Can customers choose their electricity supplier?
Some electric utility customers have the option to choose an alternate electricity supplier in states where the electric utility industry has been restructured. This consumer option is often called retail choice or customer choice. The alternate supplier is the company that generates or markets electricity, often referred to as a retail electricity marketer. The alternate supplier may be an affiliate of the distribution utility. Some suppliers offer electricity generated from specific energy sources, such as wind and other renewable energy sources. Regardless of the electricity supplier, the distribution utility delivers the contracted electricity to a customer's meter and charges for that service.
In general, retail choice is available only for utility customers served by investor-owned utilities (IOUs), although a few electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, and government-operated utilities offer retail choice. Some states have implemented community choice aggregator programs that utility customers can opt in or opt out of. Alternatively, in some states such as Texas, all customers of electric utilities connected to the electric grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) are required to choose an electricity provider.
Electric utility customers can contact their distribution utility or the utility regulatory commission in their state to see if and to what extent retail choice is an option and if a list of alternate electricity suppliers is available.
Other FAQs about Electricity
- How old are U.S. nuclear power plants, and when was the newest one built?
- How much coal, natural gas, or petroleum is used to generate a kilowatthour of electricity?
- How many smart meters are installed in the United States, and who has them?
- What is the outlook for home heating fuel prices this winter?
- How much does it cost to generate electricity with different types of power plants?
- Does EIA publish electric utility rate, tariff, and demand-charge data?
- Can customers choose their electricity supplier?
- Does EIA have data on each power plant in the United States?
- What types and amounts of energy are produced in each state?
- How much of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are associated with electricity generation?
- How much of U.S. energy production and consumption comes from renewable energy sources?
- Does EIA publish energy consumption and price data for cities, counties, or by zip code?
- How many power plants are in the United States?
- Does EIA project energy production, consumption, or prices for individual states?
- How much electricity is used for lighting in the United States?
- What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?
- How much does it cost to build different types of power plants in the United States?
- Does EIA publish data on peak or hourly electricity generation, demand, and prices?
- How much electricity is lost in electricity transmission and distribution in the United States?
- What is the efficiency of different types of power plants?
- Does EIA publish the location of electric power plants and transmission lines?
- How much carbon dioxide is produced per kilowatthour of U.S. electricity generation?
- What is the difference between electricity generation capacity and electricity generation?
- How much electricity does a power plant generate?
- How much electricity is used for air conditioning in the United States?
- How many nuclear power plants are in the United States, and where are they located?
- How much electricity does an American home use?
- Does EIA have county-level energy production data?
- How is electricity used in U.S. homes?
- Does EIA publish electricity sales and price data by state and by utility?
- Does EIA publish data on costs for electricity transmission and distribution?
- How much of world energy production and consumption is from renewable energy?
- How much energy does the world consume by each energy end-use sector?
- Does EIA have information on unplanned outages of U.S. infrastructures?
- How many electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging stations are in the United States?