FTC Staff Makes Recommendations to Arizona Corporation Commission On Expanding Retail Electric Competition

Federal Trade Commission staff submitted a comment in response to a request from the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) for comments on retail electric competition in Arizona.

The FTC staff comment agrees with the ACC that it is timely for Arizona to consider retail competition that would enable consumers to select from specialized power suppliers using metering innovations now widely available in the state.  Retail choice can help consumers match their preferences for bill savings, increased reliability, renewable power, and energy management services.  For example, consumers can lower their bills by shifting power use away from periods when the power system depends on more costly generation resources or faces challenges to its reliability, and they can choose how much power to consume from renewable generation sources.

The FTC staff comment recommends that the ACC “evaluate the promising prospect that retail customer choice will help customers expand and fine-tune their choice of electricity service and contribute to balancing power supply and demand.”

The Commission vote approving the comment was 4-0.  (FTC File No. V130010; the staff contact is John H. Seesel, Associate General Counsel for Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 202-326-2702.)