That's an area where Paul Thomas expects significant growth.
     More on commercial than industrial.
     He's planning "a value proposition that makes sense."
     What he has in mind is an expansion of commercial marketing Green Mountain is doing in Texas.
     "We have a C&I sales team here [Austin] that's been very effective.
     "We'll ramp that up here and potentially elsewhere," he said. Thomas expects to be competitive and that means price competition "is going to be important" but he doesn't feel an obligation to be the lowest price in the market.
     He is aware of the value to commercial customers of being able to brag [our word] about "an environmentally distinctive product and [Green Mountain can] still be price competitive."
     Green Mountain is not now marketing in California but is keeping an eye on it and the encouraging developments well aware of the state's strong environmental values.
     Return to trading:
     Thomas was pleasantly surprised to hear about TXU's intention to return to trading.
     "We are very dependent on viable wholesale markets and having transparent, liquid, tradable wholesale markets."
     Markets "are far less liquid today than they were two or three years ago before they blew up. That has created an opportunity that TXU and the others are looking to exploit and I think it's a good thing.
     I think what they are doing will be beneficial to us."
     Texas market vibrant:
     "... By far the most competitively robust market in the country [with] a number of residential and commercial competitors. C&I switching statistics are very high... right around 40%. There's been a lot of switching maybe even beyond 40%." The residential market has lagged somewhat but is on a positive trajectory.
     Aggregation to grow:
     It's a very good model, said Thomas, probably referring to Green Mountain's supplying the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) with its 455,000 residential and small business customers in 113 communities in eight counties.
     That program has worked, he said, in terms of getting large numbers of customers into competitive markets and providing them value.

     Published in Restructuring Today on 5/28/04.