The Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control has reformed the state's electric market to give customers a chance to save money on their electric bills through choosing an alternate electric supplier. Customers at Connecticut Light and Power and United Illuminating can shop for a cheaper electric supply rate.

The state had utilities sell their power plants to open up the industry to competition. Utilities now only own the transmission and distribution wires, while also providing 'backstop' power to customers who do not shop for electricity. With the move to competition, Connecticut utilities have separated their service into two parts:

• Regulated distribution of power, which is still only provided by the utility, and
• Supply of the electric commodity, which is open to competition.

Customers can choose to receive their electricity supply from their utility, or an alternate electric provider.

In Connecticut, customers who do not choose an alternate electric provider receive default supply from the utility, with the type of service depending on the customer's size.

Residential customers and business customers using less than 500 kilowatts (kW) receive 'Standard Service,' which is a supply rate from the utility that is fixed for six months. Utilities buy supply for these standard service customers throughout the year and ladder the procurements into a blended price, which is meant to decrease volatility. That means the utility price can be higher than today's market prices, if the market price has gone down but the utilities had bought power months ago when the price was higher. Choosing an alternative electric supplier allows customers to receive the benefit of falling prices faster.

Business customers over 500 kW receive 'Last Resort Service,' which changes every month. The Last Resort Service price is a market rate based on quarterly auctions in the wholesale market. As such, the Last Resort rate can be quite volatile. Customers can avoid this volatility by contracting for a fixed rate from an alternative electric supplier.

Customers who choose an alternate energy provider still have their power delivered to them by their local utility, and contact their utility for all outage reporting. Depending on their service area, customers can choose to receive either a single bill from their utility for their delivery service and energy supply service, or can receive two bills, one from each company.

Business customers in Connecticut have the opportunity to choose their natural gas provider, and save money on their gas rate. However, this is easier at some utilities than others, and some utilities can prevent you from shopping by claiming swings in their load served make planning their system operations difficult. Southern Connecticut Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas recently placed a moratorium on shopping for this reason, although the utilities could decide to lift it at any time. Customers choosing an alternate gas supplier will still have their gas supply delivered by the local utility, but customers will be buying their gas supply from a new company.

A customer's natural gas bill has been separated into two parts:

• Regulated distribution of gas, which is still only provided by the utility, and
• Supply of the gas commodity, which is open to competition.

If customers do not shop for an alternate gas supplier, they receive default sales service from their utility. Under default sales service, customers pay a 'commodity charge' which can vary as often as monthly. Customers can avoid wild monthly swings in the gas supply charge by contracting with an alternative gas supplier.

No matter who you choose to buy energy from, your local utility will continue to deliver your gas and respond to service interruptions and outages. You will still pay your utility for these services. Depending on your area, you can choose to receive a single bill from your utility listing your utility delivery charges and supplier commodity charges, or separate bills from the utility and alternate energy provider.

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