Compare electricity and natural gas providers
Deregulated energy is all about choice. If your home or business is in a deregulated market, you can choose who supplies your energy – and what price you pay for it. More than 15 states allow you to buy electricity and/or natural gas from competitive energy suppliers. So, what’s the difference between a supplier and a utility?
Suppliers: Suppliers, providers, or energy service companies (ESCOs) – they all mean the same thing. Suppliers sell you the energy needed to power your home or business. By buying wholesale energy, suppliers can often offer customers lower rates than local utilities.
Utilities: Utilities deliver and maintain your home or business’s energy – regardless of whether you’ve bought a plan from a deregulated supplier. Have an outage or other power emergency? Call your utility – not your supplier.