Lynne Kiesling
So I did a Technorati search to see the current links to KP, and I noticed something that I think is very cool. Here are two of the four sponsored link advertisements down my left column:
MoveTX-connect your utilities online, where you can choose from a variety of electric and phone service providers and compare their offerings all in one place.
TXU, the incumbent former monopolist in the Dallas-Ft. Worth service territory. They are fighting to become a “recovered monopolist” and to compete successfully for customers through the parts of Texas that have retail choice and competition.
The two others are an electrical switch manufacturer and a coal research consulting firm.
Two cool things about this. One, this is one of the best uses of the information aggregation of Technorati and Google to target me and my interests based on KP’s content. Usually I find the targeting to miss the mark, but this one actually caught my attention and held it. Two, even though the Texas electric choice sites caught my attention, I can’t do anything with them because I live in Illinois, and we do not have meaningful residential retail choice. I have ComEd and a rate freeze. Texans have several companies fighting for their business (even though they have a rate cap, the “price to beat”). I take these Technorati ads as one indication of the degree of competition on the ground in Texas.
Information technology reducing transaction costs and making it easier for private parties to get together for mutual benefit. Life is beautiful.