Both of these outcomes tend to make the market more competitive. They are made even more effective with accurate time of day metering. It seems inevitable that meter costs will fall dramatically. Those gaining the steadier load customers have a cost advantage that will be shared. Those losing them have a considerable cost disadvantage.
Many aggregators act as business agents for particular groups.
They arrange not only the best prices but also service. Much of the approach rests on buying scale - thus Enron supplies gas to many McDonald franchises, Duke supplies many banks. Marketers can assist users in analysing their use and seeking economies by comparing this against benchmarks. Beyond this tentative trend to aggregators getting into the act, there are real likelihoods that the future retailers to households will be supermarkets, banks and other institutions. These are skilled at handling large numbers of transactions, at obtaining goods and services at competitive prices and conveniently situated for bill paying.