Texas PUC Staff Have "Considered" Cost Calculator for Power To Choose Website
January 13,2016
Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have "considered" a cost calculator for the Power to Choose website, but noted inherent challenges with any such tool.
A Staffer reported that such a calculator tool had been considered in replying to a letter from a citizen suggesting improvements to the site. In an email from early January 2016, the public commenter criticized the ability of REPs to tailor pricing on the Power to Choose site that appears low under a given set of conditions (such as the 1,000 kWh usage view), but whose rates are much higher for different usage levels
In an email to the public commenter, an Information and Education Coordinator for the PUCT's External Affairs Division stated, "The PUCT does, however, understand the competitive market present[s] opportunities by REPs to entice customers with rates that may contain confusing caveats," and explained the recently added filter that allows visitors to screen-out plans that have minimum usage fees or credits.
The public commenter had suggested, "to add a tool to allow users to enter a 'typical' month to month usage for different sized houses or their actual month to month usage for the previous 12 months. This would allow consumers to see how their true costs would fluctuate from winter (low usage) to summer (high usage) with each plan and provide further clarity for consumers. Customers could then compare plans side by side on a true estimated cost per year instead of an average usage."
In response, the PUCT Staffer replied that, "The PUCT staff have considered providing a type of calculator to help customers determine the best plan based on the customer's historical energy usage. The challenge is that the electricity market continues to mature and change, and since there is limited government regulation over energy rates, a calculator designed today may not be as useful tomorrow."
"Nonetheless, the PUCT is still looking at other options that can be provided to customers so that they can make the most informed decision when enrolling with a new energy plan," the Staffer wrote
As RetailEnergyX.com has noted previously, the ability of REPs to adapt to and "stay ahead" of any changes in the Power to Choose listing mechanism in order to present their rates in the most favorable light (which typically means the absolutely lowest price when presented in an aggregated list of offers) compels consideration of whether the offer listing on Power to Choose should simply be ceased as unnecessary, and doing more harm than good, in a mature market.
An aggregate listing of prices reinforces -- to both REPs and customers -- that electric shopping should be based on looking at just a per kWh rate, and incents REPs to massage their offers to appear to be the lowest price on the site (such as with the 1,000 kWh minimum usage fees or rebates), instead of incenting REPs to give the best value to customers, which cannot be easily reflected in a sortable per kWh price. Meanwhile, REPs providing added value, and bundling energy-saving products as part of their rate, may be punished and ignored by customers using the Power to Choose listing for having "high" rates.