Advances in technology are driving wholesale electricity prices down, yet consumers in many markets are not realizing these savings. Rather, restrictive regulatory structures and business models dampen price signals, prohibit cost-declines, and reduce market efficiency. Consumers should have access to the lowest electricity prices available in their region, working within a market model that incentivizes cost declines.

A reliable and secure energy supply should be ensured, with market forces as the preferred motivator that unleash the burgeoning field of physical and financial arrangements for managing energy use and supply.

Government should support broad open data sets that enable more competition in the energy system and more transparency to attain accurate price signals of emerging energy services and products.

Many system costs remain hidden to the consumer, or rates are so complex that only economists and 20-year utility veterans can understand them. Consumers must have transparency of costs, balanced against understandable communication of these costs and rates.

The needs of electricity consumers differ considerably, yet often electric supply options are separated into three general categories: residential, commercial, and industrial. Within each category there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different buyer profiles. Electricity regulatory models must be designed to enable suppliers to offer a wide variety of product options that meet the specific needs of each consumer’s home or business.

Environmental considerations are becoming a greater factor in the decision making of today’s consumers and businesses. Cleaner, localized or more efficient supplies should not be obstructed by lack of market means from reaching consumers to meet their home or business needs.