Off Peak

July 1, 2000

Managed Expectations

By Regina R. Johnson

Should PUCs teach customers that the market doesn't want them?

You know the flight of suppliers from a deregulated market is having an impact when surviving marketers issue press releases to let customers know they're still in the game.

That was the situation in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in mid-June, on the heals of reports that a handful of electric suppliers in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York were returning customers to default utilities. They blamed soaring wholesale prices caused by expected tight supply in the region this summer. Some default suppliers were in a pinch too, as their projected demand rose, leaving them to scramble for sufficient supply at the high wholesale prices.