In every state that offers residential consumers a “choice” in energy supply, their power bills are higher.
in 2023, 10,000,000 families buy their electricity supply from a retail supplier rather than their regulated utility, or for some, a “government” purchased energy, like a municipality or CCA.
Each family paid $440 more on average to “choose” a competitive retail energy supplier.
DC, along with 13 other states, have “deregulated” energy markets. This means a residential customer in one of those states can choose an energy retail supplier different than the regulated utility they originally signed up with. While “choice” sounds like a good idea, the reality of the situation has been dire for consumers.
More than 20 years of data reveals the “competitive energy” promises were not delivered— consumers just ended up with higher power bills.
Today, about 10 million US families across 13 states have switched to a “competitive” energy supplier. Since 2000 - U.S. families have paid $40 billion more for third-party energy supply than they would have with regulated electricity.
In 2022, residential customers in just seven deregulated states (MD, PA, NY, IL, NJ, MA, TX) paid more than $2.5 BILLION than they would have in a regulated market.
While “choice” hasn’t worked out well for energy customers in deregulated states, it’s been a windfall for the retail energy companies who’ve locked them into a contract they can’t get out of.
