Start-up Retail Supplier Star Energy Partners Announces Launch of Service

Start-up retail supplier Star Energy Partners, LLC announced its official launch of electric generation supply service to residential and business consumers in the Duke Energy Ohio and Dayton Power & Light utility service territories.

The creation of Star Energy Partners had been first reported by Matters.

Residential offers at Duke Energy Ohio as listed on Star Energy's website were as follows (cents per kWh):

1 Year Fixed:           5.59
2 Years Fixed:          5.49*
3 Years Fixed:          5.69*
1 Year Fixed, Green:    5.99
2 Years Fixed, Green:   5.99

*Note: An earlier version of this story reported 2-Year and 3-Year rates that were inadvertently listed on the "live" portion of the Star Energy website, rather than a test environment, and which were not current offers. The rates above reflect the correct rates

Each product includes an early termination fee of $50

Rates at DP&L were not immediately available

Star Energy plans to offer electric generation supply service at AEP Ohio and the FirstEnergy Ohio utilities in the second quarter of 2013, and is considering natural gas service later in the year.

"We started with electricity in Ohio because the direction of the regulatory climate is clearly moving in favor of competitive markets as evidenced by the December 2012 announcement by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) of its electric retail market investigation," said Star Energy CEO Tony C. Banks. "This sends the right message to competitive suppliers that the PUCO understands the value that competition can bring to Ohio consumers."

"However, once we complete our Ohio launch, we will quickly expand into other competitive markets such as Pennsylvania and Illinois just to name a few," Banks added.

Star Energy said that in the next couple of months, it plans to offer its customers membership in its Energy Cost Awareness Program (eCAP), a program that will allow Star Energy to analyze its member customers' energy consumption patterns and costs to make specific recommendations on how its customers can further reduce their energy costs beyond the competitive pricing they will receive from Star Energy.