"I think we are off to a good start, similar to what we saw in the PPL service territory when its rate cap was about to come off at the end of 2009," Popowsky said.
Actually, the PUC said, the scramble to entice Peco customers to switch is even more intense than it was for customers of PPL Electric Utilities of Allentown when that market opened up a year ago.
By this time last year, only two alternative suppliers had made offers to PPL residential customers, whose rate caps expired Jan. 1. Thus far, PPL has seen the liveliest competition among the state's deregulated electric markets.
Peco has 1.6 million customers concentrated in Philadelphia and the four surrounding counties, an attractive target for suppliers saturating the market with direct-mail and mass-media campaigns.
Peco spokeswoman Cathy Engel said that about 22,800, or 1.5 percent, of its customers have already switched, mostly commercial and industrial accounts. About 5,400 of Peco's 1.4 million residential customers have signed up with new suppliers, she said.
One direct-marketing supplier, North American Power, is mobilizing legions of part-time salespeople to sell electricity to their families and neighbors through a multilevel organization structured like Amway and Mary Kay Cosmetics.
A second direct-marketing supplier, Stream Energy, is positioning its sales force to make formal offers Dec. 4.
Already, Peco customers have seen a range of offerings, including variable and fixed rates and discounts for seniors and veterans. Some impose cancellation fees for customers who leave before agreements expire, to compensate the supplier for making power-purchasing commitments on customers' behalf. Others allow customers to opt out without penalty.
The discounts are not as deep for customers who prefer to buy renewable energy, reflecting the higher price for green power.
