Energy.Com and Columbia Gas of Ohio have teamed up to enableColumbia Gas customers to switch suppliers online from theEnergy.com web site as part of the utility’s customer choiceprogram. It marks Energy.com’s entrance into active deregulationenrollment services, the company said.

Any customer being served by Columbia can take advantage of theservice. Once on the site, they can get information about differentoffers, research the 19 marketers currently selling gas inColumbia’s service territory, and now they can switch suppliers.Marketers only pay a fee when they acquire a customer. The rest ofthe service is funded by advertising, Tammy Cardoso, an Energy.comspokesperson, said.

“This is our first time providing this service,” said Cardoso.”But it won’t be the last. We intend to offer it to the other LDCsin Ohio, then branch out into other deregulating markets such asGeorgia, New Jersey, and New York. We also want to provide anenrollment service for deregulating electric markets. Right now, weare looking at Pennsylvania.”

Online switching is not new to Columbia. In January, itsuccessfully petitioned the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio(PUCO), to allow all 19 marketers to enroll customers online.Columbia, the largest gas utility in the state, has a total of 1.3million gas customers.

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