By Phil Carson, Energy Central

The notion that technology should serve a business case, not the other way around, has become axiomatic in the grid modernization industry.

So, it was interesting to hear details recently on a conference call held to discuss a report on progress in competitive retail electricity markets. The report, "2011 Scorecard for Retail Electricity Consumer Choice," was issued by Distributed Energy Financial Group LLC.

Four points came out of the call, which involved the chairs of the public utilities commissions in two of the three top states for retail electricity competition, Texas and Pennsylvania. (According to the report, the top three are Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, in that order.)