CAEM's Third Edition of the RED Index includes scores for the United States, Canada, England, and Australia.

The September Update includes new scores and adds data for New Zealand

Read the Press Release About the September 2002 Update Get a free summary of the Complete RED Index Report (published in March 2002) Order the Complete RED Index Report including the September Update

The Retail Energy Deregulation Index (RED Index) is a scorecard developed by the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets, an independent, non-profit, Washington, DC based think tank specializing in energy competition policies.  The RED Index measures a state province, territory, or country's progress in adopting policies that give consumers the right to choose their electricity supplier. The Index evaluates a state’s policy on 22 criteria, which are weighted by importance.  The highest score a state can receive is 100. 

The key findings of the Update to the Third Edition of the RED Index are:

• Texas leads the U.S. with a score of 70 out of 100. Pennsylvania, Maine and New York all have barely passing scores (60 or more out of 100), but there has been virtually no progress in any state since the RED Index Report issued earlier this year.

• The formation of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) is the most positive, important, and significant development in U.S. retail restructuring.

• England leads the world and increased its score from 83 to 88 as a result of the complete elimination of price caps on residential customers earlier this year.

• Alberta leads Canada with a 61. Ontario’s RED Index score increased by 16 points as a result of its May 1, 2002 opening of the market to the mass retail market (100-percent access), a switching rate of 25 percent, the initiation of competitive billing, and a reclassification of Ontario’s practice for default provider price risk.

• New Zealand, included for the first time in the RED Index, scored an impressive 75.

• Victoria leads Australia with a score of 50, ranking 11th. Several states not included in our survey are making progress as well. South Australia has choice for customers above 160 megawatthours (MWH) per year, and mass-market competition is proposed for January 2003. The Australian Capital Territory allows choice for customers who use more than 100 MWH per year, and has recommended mass-market choice for January 2003. Tasmania is considering the introduction of retail competition following interconnection to national electricity grid.
   

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