Well, of course Owe'Malley has softened his stand - he's up for re-election next year. Better take advantage of this next year because the little leprechaun will be back to ignoring what's good for the citizenry and be paying attention to only his and the democratic party's interests if he's re-elected.

Not that I have an opinion or anything...

Washington Gas had a deal before that penalized you for canceling. I did not sign up. The Dominion deal guarantees the price through Dec 2010 and "you can cancel anytime without penalty" and no switching fees. So BGE puts their rate on my bill and if they go lower I switch back for no cost. i keep budget billing, the $100 rebate and my Peak Rewards deal. It's a no brainer.

In the column this morning Jay queries: "Want to shop for electricity like you buy cell phones and bread? "

No Jay. I don't.
I want my residential electric service to be through a regulated utility industry with consistent retail rates applicable to all consumers equally.

A service that specifically doesn't require all the crap that goes along with signing up for phone service (another discussion), perhaps even one subsidized by higher commercial service rates with both at a level adequate to both assure system reliability but to also provide a reliable return to investors.

Hey Mr. R. It's a legitimate point of view. Energy geeks like me will enjoy combing through the various offers. For many people, I suspect, life is complicated enough. You already have to deal with complex transactions with credit cards, cable, Internet, wireless phones, bank accounts etc. Many folks won't want the hassle. And Maryland consumers have gotten screwed by third-party energy peddlers in the past. The authorities need to be on the lookout for fly-by-night operators.

Mr. Rational....why on earth would you maintain that someone else should subsidize your power needs? And why should the big users pay more? The big users loads create a more stable grid, as their equipment cycles on and off on a schedule. Their use allows plants to enter into longer term contracts, lowering everyone's costs. And in the long run, you would end up paying their higher costs in the form of higher prices or lost jobs.

Lockestep, I call it the Willie Sutton School of Dynamic Economics. Combine that with a focused application of the third rule of Plumbing and the world will be much better place.

I'm a believer in small government and free markets, but when it comes to utilities I believe in regulation as real competition is just not physically feasible. Absent regulation, and real competition, the result is monopoly, oligopoly and cartel and the comparative historical data supports that.

Deregulated states pay an average of 49% more for electricity than regulated states and rates increased at an average rate of 5.5% vs 3.6% since 2002: page 7 of http://www.citizen.org/documents/USdereg.pdf

Much of the retail competition is subterfuge played atop an uncompetitive wholesale market.

Finally, apply some common sense. The standard competitive forces we rely on for bread and cell phones don't apply to utilities. There is a HUGE barrier to entry for getting into the power generation business. Building a power plant is more expensive than building a bakery or even cell towers. Electricity is a unique type of good where the amount of it used changes much less than the change in the price charged for it (if the price doubles, you'll cut back, but certainly not by half and vice versa). Even if you could overcome the huge barrier to entry, and build another power plant, it would not be the most efficient outcome because the lower prices wouldn't increase demand enough to realize full utilization of the new power plant. There are also real physical limitations to how far power can be transported.

Ultimately it is not a financial wizardry explanation as to why deregulation has failed. It is a common sense, physical limits and nature of power consumption explanation. How much did Mayo Shattuck (Constellation Energy CEO) make this year? It was 5.7 mil in 2008 and about 13 mil in 2007.

Josh -- Excellent summary of why markets are problematic for electricity. Plus, you can't stockpile the stuff to prevent demand shocks. Thanks for posting. JH

The news media has not picked up on it, but Pepco Energy Services is pulling out of the retail electricity and natural gas supply business.

Pepco Energy Services supplies energy to residential, commercial and government buildings. In a statement posted quietly on its website two weeks ago, Pepco Energy Services announced that they are "no longer actively marketing retail electricity and natural gas".

They will meet their current delivery obligations, but will not supply electricity or natural gas to new accounts or renew existing supply contracts when they come up for renewal.

Pepco Energy Service supplies electricity and natural gas to thousands of apartment, commercial, and government buildings in Washington DC and Maryland. They are the provider of energy to AOBA Alliance, an energy buying program operated by the Washington DC chapter of the Apartment and Office Building Association. Owners and managers of buildings that have purchased their electricity and natural gas supply through AOBA Alliance are now searching for alternative retail energy suppliers.

Apparently Pepco Energy Services has several hundred million dollars tied up to meet their existing obligations and cannot easily raise more operating capital. Pepco Energy Services' parent, Pepco Holdings Inc., has had its credit rating downgraded several times this year.

"Energy geeks like me will enjoy combing through the various offers."

Don't flatter yourself, Jay. You are not an energy geek. You are just a geek.

Josh:

You seem like a nice guy, but you are misinformed. Having Jay write these articles and comment doesn't help, too.

1. Most deregulated states pay more for electricity because of their location, grid, line loss, mix of electricity, etc.... Besides, BGE is a regulated utility with prices set by the PSC when you should have been looking at someone like PEPCO Energy Services for a true cost of competitive prices. Use SMECO as an example of regulation vs. LMP prices. Or LMP at TX or IA, or even MI, NH, or IL.

2. Further, the link dates to bubble era prices against earlier, mostly non-market based prices in regulated areas.

3. There are 3 aspects to utilities: generation, transmission, and supply. You equivocated generation with supply to argue against the huge capital cost of the "utility business". Take a look at COMAR to learn the actual regulation for generation and supply.

4. "Electricity is a unique type of good where the amount of it used changes much less than the change in the price charged for it (if the price doubles, you'll cut back, but certainly not by half and vice versa)." I only need write: "gasoline" and "food" for an a fortiori argument.

5. Do you advocate regulating the cost of natural gas, too?

"Josh -- Excellent summary of why markets are problematic for electricity. Plus, you can't stockpile the stuff to prevent demand shocks. Thanks for posting." Terrible summary and a shame that this constitutes "reporting."

"And Maryland consumers have gotten screwed by third-party energy peddlers in the past. The authorities need to be on the lookout for fly-by-night operators." Who are these peddlers? Consultants or suppliers? If it is the latter, you are aware of COMAR regulations, right?

I've really grown frustrated with B'more Sun since the Dixon endorsement. This sloppy reporting is making me wonder why I have a subscription. There obviously isn't enough accountability there. Please stick to what you know or do some more research first.

And for god's sake: are you a sales rep for WGE?