fork-in-the-road-what-now

Michigan utilities lobbied hard to reduce the Michigan Customer Choice program to no more than 10%. That is; only 10% of Michigan customers can chose an energy supplier (all customers still get energy delivered by the utility). The result; those that are in the 10% are enjoying savings compared to their utility. One example in Michigan, 400 public schools saved over $40 MILLION last year. On average, states without competition through energy choice pay 25% more than states with customer choice.

Examples of two different states: one with customer choice and one without:

In Illinois (with customer choice), competition saved over $37 BILLION: http://realgyenergyservices.com/competition-work-tune-37-billion/

In Indiana (without customer choice), ranking on lowest states for electricity costs went from 5th lowest in the Nation in 2003 to 26th in 2014 (electric rates went up)! http://realgyenergyservices.com/indianas-electric-rate-hurts-competitiveness/

So why not expand Customer Choice for 100% of customers? According to DTE their reasons are:

  1. There will be a shortage of energy supply
  2. We do it in Ohio and elsewhere and that different

These reasons are throwback to the 1950s. DTE is not responsible for energy supply in the state this ended long ago. A larger regional entity called MISO is. DTE supports customer choice in Ohio and elsewhere. The apparent reason Michigan does not having a robust customer choice market; incumbent utilities donate/lobby legislators that in turn support the utilities.

Realgy supports customer choice for energy. Our experience has demonstrated that it saves consumers time and money in energy use and decisions.

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.

Additional information: www.realgyenergyservices.com

Supporting Article: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2015/08/11/charged-dte-misses-point-choice-works/