Have you ever wondered why your state only has one electric or gas supplier? Currently only 17 states allow for competition in the energy market, although more are in the works.
Living in Florida, especially during these hot summer months with the air conditioning bills shooting through the roof, has me questioning how we can get some healthy competition here like there is in Texas, with their comparable summer temperatures. If you live in a state that allows competition, you have choices of companies that strive to not only provide consumers with excellent quality of service, but great customer service and lower rates as well. These are the things competition brings to any market.
That’s not to say a state without competition has suppliers that do not have excellent quality of service. As a Reporting Specialist at TMI, I have some knowledge on what energy suppliers and resellers are required to report to the regulatory commissions. They are all required to report outages, down to the seconds it takes to repair the outages. They normally have to identify what caused the outage, which could be anything from a hurricane to a squirrel that gets zapped while racing along a power line. The quality of service is incredibly important.
As more states allow for competitive energy markets, suppliers will be even more focused on their quality of service, since their customers will have a choice. If you moved to a new state, wouldn’t you want the most reliable service and a responsive customer service department? You would want to contact the state commission’s energy division and determine who has the best service as well as the lowest costs. If you live in a state that doesn’t allow competition, your choice is obviously limited at this time. Hopefully more states will allow competition soon.
We will always need energy – whether it’s electricity or gas or even solar power. Wouldn’t it be great to have some healthy competition in every state?
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