Only a little more than a month after the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) reported that Connecticut residential customers of retail electric suppliers paid $58 million more in 2015 than they would have, had they remained with the utility standard service price, now the National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) is claiming the exact opposite could be true in 2016.
NEM recently reviewed current electricity prices publicly available to consumers in Connecticut and found that if all residential customers on utility standard service today had switched to the lowest competitive offers provided at the beginning of the year, they collectively could have saved as much as $166 million dollars.
“Today, 40 percent of Connecticut households are taking advantage of unique products and services that they can’t obtain from their regulated utility … We must help consumers to make informed choices about electricity, and encourage active shopping for energy and related products, services, and technologies,” said NEM President, Craig Goodman
NEM, the national nonprofit trade association for energy retailers and wholesalers, said it continues to encourage customers to make good choices about their electricity plans and to think about which product is best for them and their family by being informed and active shoppers.
“Connecticut has implemented many robust consumer protections. However, what Connecticut needs is more competition. The greatest consumer protection the government can offer its citizens is the right to buy what they want, from whom they want, and only in the amounts they want,” said Goodman. “Forcing consumers to buy competitive products and services from monopolies at monopoly prices undermines both innovation and competitive prices,” added Goodman.
