Connecticut Choice Forces Prices Down
Connecticut electricity choice is having a positive effect on residential consumers in the form of lower electricity rate offers and greater savings on their monthly electric bills. As a result of recent utility price increases, new competitive electricity suppliers have swarmed into Connecticut looking to attract new customers. The new electricity suppliers have forced the previous companies to lower their prices in order to keep their existing customers and gain new ones.
Lower prices and an abundant of options was always the purpose of deregulating the Connecticut electricity market. Today more than ever that goal has become a reality. When competitive suppliers first entered the market in 2006 they were only able to get 2.6% of the customer pool to enter into competitive electricity agreements. The shopping activity eventually shot up to 47.8% of all eligible Connecticut electricity customers by 2012 before tapering off to 39.2% in 2014 due to falling utility default rates. Electricity shoppers in Connecticut are once again on the rise due to increased savings between the default rates and competitive offers, as well as an overall maturity in the market; simply put, customers are now more familiar with the process of electricity shopping.
In the end, the main force that drives customers to shop are savings. Customers who do not shop pay a default rate with their utility company. When competitive offers are lower than the default rate, the difference will be the savings that customers experience on their Connecticut electric bills. Connecticut’s two main utility companies, CL&P and United Illuminating, both increased their default rate in January 1, 2016 while competitive suppliers have been slashing their rate offers in order to stay competitive with each other. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) increased their rate from $0.08228 in December of 2015 to $0.09555 in January. The January rate will remain in effect until the end of June 2016 at which point the price may go higher. United Illuminating’s increase went from $0.091241 in December to $0.107358 in January and will also last through the end of June. In both service areas offers can be found from multiple competitive electricity suppliers that yield over 20% savings versus the default rates.
Below is a list of current CL&P competitive offers. All electricity suppliers listed are licensed by State of Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and have been vetted by ElectricRate.com to provide superior customer service and reliability.
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