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Electricity Market Structure
In Delaware, legislation was passed in 1999 to restructure the electric industry. With restructuring, the generation of electric power became deregulated, leaving only distribution services under the regulatory control of the Delaware Public Service Commission.
To ease the transition from a fully regulated electric market to a competitive one, the Delaware PSC, in response to the legislative order, ordered rate caps to be put into place until the market could become better developed. Those rate caps were lifted in 2005 for customers of the Delaware Electric Cooperative, and in 2006 for Delmarva Power customers.
For the Delmarva Power territory, the PSC approved Delmarva Power & Light Company as the Standard Offer Service (SOS) supplier, also known as the Provider of Last Resort, for customers, who do not choose an alternative electric provider. SOS is provided at market-based prices determined by a competitive bidding process*. All customers except those served under a GS-T class (General Service-Transmission Rate) are eligible for fixed price SOS. For GS-T customers the type of SOS offered is an hourly priced service
For the Delaware Electric Cooperative territory, customers are free to shop for an alternative supplier. However, for large commercial customers, if they then return to the coop, they must remain on coop service for a minimum of 12 months. Customers of the Delaware Electric Cooperative will generally find their SOS rates are well below current market rates and therefore very favorable.
* Utility default supply prices are established through a competitive wholesale bid process. Transmission charges, retail administration charges and taxes are added to the winning wholesale bid prices. In 2006 the resulting prices were posted on February 10, effective May 1, 2006. Under certain conditions, these fixed prices can be adjusted if the Commission finds exceptional circumstances exist to warrant a rate change.
About Switching in Delaware
To be eligible to switch to an alternative electricity supplier, your company must be located in one or more of these utilities' service territories:
- Delmarva Power
- Delaware Electric Cooperative
At this time, Constellation NewEnergy is not serving customers of the Delaware Electric Cooperative.
The first step in switching your business' electricity service is completing an Electric Supplier Authorization Form that allows Constellation NewEnergy to gather historical electricity usage data from your utility. This data is necessary to analyze your power consumption patterns and to develop a proposal that is customized to the needs of your business.
You will then sign an Electricity Supply Agreement. This agreement states the specific product and price you will pay for electric service and the duration of the agreement. After our agreement is signed, the enrollment process is simple. Our local operations team will work to provide a seamless transition as your electricity accounts are transferred from the utility to our service.
Customers are generally switched to a competitive supplier on their next meter read date if notice has been provided 15 days prior to that date. If your contract is signed less then 15 days before your next meter read date, your service with Constellation NewEnergy will begin on the following month's meter read date.
In order to switch your service from Constellation NewEnergy back to the utility, the utility requires 35 days notice prior to your next meter read date. If the utility is given less than 35 days notice, your service will continue with Constellation NewEnergy until the following month's meter read date.
 authorization_midatlantic_utilities.pdf
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Why Switch?