U.S. Congress Urged To Enact Measures To Ensure Viable Retail Energy Markets

-- The New Power Company(TM), a subsidiary of NewPower Holdings, Inc., the first national residential and small business energy provider, presented key testimony today before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee that outlined the benefits residential energy consumers can realize when they are able to choose a competitive provider, the need for uniform business rules across state lines and among utilities within a state, and the value of time-of-use metering.

The New Power Company, with over 700,000 residential and small commercial customers in 10 states, is a leading voice for energy restructuring, which shifts control of energy decisions, including pricing and usage, from the utility to the consumer. The Company believes that energy restructuring will lead to technological innovation, efficiency and environmental benefits.

NewPower's proposals, presented by Kathleen Magruder, NewPower's Vice President of Government Affairs, urged Congress to take prompt action to ensure that: consumers have the right to have time-of-use meters installed in their homes and to pay for their electricity based on the data produced by those meters.

Most residential consumers have their energy use recorded on antiquated meters that fail to distinguish between peak and off-peak periods, Magruder explained. Currently, most utilities assume that each consumer is "average" and regardless of how much power a consumer uses when prices are high, that consumer is charged exactly the same as all of his neighbors, Magruder said. She added, that advanced meters record a consumer's usage at specified intervals during the day, providing consumers with the incentive to use less energy during peak periods.

NewPower also recommended that Congress require the development of uniform business rules for both wholesale and retail energy markets across state lines and among utilities within a state. The lack of uniform business rules for both wholesale and retail transactions is a barrier to entry for competitive providers and creates higher costs for consumers.