Retail

The Public Utility Commission of Ohio made it possible yesterdayfor 1.8 million retail gas customers in more than 64 Ohio countiesto begin choosing gas suppliers this winter. PUCO approved a hugeexpansion of Columbia Gas of Ohio’s pilot program and extended thepilots of Cincinnati Gas & Electric and East Ohio Gas.

PECO Energy launched a new energy services and retail energymarketing company, called Exelon Energy, which will combine thediverse operations of Horizon Energy, PECO Energy/Energy One andPECO Energy/Horizon Group.

Retail energy service providers and marketers now have an addedpotential way to reach into California’s mass market residentialand small business customers by buying part of the utility billingenvelope space. Under new state regulatory rules, investor-ownedenergy utilities (IOUs) are opening access to their ubiquitousbills that are mailed regularly to millions of customers.

The promise of retail energy marketing, but probably not thecurrent results, seems to be providing enough support to the gasand power marketing community that few have decided to exit thebusiness, according to the results of Benjamin Schlesinger andAssociates’ 12th edition of its Directory of Energy MarketingService Companies.

Disappointment with the development of retail gas and powermarket competition nationwide prompted another major player toannounce it is rethinking its plans and redirecting marketingefforts. EnergyOne LLC, the 50-50 marketing alliance of UtiliCorpUnited and Peco Energy, is being restructured in order to implementnew joint strategies tailored to deal with “a competitivemarketplace that refuses to show up,” the partners said yesterday.Their announcement follows by only a week Enron’s statement that itis ceasing residential marketing efforts in several states becausecompetition has been so slow to develop.

Retail gas marketers got some good and bad news from BaltimoreGas & Electric Co. yesterday. The bad news was transportationcustomers have to start paying the state’s 5% sales tax for thefirst time starting in May so alternative suppliers will have amuch tougher time beating the regulated gas sales price. Thecompliance division of the state Controller’s office informed BGEof the tax change in January.

TECO Energy gas utility Peoples Gas System, Florida’s largestretail gas distributor, announced plans to expand distributionservice to southwest Florida. Customers in the Lee County area,including Fort Myers and Cape Coral as well as Naples andsurrounding communities, will be able to buy natural gas for thefirst time.

MichCon announced plans yesterday to give all of its 1.2 millionretail gas customers a choice of suppliers over the next threeyears. The Detroit-based distributor filed an application with theMichigan Public Service Commission for the program earlier thisweek. It is designed to begin next January with 225,000 customers.The plan also would reduce gas costs by 7% to $2.95/Mcf and freezethem for three years for those customers who continue to useMichCon as their gas provider.

California’s retail electric market kicks off in the earlymorning hours today (March 31) with the state-chartered wholesalespot market, the power exchange (PX), processing a market-clearingprice and generation schedules for another newly created statepublic benefits organization, the independent system operator(ISO), that will run the state transmission grid.