Advocacy

Getting Deregulation Right

Our values dictate that we assist the state policymakers in getting deregulation done in a way that minimizes costs to those that do not choose while providing an adequate opportunity for those that do. We have invested over seven years in front of the Montana Public Service Commission for just that purpose. Our advocacy gave our President a lead signatory role in negotiating the $62 million credit on your natural gas bill (CTC-GP) in 2001. In 2002, he assisted and signed off on the electricity credit of $90 million paid in 2003. In 2003, CE opposed adding expensive new generation assets because it raised the default supply price too much, and again the Montana PSC agreed. You do not pay for that service. But the more customers we supply, the more influential our voice is in front of the Commissions.

But Didn't Deregulation Fail?

Much has been written that deregulation provided little benefit to anyone except some greedy energy companies. They say it hasn't resulted in lower prices for energy and it may have contributed to the bankruptcy of both PG&E and NorthWestern. But what they don't tell you is that most of the businesses that chose a supplier have saved money or locked in favorable prices or both. ALL of Commercial Energy's customers can make that claim. Also, thousands of new jobs have been created to meet the growing need for more power generators and gas production. And fortunately for Montana and California, many of those jobs are right here.

Focus On Total Energy Costs

The real point of deregulation is not just the price of the commodity. Look at the back of your bill where the utility breaks out your charges. That is what its all about, all those lines of charges with abbreviated descriptions and no one to explain them. As the only energy marketing company in Montana or California that employs NO ex-employees of a utility, our only concern is to help lower your facility's "Total Energy Costs" while maintaining the reliability and safety of utility operations. We closely evaluate those "other" costs because we believe that if we can save you a dollar on your delivery charges per dekatherm, you won't mind paying us an extra nickel for our supplies.