle new energy services and products with non-energy offers and are willing to bear the financial risk of such offerings," the report said.

Chairman Todd Snitchler of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio was among more than a dozen sitting and former state regulatory commissioners serving on the ABACCUS advisory board for its 2012 assessment.

The Retail Energy Supply Association is the nation's leading trade association representing competitive retail energy suppliers.

About RESA
RESA represents competitive energy suppliers dedicated to creating and sustaining vibrantly competitive electricity and natural gas markets for the benefit of consumers.  RESA's members include:  Champion Energy Services, LLC; ConEdison Solutions; Constellation NewEnergy, Inc.; Direct Energy Services, LLC; Energetix, Inc.; Energy Plus Holdings LLC; Exelon Energy Company; GDF SUEZ Energy Resources NA, Inc.; Green Mountain Energy Company; Hess Corporation; Integrys Energy Services, Inc.; Just Energy; Liberty Power; MC Squared Energy Services, LLC; Mint Energy, LLC; NextEra Energy Services; Noble Americas Energy Solutions LLC; PPL EnergyPlus, LLC; Reliant; Stream Energy; TransCanada Power Marketing Ltd. and TriEagle Energy, L.P..  For more information about RESA please contact Tracy McCormick, Executive Director at (717) 566-5405, or visit www.resausa.org.

SOURCE Retail Energy Supply Association