Amerigreen Energy, Major Energy, WGES Among New Entrants to PECO Residential Gas Market

Several natural gas suppliers have begun offering residential supply at PECO in recent months, and more are expected as Purchase of Receivables takes effect January 1, 2012.

Specifically, in offers publicized on the Office of Consumer Advocate pricing chart, Amerigreen Energy, Major Energy Services, and Washington Gas Energy Services have all started offering residential service since June.

Commerce Energy, Planet Energy, and Shipley Energy also offer residential gas service at PECO.

WGES offers PECO residential customers a 12-month fixed and a variable product which are both currently priced at 68.0¢/CCF. The 12-month product does not include an early termination fee, and includes a $50 loyalty bonus if the customer completes the full 12-month term. This bonus shall be paid as a bill credit, or to the extent the final bill is less than $50, as a check to customers if the customer does not continue service with WGES.

According to the OCA pricing comparison, Major Energy Services offers a variable rate, with the rate on the most recent OCA chart, dated November 16, 2011, listed as 52.9¢/CCF.

Amerigreen Energy, whose launch of PECO residential gas service was first reported by Matters in August (8/3), is currently offering a 12-month fixed rate of 69.9¢/CCF.

As noted above, PECO will institute a non-recourse POR program for small volume accounts starting January 1, 2012, with a discount rate of 1%. This discount shall be temporary and only in place so long as necessary to recover implementation costs. Uncollectibles are not included in the discount rate (see 11/5/10)

Numerous suppliers have sought licenses, or amended licenses, to serve mass market customers at PECO in anticipation of POR. These include, among others, Viridian Energy, Rhoads Energy, Energetix, U.S. Gas & Electric, and Spark Energy (see 8/26, 2/14, 11/16, and 9/23)

Other suppliers likely to start offering PECO residential gas service in the near future, based on their small volume marketing in other territories in Pennsylvania and/or similar markets with POR, include Direct Energy, Dominion Retail, IGS Energy, Agway Energy Services, IDT Energy, and possibly Constellation Energy, either through NewEnergy or MXenergy.