Connecticut ratepayers are rapidly moving beyond the state’s two leading electricity providers in search of cheaper power suppliers, a retail-electric trade group says.
In 2010, the number of Connecticut commercial and residential electricity ratepayers using a price-competitive supplier for their energy nearly doubled, the highest since the state deregulated its energy market in 1998, according to the Retail Energy Supply Association.
Deregulation gave consumers a choice in where they buy their electricity. Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating — the state’s two largest distribution companies — have default rates for customers’ energy supply; but ratepayers can switch to a competitive supplier as well. Customers’ bills still come from CL&P and UI, but the generation charge on the bill is adjusted for whoever the competitive supplier is.
Competitive suppliers offer more flexibility than the CL&P and UI default rates. Their rates are usually cheaper, depending on the terms of the contract, and have options, such as coming from 100 percent renewable resources.
While businesses have largely made the switch to competitive suppliers, residential customers have been slow to switch. Roughly 20 percent of Connecticut’s total ratepayers made the switch by January 2010, representing 301,557 customers, the association said.
By the end of 2010, that number had grown to 586,083, representing 38 percent of the state’s ratepayers, the trade group said.
“Electric customer choice has become a valuable economic engine in Connecticut,” said David Fein, president of the trade group Retail Energy Supply Association, in a statement.
