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Compete reaches 130 members

Diversity grows as movement gets larger

It's a crucial time for COMPETE Coalition and other proponents of open markets, Joel Malina told us.
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         He runs the now 130-member, pro-markets group now just over one year old.
        The diverse membership ranges from big customers such as Wal-Mart and Federated Dept Stores to producers, marketers, brokers and institutional customers such as schools, universities and hospitals.
        Malina has seen a boost in marketers' and customers' advocacy of competition since political turmoil exploded in Maryland over a 72% rate hike at Baltimore Gas & Electric (RT, 5/3).
        A crucial time? It stems from fairly high natural gas prices, the end of rate caps and election year politics that have created a perfect storm in several states, he added.
        Never mind that regulated states are seeing price hikes too.
        Marketers at KEMA's March conference agreed that they had to do a better job talking to policymakers and the press (RT, 3/3).
        And Malina sees it happening.
        COMPETE brought together customers, the New York ISO, generators and marketers to brief New York reporters on competitive markets.
        Malina hopes to repeat that model in other regions.
        The talks get reporters thinking about competition in a different, positive way and can correct a lot of misperceptions.
        It's not just about getting a story placed in the next day's issue, Malina explained.
        He wants to build long-term relationships with dailies so they can understand what's going on in power markets and come to COMPETE for a perspective when stories break.
        He knows that good news often doesn't make the headlines that horror stories can.
        But COMPETE has been touting big studies in Texas and New York that show customers are saving millions via competition (RT, 4/14, 3/3, 2/7).
        Having 130 members tends to give COMPETE a megaphone to get those success stories out there.
        That's really what is going to influence policy makers, Malina noted.
        Most C&Is don't want to return to cost-of-service regulation, he's found.
        Legislators have to be told that re-regulation really means customers would be deprived of choice and savings, Malina noted.
        A lot of big C&Is routinely meet with legislators but don't typically talk electricity, he observed.
        COMPETE wants to change that.
        Industry stakeholders have done a lot of the advocacy for markets in the past but customers need to step up to the plate now.
        The message isn't going to gel overnight, he added.
        Stakeholders will have to be patient and diligent in getting their message out.
        COMPETE can get lawmakers' attention because of its diverse membership.
        It can bring in big customers who see savings vanish with re-regulation -- harming economic growth and maybe even impacting some jobs in a legislator's district.
        What has changed at COMPETE since it started?
        The group is focusing on retail markets more than it initially did.
        Wholesale and retail markets go hand-in-hand, Malina explained, and you can't really isolate one from the other.
        It's been an extremely exciting and successful year, Malina told us.
        COMPETE's biggest win was shaping last year's Energy Policy Act.
        COMPETE -- along with EPSA and other stakeholders -- were able to beat back anti-competitive drafts of the bill and get a law that reaffirmed Congress' commitment to markets.
        Defeating California's Proposition 80 -- the ballot measure that would have re-regulated the power industry -- is another feather in COMPETE's cap.
        COMPETE decided against going into California itself because several pro-markets groups were already on the ground.
        Instead, COMPETE acted as an intermediary.
        It focused efforts on educating members about the organized opposition and how they can help.
        It's a grassroots strategy COMPETE has taken elsewhere.
        COMPETE helps members by giving them issue briefs and talking points.
        It encourages them to talk with lawmakers, go to the local press and write letters to the editors to get the good stories about markets out there.
        Originally published in Restructuring Today on May 10, 2006

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