Retail Suppliers Need To Stop Whining, Former Pa. PUC Commissioner Says

Retail energy suppliers need to stop whining and accept the "reality" of the unfair advantages gifted to incumbent distribution companies, Wayne Gardner, former Pennsylvania PUC Commissioner, told the National Energy Marketers Association's 19th Annual National Restructuring Conference

Gardner, a proponent of customer choice, observed that several retail supplier stakeholders during the NEM conference had cited unfair advantages experienced by EDCs in the role as default suppliers (mostly from supply-related overhead costs embedded in delivery rates and not reflected in bypassable supply rates), but said that EDCs' current position in the market is a, "reality."

"You're going to have to accept that reality," Gardner said, or else suppliers are going to have to work to get it changed

And such change is not going to be accomplished by, "whining", Gardner said -- suppliers must accomplish such change in a "mature" fashion

"Utilities have a long history with elected officials," and have a long and "cordial" relationship with elected officials, Gardner said, contrasting this position with retail suppliers which may not even have a physical presence in a state.

Gardner also addressed the "elephant in the room" in that there have been "very egregious bad actors" in the retail energy market, which opponents of retail competition are quick to cite. The retail energy community hasn't been willing to identify and isolate such actors

Current Pennsylvania PUC Commissioner Robert Powelson also stressed the need for retail suppliers to make regulators' lives easier by engaging in good marketing practices and addressing bad actors

Gardner encouraged retail suppliers to develop a consensus on a few core principles that suppliers can always put forth and put in front of elected officials and policymakers