Customers Benefit from Retail Choice Policies, Innovations

April 2005

COMPETE Praises the Benefits of Retail Choice

COMPETE, a national coalition promoting the public interest benefits of competitive electricity markets, praised 11 of the nation's largest retailers and commercial property owners for their strong endorsement of state and federal policies promoting competitive electricity markets.

In a recent letter to President Bush, 11 companies underscored the "substantial savings on electricity costs" to be derived from competitive electricity markets and further asserted that such savings can, in turn, be "passed on to customers through lower cost consumer goods and services."

Among those signing the letter to President Bush were: 7-Eleven, A&P, Best Buy, Big Lots Stores, Crescent Real Estate Equities, Hines, J.C. Penney Company, May Department Stores (Lord & Taylor, Marshall Field's, Filene's), RadioShack and Wal-Mart Stores (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club). Collectively, the signatory companies represent 2.2 million U.S. jobs and 20,000 facilities and spend over $2.2 billion per year on electricity.

A copy of the May 16 COMPETE letter to President Bush can be found at: http://www.competecoalition.com


Deals, Innovations Highlight Importance of Choice

Constellation NewEnergy recently signed a five-year power supply contract with Baltimore- Washington area health care leader MedStar Health. The contract, which totals more than 30 megawatts annually, covers six MedStar Health hospitals. Also included are the National Rehabilitation Hospital and Washington Hospital Center in the Washington area. According to the announcement, Steven S. Cohen, senior vice president of Integrated Operations for MedStar Health, said, "Entering into this contract was essential due to the recent volatility of the energy market. Price stabilization remains a key component of our overall strategy to manage health care costs."

Direct Energy has been selected by five of Texas' top homebuilders as their provider of choice. As part of the agreements, Newmark Homes, Supreme Builders and Trendmaker Homes will use Direct Energy as their electric provider in Houston, and in Dallas, Direct Energy will be the provider of choice for Buescher Homes, Colonnade Homes and Newmark Homes. The Dallas contracts represent Direct Energy's entry into providing builder services in the TXU delivery footprint. All five homebuilders are on a price protection plan, providing average savings of 12 percent to 14 percent on their electric bills for two years. While Direct Energy's lower price-protected residential rate is applied to inventory homes, an even lower commercial rate is locked in on model homes, design centers and office locations to increase savings opportunities for the homebuilders.

Green Mountain Energy was selected by Gatehouse Capital Corp., McCarthy Construction and Victory to use cleaner energy to serve Dallas' first landmark hotel. By purchasing Green Mountain Energy® electricity, the W Dallas Victory Hotel & Residences project could help reduce its share of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution during the construction process. This is the first time a major building in the city has been built using cleaner electricity, underlining cleaner electricity's mainstream acceptance as the economical and responsible source of commercial energy.

The Green Mountain Energy electricity being purchased for the construction of the W Dallas Victory project is cleaner than typical system power in Texas. The construction project will use about 4,500 MWh of power and will help prevent the release of over 674,000 pounds of CO2, a greenhouse gas, into the air -equivalent to not driving approximately 748,000 miles.

Reliant Energy is the Power Behind the Texas Rangers, having signed a multi-year sponsorship and energy supply contract making the company the official electricity supplier to the team and Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

According to the press release, "North Texas is a key market for us, one that we are passionately committed to," said Jim Robb, senior vice president of Retail Marketing for Reliant Energy. "The opportunity to serve some of the area's important institutions marries well with our growing residential customer base where we offer competitive electricity prices with great customer service.

Strategic Energy unveiled PowerPortfolioTM, which gives large customers the ability to choose a combination of fixed and market-based prices to lower costs, reduce market exposure and capitalize on market downturns to lock in portions of their load. Unlike competing "block and index" offerings that dictate a pre-determined set of fixed and market- based prices up front for the entire contract, PowerPortfolio allows customers to actively fix or float energy prices in real-time at any point throughout the contract term with the help of an assigned Portfolio Strategist. To make informed decisions, customers also receive regular market updates and customized activity reports.

PowerPortfolio is now available to customers in California, Texas, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts with an aggregate demand of ten megawatts or greater, with additional states expected to come online later this year.