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hamhead t1_iy6scsn wrote

Reply to comment by Steady_Habits_CT in Switching to Constellation: beware rates have changed! by asspirate420

>how can Constellation offer a 13 to 17 cent rate while Eversource is allowed to double its rate to 24 cents!

I'm not really sure I understand this question. It's an open market. Eversource has a somewhat higher rate than alternative suppliers because lazy and/or risk adverse people will stick with them. They maintain an X% buffer, constellation cuts it finer. That's the entire point of a [sort of] deregulated marketplace.

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Steady_Habits_CT t1_iy804ks wrote

It's not an "open market". In an open market, suppliers can enter at will, which results in lower prices as capacity expands. However, one cannot become a supplier of electricity at will in CT because the state has control over one's ability to build a power generation facility. If it were a truly open market, power costs would be materially lower.

Note that in the "fake" competitive market implemented in CT about two decades ago, the number of suppliers has DECREASED over the years! So much for a "competitive" market. "Competition" managed by state control, is NOT a free market. That is why states such as China and Russia are not truly capitalistic--many capital allocation decisions are regulated, if not controlled, by the state. The same is true of the electrical power mkt in CT.

Our power costs are high because of an ongoing series of boneheaded decisions by politicians over the years that continue to this day. It's nice to pin the blame on Eversource, but Eversource has been enabled by CT politicians.

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hamhead t1_iy80be5 wrote

In the context in which your question was asked, it’s an open market. You asked why, given the same generation bundle, some offer lower prices than others. The answer is that they can price as desired since it’s an open market, for that segment of the vertical market.

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