Customer Choice is usually introduced as unleashing market forces to bring about savings compared to the monopoly utility. And it does. Then Energy Marketers conform to the “landscape” the regulators and politicians create. The latest case in point is Illinois. IL trumpeted savings provided by Energy Marketers in 2013 at $37 BILLION.

Then the Energy Marketers who bring market pricing direct to consumers had an increase due to the following changes:

  1. Regulatory demands- oversight and compliance
  2. Taxes and fees- IL charges Energy marketers for the agency that buys power for the utilities (yes, you read that right)
  3. Utilities cost for supplying power decreased to nearly below market pricing at times (see comment 2)
  4. Municipalities were allowed to offer their residents energy; typically low for the first year which then increased. Of course, the municipalities wanted the Energy Marketers to pay them so the resident’s cost increased.

Consider how the above market changes caused $37 BILLION in 2013 to change…

value

These changes produce: less innovation, lower utility costs, and higher market costs. The current environment in IL is that the regulatory and political consideration seems to be driving out Energy Marketers to facilitate the return of the monopoly utility.

Realgy still provides savings compared to Illinois utilities.

Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer in the states of Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.

Additional Information:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170715/ISSUE01/170719893#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-morning10&utm_campaign=ccb-morning10-20170718