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Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Energy Conservation Program (yahoo.com)
mdsolar sends news that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a 6-2 ruling in favor of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ability to create incentives for conserving energy and reducing demand on the power grid at peak times.
The demand response program pays large electricity customers like retailers, schools and office buildings to reduce energy consumption on hot summer days and other times of peak demand. The reduction in power use means electric utilities don't need to turn on backup power plants, which cost more to run and boost electricity prices. ... The rule won wide praise from environmental groups because it curbed the need for utilities to build expensive and air-polluting power plants. The demand response program saved customers in the mid-Atlantic region nearly $12 billion in 2013, according to PJM Interconnection, which manages the wholesale power supply for all or part of 13 states. ... But the rule has meant millions in lost profits for utilities. Those companies argued that the program impermissibly targets retail customers.
You are a captive buyer of energy utilities, you have not ability to pick and choose who you buy electricity from.
I don't know how its in the USA, but at least in the EU there are multiple markets: the network providers, the plant running companies, and the actual vendor company you buy the energy from. And EU regulation (called REMIT if you want to look it up) requires network providers to be separate from the plant running companies, so big providers don't abuse their advanced position. As customer, you have choice from multiple energy vendors, you are not captive.