The Public Alliance for Community Energy maintained its overall market share at 33 percent in the Nebraska Choice Gas program as the 2009 two-week selection period ended April 30, 2009.
Natural gas customers on the SourceGas distribution system saw fixed published natural gas prices about 40 percent lower per therm than the previous selection period.
A big reason for the lower prices was the sluggish economy, which led to less demand and more supply in storage.
“The fact ACE maintained its market share from the previous two years was positive because of an additional supplier competing along with the three that competed the previous year,” said Tim Sutherland, director of retail utility services.
The ACE call center was busy during the selection period as ACE continued its mission to stimulate competition to help lower gas prices for all consumers in the program. Overall, ACE signed up more than 27,000 accounts.
ACE introduced the new pricing options ACE MarketShield™ and ACE MarketShieldplus™ for the selection period. More than 450 residential customers chose the ACE MarketShield™ option and more than 500 commercial customers chose the ACE MarketShieldplus™ option.
The selection period was the culmination of a grassroots marketing effort by ACE member communities, which held many events to promote the benefits of choosing ACE, the only not-for-profit natural gas supplier in the program.