Texas garners top spot in residential choice as 8 states see decline

Read the full EnergyWire story. Reprinted from EnergyWire with permission from E&E Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net 202-628-6500.

(excerpts)

Texas continued to set the North American standard for residential electric competition last year while eight states saw reduced participation, according to a new report.

Texas continues to top the choice list because of several factors, according to Treadway. That includes the state’s move in competitive areas away from a regulated price to beat in 2007 after a five-year transition. “The market took off after that,” Treadway said. “Lots of new providers came in. Lots of new products and services were offered.”

He said Texas is seeking to facilitate retail choice by building infrastructure and working on reliability and safety, while other states may be more focused on a range of goals such as climate change and energy efficiency.

Texas could make other improvements to its power setup, Treadway said, including possibly further unbundling distribution and looking for ways to prepare for trends such as storage, electric vehicles and solar.