Energy 101: What is Energy Choice & Do You Fit the Bill?

When it comes to energy, cutting costs and reducing usage are shared goals, particularly for those of you in deregulated states where you have the option to shop around for the best pricing for your electricity and/or natural gas supply. However, many of you may still be wondering: what is energy choice, and does it apply to my organization?

Regulated vs. Deregulated

We’ll start with the basics: regulated vs deregulated energy markets. In a regulated electricity market, a single company, normally the local utility, owns all the infrastructure — the physical stuff that stores and distributes energy, like power lines, pipelines, or transformers. That same utility is also responsible for buying or generating the energy, selling it to you, and distributing it to your facility or home.  If you have a power outage or need service in a regulated market, the utility is responsible for those issues.  But you are out of luck if you want cheaper electricity because the utility offers only one price.

However, in a deregulated electricity market, while the utility still owns all the infrastructure and delivers the energy, you can choose to shop around and buy your electricity or natural gas from a licensed energy retailer that does business in your market. Competitive suppliers offer many options to tailor your energy buying strategy based on your personal or company goals and the utility is obligated to provide the same level of service to all customers if an outage does occur.

That’s it. Those are the differences.

Deregulation by State

• Deregulated Electricity Markets: Deregulated electricity markets include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
• Deregulated Natural Gas Markets: Deregulated natural gas markets include Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
• Partial Choice Natural Gas Markets: Partial choice natural gas markets include California, Delaware, Missouri, Texas, and Wyoming.

So What Does It Mean for You?

In a nutshell, energy choice means your organization has options, which can either be welcome or unwelcome news depending on how you look at it. On the one hand, choice yields more options, which makes way for competitive pricing, which should in theory lead to an ideal electricity or natural gas supply contract for your organization. The flip side however is that you may be inundated with calls from energy brokers and suppliers, leaving you wondering who to partner with (or even trust).

A great place to start is with APPI Energy. For 25 years APPI Energy has been delivering green-apples-to-green-apples comparisons of supplier prices and contracts, negotiating supply solutions that reduce and manage energy costs on an ongoing basis for commercial and industrial customers. We consider ourselves to be experts and pioneers in the industry, with a procurement process that is both simple and effective for your organization.

Interested? Start with a no obligation, complimentary assessment. All we need is a copy of your most recent bill and we’ll get to work on providing you with a wide array of pricing options. Reach out here via our chat feature, by email at info@box2510.temp.domains, or by phone at 800.520.6685.