COMPETE Encourages Governors to Support Deregulation

The COMPETE coalition sent letters to governors, regulatory commissions and legislators in five restructured states last week urging them to continue to support retail electric competition in their states. The states include Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas. COMPETE members who signed the letters represent businesses with a total of $671 million of annual electricity spending, 461,000 employees, and 6,111 facilities across the five states. (See the table below for details.)

The letter noted, “From 1997 through 2013, retail electricity prices in states with restructured competitive retail markets increased 3.6 percent less than the inflation rate while those in states that rely on monopolies increased 8.2 percent more than the inflation rate.” Earlier this month, COMPETE and its stakeholders encouraged California to expand its retail electricity market, as Retail Energy Buyer reported.

State	Facilities	Employees	Annual Electric Spend ($ Million)
IL	837	36,000	$58
MD	957	50,000	$95
MA	636	38,000	$62
PA	1,530	103,000	$122
TX	2,151	234,000	$334
Total	6,111	461,000	$671