Pretty much Reliant and TXU are the most expensive providers...I use Amigo and have for the past couple of years...i've been month to month and my rate/bills have been very low...
I was arguing this with someone: If you live in a unit of a complex, and there is an weatherproof power outlet right outside your front door, will the usage of that outlet be charged to you? I say no, it's probably wired with the public lighting in the complex.
It should be on the complex's meter, but you never know. If you can see your meter, you can test it. Turn off everything in the house to stop the meter -- then plug something into that outlet and see if the meter starts up again.
This thread is 15+ months old, but I ended up going with Champion Energy back then, thanks to the website advice that was provided in the thread. It was like 9.6-9.8 cents I think, and a few months ago (before my one year was up this year), I called them and they offered another year at 9.5 cents, which was better than any other rate at the time on powertochoose.
^ yeah, I've been too lazy to change, but its worked out...just got my bill in today, and it was $.088/kwh, which is the highest this summer, and I expect it to go lower now that it is someone cooling off... ^This... however, I live in a condo (quasi apts.) and I have to pay for the outlet outside my door...
im thinking of getting my electricity from either bounce or gexa. aside from the actual electricty/kwh usage, what else will i be billed for? stuff like delivery charges, etc?
Look at Amibt Energy as well. typically you get charged TDSP charges and a monthly fee depending on usage in addition to the kWh charges...good luck...
Actually, you'll ALWAYS get charged a monthly meter fee and TDSP Delivery Charges (however it's worded on your bill may vary). The local utility - whether you're in the Houston area, Dallas, or any of the other deregulated parts of the state - will pass through a certain set of charges to the generation provider (the competitive supplier). How they show up on your bill is largely standardized by the PUCT. The part that you're shopping for is the electric generation. Different suppliers out there will contract with you for the generated electricity that flows over the utilty's wires. They can provide a fixed price, variable/indexed price, or some hybrid of the two in some cases. You can contract for different term lengths and with or without renewable energy components. Read fine print and compare the different contracts regarding cancellation fees and any other items that might affect you though.
im looking at the fixed term rates and it seems like the shorter periods (3,6, and 9 months) are all cheaper than 12 months. i thought it'd be the other way around. why is this? why should i get a 12 month rate at 10.1 kwh when i can get a 6 month rate at 8.5 kwh and just renew it for an additional 6 months. am i missing something here?
12 months locks you in. If you buy 6 month rates and in 6 months the price of energy jumps you could theoretically be stuck paying whatever the new rate is. So say you get 8.5 for 6 months and then it jumps to 12. You made a bad deal. This is unlikely imo and if you can get 8.5 I'd take it.
Sorry to bump this thread, but how is everyone's experience with Champion Energy Services? On a side note, how fast were did they get power back to their customers during the hurricane outage years ago? I have Reliant, and although they are expensive, I was happy with their response time.
Then I can go strictly off price. My plan with Reliant expires next month, and I might switch to Champion Energy. They've won JD Power awards a couple years in a row. Anyone want me to refer them if I sign up (most likely will if no one has any horror stories with them)?
