This may be true in some industries such as the trucking business, but it is not true in the case of most utilities. A regulated monopoly works better, delivers service more efficiently and costs much less than an open market. Competition drives prices toward cost. Starting in October, there will be 11 more natural-gas companies, along with East Ohio Gas, looking for your business. Before you can understand what this means, you have to understand how this system works.
Most natural gas is produced in Oklahoma and Texas.
At this point, it is usually sold to a pipeline company, which transports the gas to various points in the country and then sells it to local companies, such as East Ohio Gas, which store it and then deliver it to your home through a system of pipes that they own and maintain. Most of these companies will be paper companies that own nothing. They will buy gas wholesale from the pipeline company and then pay East Ohio Gas to store it, and you will pay East Ohio Gas to deliver it to your home. There could be two bills each month, one from whomever you choose to be your supplier and one from East Ohio for delivering it to your home. Each of these additional companies will have to have office space, a corporate structure, a billing section, a collection section, computers, billing records and machines, etc.