Patent ID: 7353121

Claim:
A method for selecting a utility provider, the method comprising: electronically receiving first utility data from a first provider, the utility data comprising at least the price of the utility or the available quantity of the utility; electronically receiving second utility data from a second provider, the utility data comprising at least the price of the utility or the available quantity of the utility; electronically receiving rule data related to a regulation of usage of a utility; electronically receiving consumer data related to a consumption of the utility by a consumer; electronically receiving grid availability or grid capacity data from a distribution authority; determining a priority ranking of the first utility data and the second utility data based on the consumer data; automatically processing in real-time the first utility data, the second utility data, the rule data, the consumer data, and the grid data to determine a preferred provider selected from a group of providers comprising the first provider and the second provider, the preferred provider selection based on the first utility data, the second utility data, the rule data, the consumer data, and the grid data; and outputting the preferred provider.