I work for a mid market Electricity company that has been around since the beginning of deregulation. I can answer some questions for you guys if you want.
I may be on a renewal rate bc I dont see the same rate on their current rate plans. I have been with them for over 2 yrs.
I just went with Reliant on a 1 year deal at around 12c with the stipulation that I get a free month of energy in April.
No. Prices change all the time, for one, and differ by geography. Plus, there are different credit requirements and other details besides the rate. Then, there's the customer service expectation (tier 1 servicers can actually handle more issues than others, like power outages), and leeriness over the stability of the companies. And channel availability: some companies handle online transactions better than others, for example, and that will matter more to some customers than to others. Electricity is a commodity, but there's plenty of ways to differentiate.
Absolutely not... a big part of your decision should be based on your own personal risk tolerance and the way that you budget. For some people, the absolute lowest price is key. For people more open to risk, many of them pick a variable price product (price changes monthly) during periods of lower wholesale energy prices. They pay more attention to the various competitor offerings out there, and they have the ability to lock-in a lower rate because they're typically signing shorter term contracts. With a variable price product, there will certainly be months where they end up paying more, but it works the other way around as well. For other people who are more risk averse, long term-price stability (even at a slightly higher price) is preferable to either the market volatility associated with variable price products or with shorter term fixed products. It's very easy to go wrong with a fixed price product if you buy at the wrong time. You could very easily find yourself locking in a high price for 2-3 years and then not be able to reap the benefits 6 or 8 months down the road if energy prices come way down. One of the whole points of electricity deregulation is to make consumers more aware of the energy they use (generally use less energy... and use less during peak times). Another is to give them more choices about fixed versus variable products, the term length, renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources. You also have a variety of choices now about the offers that different providers have. Some provide gift cards, air travel miles, cash back, etc. so it's really no longer simply an issue of finding the lowest price for many customers.
I live in Houston. I have credit. I do not want to spend recurring time considering energy prices. I believe natural gas prices will rise around 20% over the next 18 months and the economy will be a slow malaise. I've never had to call an electric company about service or had billing problems. I don't care about the solvency of my provider, I'd just move to the next one. pick me a plan. I have Stream because I had a friend in the pyramid with them and the rate was fair. My term is up this month and he is not involved anymore.
In that case, do Potentia Energy 12-month fixed for 10.0 cents. Since you think gas prices will rise, I'm thinking you'd want something fixed. And apparently you don't care about the environment, so this is only 4% renewable. And, this is the cheapest rate on powertochoose right now. However, I think it is a mistake to discount the importance of solvency and customer service. When your provider goes insolvent, you are handed over to another REP in a system called Provider of Last Resort. The last time we had a lot of insolvencies, POLR customers got shafted by their new providers. I think Gexa charged them something like 25 cents when the rates were around 17. And, because of the timing of information and of switching, even a diligent person ended up with 1-2 full months of usage on the punitive rate. I think Gexa changed their practice to give POLR customers a more reasonable rate to retain them, but I don't know how many other REPs changed that practice. As for customer service, I think the most essential part here is billing accuracy. The industry has a lot of bad software when it comes to billing engines and billing mistakes are more common than they should be. Transparency in billing is kinda low, so they often go undetected for awhile. Sometimes they're in your favor and sometimes not. But, the bigger players tend to have better systems for billing accurately, and for correcting mistakes. I've heard good things regarding customer satisfaction for Spark, and they're offering 10.3 cents. Not much more. Of course, extreme price events could still bankrupt them. The cheapest offer from a company that is ironclad safe from bankruptcy is probably Gexa at 10.7 cents.
I would encourage everyone who has the choice to choose in TX to go here: Power To Choose Reliant and TXU always seem to have the highest rates and I just don't get why people lock in with them...There are better options and you can save money...people think that some of the companies out there are fly by night, and its best to use a large company, but the truth is, that isn't the case... I've used FirstChoice before and am now with Amigo Energy...If you're going to lock in, don't do it in the summer...do it in the winter/fall when rates are the lowest...
I agree with you on some of those points: Yes, it's a good idea to shop around Yes, the large older, established incumbents tend to have higher rates (but not always) And Yes, you can save money with a smaller company But among the smaller less-known companies, there absolutely are fly-by-night operations that do not hedge properly, use poor billing platforms because they're cheaper, and have lousy customer service. I'd argue that in the beginning, customer service for the big players was equally bad, but they have had to fight to keep their customers and in many cases, they've invested more in improving customer service and billing accuracy because they know that they're not always going to be the cheapest around. Personally, I have no stake in it since I work for a company that doesn't serve residential customers, but I stated it earlier and agree with JV that knowing your electricity provider is established enough to weather financial challenges is important. During 2008, a number of smaller suppliers did go out of business and abandonded their customers. Most people that are dropped to POLR by a smaller, less stable company have no control over it... and they do often get stuck paying absorbitant rates for a few months and subsequently find themselves having to look for a new contract then. I know people who have gone through it, and it sucks.
Thanks to all in this thread. I just looked at my energy bill and was shocked at my reliant rate. I used the powertochoose website and chose www.bounceenergy.com. They seem to offer a good rate, ability to pay with credit card (points!) and a nice loyalty program. I also got a 50 dollar credit for the refer a friend program. If anyone decides to switch to bounce energy, use my referral code so we both get 50 bucks off 1162199
