Chicago-based BlueStar Energy is offering a 12-month contract to lock in prices that it says would save the average consumer between $6 and $7 per month from Commonwealth Edison's most recently announced rates, which begin June 1.
"I don't want to say it's high time. But this is what people thought we were buying into back in 1997 (when deregulation laws were drafted)," said Karl McDermott, who served as an ICC commissioner from 1992 until 1998 and is now an Ameren Endowed Professor of Business and Government at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
McDermott said the residential sector is more difficult to break into because it is costlier to market to a broader audience of consumers who stand to save only a few dollars a month compared with the thousands or millions of dollars a month a large company might save by switching to alternative suppliers. He said a number of companies are waiting to see how BlueStar does in the residential marketplace.
McDermott's comments were featured in a May 14, 2010, article in the Chicago Tribune.
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