So when I was in NY I used energy cooperative of america. Ended up saving huge on gas, and pretty much nothing on electric.
Down here we can pick our energy provider for electric there are about 30 of them in my zip code.
It is really easy to get fucked if you don’t know what you are doing. Need to really read the contracts.
I feel OK about where I am at with Reliant energy, I pay about 8 cents with a 1 cent discount off peak hours and all weekend. That is a fixed rate on a 1 year contract.
The deal down here is you need to use 1000kwh or more per month to get the cheap rate, otherwise it doubles.
I have never used 1000kwh by the way.
Also some plans charge you like 10 or 20 dollars per month if you don’t use at least 1000kwh.
So the less power you use, the higher your KWH rate is.
I just checked the rates today and maybe I can save 1-2 cents per KWH with an average usage of 500kwh.
So basically I’m paying like 9 bucks a month more than the cheapest plan. It’s probably not worth switching to some unknown company, I’ll just see what Reliant is offering in a year and do that again.
My house is not huge, but we always are under $100 per month for electric.
I have done the math on the ones that give you a free nest thermostat, you basically pay for it in higher rates and fees over the course of your contract.
Also the cancellation fees are like $150 if you terminate the contract early.
Deregulation in the industry is a good thing and a bad thing, Joe consumer is probably not going to research rates or read the contract fully before he signs, and these fly by night electric company are ripping people off.