I moved into a rental home a little over a year ago and got an 8-month plan through Gexa Energy which was OK. Once that contract was up, I switched to a short term plan through Reliant and it's been really good. But that contract is about up and wondering if I should change over to another company, getting a low rate being a new customer, or just re-up with Reliant on a 12 month plan at a little higher rate. How does everyone else handle their electricity provider? Do you constantly switch up companies trying to always get the lowest rates, or do you generally stick with the same company?
I've stuck with TXU for years mainly because that's who my father suggested. I'm on their free nights plan which works for me since I'm at work most of the day and then after 9pm my electricity is free. That's when I turn the A/C on
TriEagle Energy http://trieagleenergy.com I used to constantly switch but I've kept these guys around for over two years. I have no issues, and the rate is competitive.
This is all you need. I prefer mytruecost.com (CenterPoint's website, powertochoose.org is through the Texas PUC) but they both work. You should be able to load your meter info or ESI ID and get even more detailed rates. I would just go with the cheapest you can get. Your retailers doesn't matter when it comes to power delivery, they just handle billing. There is no difference in reliability and delivery. I prefer a company that I know has been around and has a decent website for online bill pay. I have had Gexa, Frontier, Reliant and Direct and have had no issues.
Yea, this is what I've been doing using powertochoose. But I'm wondering if it's worth it to jump to different companies every 3-6 or 8 months for the best price or just find a reliable provider and pay some more for a year or more contract.
1. Buyer beware if you're shopping around because some of the less scrupulous companies will game their offers to look like the best on price, but then they stick you with the fine print. 2. The traditional business model has been to attract customers with a low-rate fixed term contract and collect little margin, then switch them to a variable rate after expiration and take fat margins until the customer realizes what's up. Companies are starting to migrate away from that toward reaching out to customers and signing them to new fixed-term contracts. But obviously, they still need to get their margins somewhere. 3. Baumer is right there is no difference on delivery. But I find there is a difference in customer experience, particularly in digital. The big guys have good websites that give you useful information, but not all small REPs can. 4. Because Reliant is a good company to stick with, I recommend the following strategy. Find the cheapest legitimate competitor. Call Reliant and tell them the price you're being offered and see if they will match it. If they will, great; if they won't, switch. Do this every year. Don't roll to variable.
Because the prices are based on power commodity prices, they have a seasonal shape to them. When a company prices your deal, they are taking into account the seasonality of commodity prices and setting a rate to give them their desired margin. With a months-long regime of recontracting, you'll put yourself on a pricing rollercoaster. You'll look at prices in September and say 'wow, electricity is so cheap!' and then in March 'What happened! Everything's going up!' Save yourself that headache and buy 12 month contracts. You will not get a better deal by signing shorter contracts. In fact, because companies want to recoup their marketing costs before you leave again, they may bake in more margin in a shorter contract, and you won't be able to tell.
My plan with Reliant is expiring and I appreciate the info in this thread. I think I will reup with Reliant but am going to switch to the free weekends plan since my usage is a lot higher on the weekends.
Bumping this thread... Anybody have any experience with Griddy or Energy Ogre? These companies charge $10/month and they automatically shop for the best rate on electricity taking into account all factors (kw/hr, minimum usage reqs, variable and fixed, and your own actual average usage). Powertochoose.org and some of the other comparison websites have gotten so confusing I can't tell anymore if what I'm choosing is actually saving money.
Do you know how much kw you use every month? powertochoose has everything laid out for you with term lengths, how much per kw(depending on average usage), and cost for breaking the contract. If anything, you could call the provider if youre not sure and have them explain everything.
We have Pedernales Electric Coop in our part of Southwest Austin. They've been our provider for 25 years, and I don't have any complaints. The rare times we've had to contact them, the customer service has been excellent. When we moved to our house, the neighborhood was outside of the city limits. The area was eventually annexed, and being able to keep Pedernales was made a condition that the neighborhood was able to include. That's been a major plus, because the City of Austin, unlike most major cities, owns it's electric utility. It's definitely more expensive, so we've been lucky. That's good, because shopping for better rates isn't an option here, as far as I know.
Not yet, we're moving to a new home so I do not know the usage yet. Where we live now the HOA monthly fees include electric, so this is the first time we have had to buy power.
Interesting... How much were HOA fees? What part of Houston are you moving to and how long are you gonna be there for? From what Ive seen on powertochoose, you can lock in at 10-12 months and average about $.09/kw, or 3-6 months is averaging about $0.11/kw. So its just simple math- $.09 x how many kw/month(1500 is about average) = $135
Ohh, so exciting! I've not been a customer, but I know about them. Their models are a bit different though. What you described is Energy Ogre. They act as a broker for you and will find you the cheapest rate available from an electricity provider each month. I don't know if they really give you $10 of value doing that every month, but it's probably good for customers who don't want to ever ever have to think about electricity. I think Griddy is a cool concept. They sell you the hourly wholesale rate, for just their $10/month management fee. Most of the time, you'll probably beat the retail market doing that because wholesale in ERCOT is not too volatile. They give you a cool app so you can see the hourly wholesale prices. However, you are taking on wholesale risk and in times of crisis (say an ill-timed polar vortex), the wholesale market can spike up to the cap of $9,000/MWH (or $9/kwh). Do that for a day and you'd pay $400. That's very rare. We've hit the cap only twice, for less than an hour each, and one of those was in error (but there's still dispute over whether customers must pay for the error anyway). We were only over $3,000 for 45 minutes in all of 2018. So, I'd say it's probably a good bet that you'd win in the long run -- except that our reserve margins (that is, our extra capacity to make electricity) is getting thin and the market might get more volatile in the future. And, we'll be able to do some cool things with smart appliances in the future -- like a thermostat that adjusts the temperature according to the wholesale price to avoid the price spikes. But, with Griddy the average person might be taking risks they don't understand. The main one is the wholesale market risk, and now potentially the risk of pricing errors. There is also risk on ancillary services prices, and people don't even know what ancillary services are (they are essentially grid operational costs, like voltage control, having additional generation warming up, line loss, etc). And I believe it is prepaid too, which I think is also great, but does expose customers to a risk of disconnection if they mismanage the cash transactions. So, in all, I think it is a cool service but it might be scary for people who don't know what's going on. You're right -- no shopping in Pedernales.
I have griddy at home and I have no idea if they're cheap or not since it's all prepaid, so kind of hard to figure out how much we are paying monthly lol
