December 14, 2009

Power shopping in Connecticut's United Illuminating territory grew by 3,970 accounts -- about 6.3% of its base -- from October to November.  That followed growth of 4,371 accounts (7.4%) in October.  Shopping in November saw new customers at 14 firms while four saw a dip and one, Hess Energy stayed the same month-to-month.

          The biggest gain in customers was at Direct Energy Services where the rolls grew by 1,977 choice accounts month-to-month.  Other leaders in adding shoppers included MXenergy with 759 new accounts, Viridian saw 563 new customers looking at their options while Energy Plus saw 316 new shoppers come to their side.  The four firms accounted for 3,615 new accounts out of net November growth of 3,970.

          In percentage of growth, Gexa Energy led the way with a 90.6% growth, moving from 212 customers to 404.  Also seeing big jumps were Viridian at 47.6% (1,182 to 1,745), Clearview Electric with a boost of 32.6% (740 to 981) and Energy Plus at 30.6% (1,032 to 1,348).

          Three firms saw a dip in customers month-to-month with Dominion Retail slipping the most with 350 fewer accounts (-2.1%) from October to November.  Also seeing a drop were Consolidated Edison Solutions with 39 fewer accounts (-0.6) and Integrys Energy with three fewer accounts (-0.2%).

          By class, residential and C&I saw gains of 3,699 and 271 respectively in November.  That is growth of 7.7% for residential customers and 1.8% for C&I.  October saw improvements by class of 3,871 (8.7%) and 500 (3.4%) while September increases came in at 3,848 (9.5%) for residential customers and 533 (3.8%) for C&I accounts.

Connecticut power shopping - November 2009
United Illuminating
Marketer	Residential	C&I	Total	October
Clearview Electric	914	67	981	740
ConEd Solutions	4,799	1,221	6,020	6,059
Constellation NewEnergy	457	3,101	3,558	3,555
Direct Energy Business	9	765	774	766
Direct Energy Services	18,845	2,629	21,474	19,497
Dominion Retail	15,126	1,316	16,442	16,792
Energy Plus	1,230	118	1,348	1,032
Gexa Energy Connecticut	188	216	404	212
Glacial Energy/New England	27	378	405	398
Hess	53	480	533	533
Integrys Energy	3	1,730	1,733	1,736
Liberty Power Holdings	0	47	47	43
MXEnergy	3,517	586	4,103	3,344
Public Power & Utility	5,104	1,341	6,445	6,160
Sempra Energy Solutions	31	688	719	718
Suez Energy Resources	2	201	203	202
TransCanada Power Marketing	8	466	474	469
Viridian	1,624	121	1,745	1,182
Total	51,937	15,471	67,408	63,438
UI last resort service			Number	%
Total number all accounts			269	100%
Total of all megawatt-hours			115,702	100%
Third party accounts			241	89.6%
Third party megawatt-hours			109,431	94.6%
UI C&I standard service			Number	%
Total number all accounts			37,728	100%
Total of all megawatt-hours			161,690	100%
Third party accounts			15,471	41.0%
Third party megawatt-hours			108,377	67.0%
UI residential standard service			Number	%
Total number all accounts			288,961	100%
Total of all megawatt-hours			159,221	100%
Third party accounts			51,937	18.0%
Third party megawatt-hours			31,012	19.5%
Source: Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control