Electricity Price Switching

nicolet

On the Fantasy in November!
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
So looking at electric prices......
How do you figure out what plan is good for you? Do you do a contract for 3 months and keep shopping? I think its basically a scam. I was watching my bill for the past 6 months. I called my supplier and was told that the rate changes in july and dec. When I told them a competitor was offering a cheaper rates they were quick to offer me a great rate for 3 months.

Depending on those months your base price can change.
So do you keep shopping every couple of months. Do you like to lock rates for longer times.
What price plans seem to work for you?
 
I can't be bothered at all 'shopping' for electricity. In my mind, the savings are negligible compared to the effort required, plus if I change suppliers from the utility that distributes my power, I lose the ability to elect balanced monthly billing.

I like paying the same amount every month for budget purposes on my gas/electric costs. In all the years that I've used this option, I've rarely been surprised, had little change to my monthly cost and usually end up with a credit at the end of the year (so one month a year, when the credit is applied, my utility cost actually goes down).
 
Where do you guys live that you have an option for your utilities? I've never lived anywhere, and I've lived in WA, CA and NC, where you could pick anything other than your long distance provider. And the rates often have to be approved by the city/state gov depending on if its' a city utility or state provider.
 


All the places Ive ever lived, there's only been one utility provider, whither it be electric, water, etc.
I'm the same for electric and water.

The government has mandated competition, so there are resellers for gas and internet. For gas... it's a scam because they always quote the higher winter rates and create fear the price never drops.... but gas does go down every year in the summer.
 
Where do you guys live that you have an option for your utilities? I've never lived anywhere, and I've lived in WA, CA and NC, where you could pick anything other than your long distance provider. And the rates often have to be approved by the city/state gov depending on if its' a city utility or state provider.
Totally a thing is some states! It sounds ridiculous to me as well as I'm from CA with our 1 option that should simply be called: SUPER CRAZY FREAKING EXPENSIVE. The description should read: It's 100+ degrees outside, take it or leave it.
 
All the places Ive ever lived, there's only been one utility provider, whither it be electric, water, etc.
Electricity is provide by a Government owned utility. You can add solar, but as far as tying into the electric grid, there are no options. But our rates are pretty low
Water is provided by a Government owned utility. No options there. I can't even put in my own well.
Natural gas is provided by a privately owned utility, no options there, other than to buy an all electric home, which is what I have.
Garbage, sewer and storm drains are all owned by the county, no option there for homeowners. Businesses can opt to use private garbage pickup.
Landline phone is wide open.
Cable is wide open.
Internet is wide open.
 


I live in PA. I have the option to choose any provider I would like for electric/gas. I have chosen providers based on the cost and the "greeness" of the energy. I know not all states do this, but only recently did our state start this (maybe 5 year ago?).
 
I am in Maryland and we have the option of choosing for gas and electric.

My gas hasn't ever been expensive, but the offers I get have always been for more money then my actual use. So, I'm not going anywhere else for gas.

Electric - I haven't ran the numbers yet, so I'm still paying Pepco.
 
So looking at electric prices......
How do you figure out what plan is good for you? Do you do a contract for 3 months and keep shopping? I think its basically a scam. I was watching my bill for the past 6 months. I called my supplier and was told that the rate changes in july and dec. When I told them a competitor was offering a cheaper rates they were quick to offer me a great rate for 3 months.

Depending on those months your base price can change.
So do you keep shopping every couple of months. Do you like to lock rates for longer times.
What price plans seem to work for you?
We have no choice. We pay the price our one and only provider charges.
 
I'm also in PA and it's worked out for us using a different supplier other than PECO. I balance the saving vs the time, so I look for the longer term fixed price contract at a reasonable price. Yes I pay a little more than the cheapest contract, but aside from 1 quarter in the past 4-5 years where my price was a couple partial cents higher than PECO's, I've been lower than their rate and don't get hit with their surcharge when using over 500 kWh. I recently switched to a short term contract of 5 months to get a cheap rate for the summer and then will look for a 12 or 18 month contract in the fall again. I only pick suppliers with no cancellation fees, no sign up fees, and cancel anytime contracts.

The only contract I regret signing was for one of the companies that give you loyalty points other places. I got a SW Rewards bonus for signing up with someone (Energy+ maybe?) and I meant to switch once the fixed term was up at 3 months cuz you know they're going to jack it up in the variable months to recoup. But I got busy and figured the 4th month couldn't be that bad so I wasn't in a rush to switch, until I got the bill :) I still made out but just not as profitable as I planned on :)
 
Texas has a deregulated electricity market where the infrastructure is owned and operated by government-regulated monopolies, but the production is controlled by large "power purchase agreements" that allow retail providers to offer their own rates.

I change or renew my contract every 3, 6, or 12 months depending on the best rates. Texas also has smart meters, and you can log into the website to see when and how much electricity you use.

