Method and system for switching energy service

A method for providing retail energy provider pricing information to a customer on a portable electronic device and for switching energy service from a current retail energy provider to a desired retail energy provider in response to a selection by the customer on the portable electronic device, the method comprising:

• receiving customer information data into the portable electronic device;
• identifying the current retail energy provider from the customer identification data;
• finding current pricing information associated with the identified current retail energy provider;
• obtaining competitor pricing information associated with competitor retail energy providers;
• displaying each respective pricing information and each associated retail energy provider on the portable electronic device for selection by the customer;
• and
• in response to the selection of the desired retail energy provider by the customer, automatically discontinuing service from the current retail energy provider and activating service from the desired retail energy provider.

A portable electronic device for providing pricing information to a customer and for switching service from a current provider to a desired provider in response to a selection by the customer, the device comprising:

• a data input configured to receive customer identification data;
• a wireless networking interface configured to transmit a request for pricing information associated with the current provider and with competitor providers to a data manager via a network and receive the pricing information from the data manager via the network;
• a selection input configured to receive the customer's selection of the desired provider;
• and
• a processor configured to acquire the customer identification data from the data input, to send the request to the wireless networking interface for transmission to the data manager, to display the pricing information received from the data manager in association with the selection input;
• and to communicate a deactivation order to the current provider and an activation order to the desired provider.