According to a recent press release by ComEd, their residential customers may soon have a wider selection of electricity suppliers. Several retail electric suppliers have expressed interest in serving Illinois consumers. Three new retail electric suppliers recently filed to seek certification from the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), and four additional suppliers have been certified to provide service over the last few months.
BlueStar Energy Services, WPS Energy Services and Direct Energy have said they are considering entering the Illinois residential electric market. BlueStar is already certified by the ICC to provide service to residential customers, but has not begun offering it yet.
Residential customers have had the ability to choose another electricity supplier other than ComEd since May 2002, as part of the Illinois restructuring law passed in 1997. However, ComEd says that other suppliers couldn't compete with its "artificially low rates" during the decade-long, state-imposed freeze on electricity rates that is set to expire at the end of the year. As proof, the company points to a June 2006 report from the federal government's Electric Energy Market Competition Task Force that found the absence of market-based rates was the primary barrier to residential competition.
"Consumers want a choice of electricity suppliers. They know that the forces of competition drive prices down," said Guy Morgan, CEO of BlueStar, a retail electric supplier based in Chicago. "Once electric rates increase to reflect the going market price, it will create an environment where BlueStar can compete to serve Northern Illinois residents."
Those Illinois residents will soon find out if this is the case. A bid to freeze electricity rates for three additional years failed in the Illinois House last week, increasing the possibility that ComEd customers may see price hikes in their utility bills by January.
For more information, check out the ComEd press release or the Chicago Sun-Times article Lights out on ComEd rate freeze.
