Contracting for Competitive Energy Purchases

Abstract

Contracting for competitive energy can significantly lower en-
ergy costs and minimize price risk when compared with accepting the
local utilit y's business as usual delivery of energy supplies . In gen-
eral , an y facility spending a half million dollars or more on ene rgy
can realize sufficient savings to easily justify investing tim e t oward
this effort.
While elect r ic deregulation may not be available for sever al
y ears in many st ates, other opportunities exist to get you st a rt ed. If
y our facility has not yet taken advantage of natural gas deregulati on ,
it's time to implem ent a purchase strategy for that commod ity . Onc e
you've g otten a feel for purchasing on the open market for such "ma r-
ket er s," "tr ansport ation ," or "spot" gas , the der egulated elect r ic mar-
ket will be less of a mystery to you. Both mark et s offer similar con-
cern s ab out suppli ers ' reliability and financial stability , developm ent
of a purcha se strat egy, contracting methods, supply backup opt ions,
a nd su pply fluctuations.