Many of the companies are playing games with the rates, offering discounts for staying below or exceeding certain thresholds of energy usage, or offering flat fees for certain levels with high overage charges.

You may be able to find a plan with a low cost for high usage during the summer months, and a different plan that's cheaper for lower usage during the winter. But you really have to dig into each plan and compare your personal, historic usage to know which is the best deal.
 
Our electric bills were split some years ago into Supply and Delivery. The delivery is always by the original electric company, but you can now switch suppliers. If you don't pick a supplier, you stay with the original company on the "standard plan." Sometimes this rate is better, sometimes not.

The other new suppliers sometimes do not play fairly; we constantly receive calls that say, "we are calling to tell you that you are eligible for a discount on your electricity rates," but they don't clearly identify themselves as an alternate supplier. An older family member got caught up in this not knowing it wasn't the original company, and they ended up a year later playing much more than the "standard plan." She never caught it as both the Supply and Delivery fees still come on the same bill from the original company.
 
Texas has a deregulated electricity market where the infrastructure is owned and operated by government-regulated monopolies, but the production is controlled by large "power purchase agreements" that allow retail providers to offer their own rates.

I change or renew my contract every 3, 6, or 12 months depending on the best rates. Texas also has smart meters, and you can log into the website to see when and how much electricity you use.

Many of the companies are playing games with the rates, offering discounts for staying below or exceeding certain thresholds of energy usage, or offering flat fees for certain levels with high overage charges.

You may be able to find a plan with a low cost for high usage during the summer months, and a different plan that's cheaper for lower usage during the winter. But you really have to dig into each plan and compare your personal, historic usage to know which is the best deal.


We have what they call peak savings days. Yesterday was one.

You reduce your energy use for a set number of hours on the peak day. Then they give you a credit based on the difference of what your normal usage is.

I did it once and got a $20 credit because I was able to turn most things off as I wasn't going to be home. But yesterday I was not at work so no savings - I'm not going to sweat for $20!
 
We have no choice in CO. Yet our utilities are pretty cheap compared to all my family in TX.

Example:
my house CO- 4000sq ft winter heating bill 180.00 (on avg)
in-laws TX - 2600 sqft winter heating bill 500.00 (on avg)

There is a similar discrepancy for the summer bills. Maybe it is just who they have. I don't know?? All my TX family complains about high utility bills.
 
We have no choice in CO. Yet our utilities are pretty cheap compared to all my family in TX.

Example:
my house CO- 4000sq ft winter heating bill 180.00 (on avg)
in-laws TX - 2600 sqft winter heating bill 500.00 (on avg)

There is a similar discrepancy for the summer bills. Maybe it is just who they have. I don't know?? All my TX family complains about high utility bills.

You really need to compare the base rate and taxes not the final cost, so much has to do with how well a house is insulated, and whether it has sun exposure or shaded by trees, etc.. I lived in TX for 4 years, and we had the lowest electric bills of any of the 3 houses that I have owned, even though it was by far the largest. This was because we built our house and spent the money putting in good insulation and windows. We paid a lot less than some of our neighbors that had older smaller houses, just due to insulation differences, so it really isn't that simple, and I never paid over $200/mo ever for a 4000+ sq ft home that had all electric appliances.

That said, I hated shopping for different plans. I always stayed with the same company (Reliant) because I liked how easy it was to track my bill and some other features. When we first moved there I tried some of the lower cost options, and the customer service and websites were just so dreadful, that I decided to stick with Reliant, and just change my plan periodically depending on what they were offering.
 
We have no choice in CO. Yet our utilities are pretty cheap compared to all my family in TX.

Example:
my house CO- 4000sq ft winter heating bill 180.00 (on avg)
in-laws TX - 2600 sqft winter heating bill 500.00 (on avg)

There is a similar discrepancy for the summer bills. Maybe it is just who they have. I don't know?? All my TX family complains about high utility bills.
You really need to compare the base rate and taxes
It's best to compare usage, and include any other energy costs. My 3,500 sq ft house in Texas never had an electric bill over $150. In the winter, the gas bill was about that much. The electric rate is what really matters; I've seen prices as high as 14¢/KWH, or as low as 3.5¢. So, you could be paying 4 times as much for the exact same usage.
 
It's best to compare usage, and include any other energy costs. My 3,500 sq ft house in Texas never had an electric bill over $150. In the winter, the gas bill was about that much. The electric rate is what really matters; I've seen prices as high as 14¢/KWH, or as low as 3.5¢. So, you could be paying 4 times as much for the exact same usage.
:sad: I love CA but sometimes... Tier 1 on my bill today is $0.16/KWH and in summer we trigger Tier 2 usage at $0.24 (Tier 3 $0.31- thank goodness we don't hit that!)...
 

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