Green Marketing in the Massachusetts Electric Company Retail Competition Pilot Program: Topical Issues Brief

With electric industry restructurig initiatives being introduced on the state and federal levels, retail access pilot programs serve an important function for examining competitive market issues, as well as marketing strategies and customer reactions to different power supply options. The experience gained through these pilots provides important insights into future power market operations,including the market for green power. The Massachusetts Electric Company's (MECo's) Choice: New England pilot for residential and small business customers was a voluntary program developed primarily to test the billing and metering logistics that distribution companies will need in the competitive market. The pilot also offered a preview of program implementation and marketing under customerchoice. It was the first retail competition pilot to explicitly include green power options in program design. This issues brief covers the residential and small-business component of the pilot and focuses on green marketing. It describes the design and marketing of green options and addresses several aspects in the process such as generation resource mix, other components of green options,market shares, green standards, need for consumer education, need for information disclosure and verification, and targeting commercial and industrial customers. It also presents conclusions and observations.