RESA Testifies at Pennsylvania En Banc Hearing Offering Recommendations to Improve Competition for the Benefit of Customers

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA), a leading trade association of retail energy suppliers committed to the advocacy of vibrant and sustainable competitive energy markets, provided testimony during the November 10 Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Retail Markets en banc hearing. This second hearing was part of the Commission's broad retail markets proceeding to examine various policies to ensure that more customers get the benefits of a robust competitive market for electricity. The hearing brought together 19 different panelists including utility officials, retail suppliers, consumer advocates, and legal and research experts.

"The Commission should be commended for their thoughtful deliberation on how to improve the restructured energy market to provide consumers with greater access to products and services that meet their energy needs," said Ritchie Hudson, RESA's Pennsylvania State Chair. "While more than 1.4 million consumers have made the switch from utility supply to competitive retail energy supply, many more have been slow to do so."  In fact, consumer polling results highlighted at the hearing showed that while 88 percent of Pennsylvanians are aware of electricity choice, only half of those have actually looked into shopping for a new supplier. Twenty-three percent have then gone on to make a switch. Customer inertia, brand loyalty to a utility that no longer generates its own electricity, the unfortunate perception of shopping as complex, and the level of savings from shopping were all cited as impacting whether a consumer may make a switch or not.

To aid consumers, the Commission is examining a variety of policy changes to better educate residential and other consumers about energy competition and ways to benefit from the energy market. Two specific proposals under consideration include shortening the time it takes for a customer to switch suppliers and customer referral programs. Current regulations and operational limitations mean that a customer has to wait between 16 and 45 days to enroll with a new supplier.  Much of this delay is driven by a mandatory ten day waiting period.  "This is entirely too long for a customer to wait to receive service from their chosen supplier," said Mr. Hudson.  "It can take longer to change suppliers in some cases than it does to refinance a mortgage, and this is unacceptable from a customer service perspective."

On the day of the hearing, the Commission issued a tentative order eliminating the mandatory waiting period and encouraging utilities and suppliers to take other actions to expedite switching.  "RESA fully supports these efforts to improve the customer shopping experience," noted Mr. Hudson.

The Commission is also considering customer referral programs, which may include a range of measures designed to introduce residential and small commercial customers to the competitive market.  One successful program, adopted in New York, offers customers a guaranteed discount off of the utility's generation price for an introductory period. The utility would offer the customer a chance to participate in the program at service initiation or at other times when the customer contacts the utility. "While many customers are aware of their right to shop for a supplier, many have been reluctant to do so," said Hudson.  "The customer referral program was very successful at encouraging customers to try out the competitive market in New York and we support its adoption here in Pennsylvania as well."

Recent studies indicate that greater participation in the market leads to greater benefits for consumers. As of today, more than 60 suppliers are serving residential, business and government customers in the Pennsylvania market.

The Commission launched the second phase of this retail market investigation in July 2011 after concluding, on the basis of comments filed and testimony provided during the first phase of review, that Pennsylvania's current retail market for electricity required changes in order to bring about the robust competitive market envisioned by the General Assembly when it passed the Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act. The second phase of this review process should be completed by April 2012. To view a copy of the full agenda of the November 10, 2011 hearing and listen to audio from the panels visit http://www.puc.state.pa.us/electric/Retail_Electricity_Market.aspx.

About RESA
RESA's members include:  Champion Energy Services, LLC; ConEdison Solutions; Constellation NewEnergy, Inc.; Direct Energy Services, LLC; Energetix, Inc.; 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; MXenergy; NextEra Energy Services; Noble Americas Energy Solutions LLC; PPL EnergyPlus, LLC; Reliant and TriEagle Energy, L.P..  The comments expressed in this filing represent the position of RESA as an organization but may not represent the views of any particular member of RESA. . For more information, contact RESA Executive Director Tracy McCormick at (717) 566-5405 or go to www.RESAUSA.org.

SOURCE Retail Energy Supply Association