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Who are you buying electricity from, and what are you paying?

Mud

Diamond
Joined
May 20, 2002
Location
South Central PA
I'm at the tail end of a contract and need to make a decision on who to buy from next. I've been harassed on a regular basis by cold call salesmen offering deals to sign contracts. I find these guys so annoying I want to blow up the phone to avoid them. On a $800 to $1000 monthly bill I'm currently paying $.83 on a 3 year contract. PPL's current default price is $.77. I'm now being offered as low as $.71 for a 3 year contract, 6 months ago it was $.66. There are similar deals on the PPL website for short terms, but I'm wondering what catches are waiting for the unaware(me).

If I do nothing I'll default to PPL and can wait for a lower rate in the summer if that happens again. It could shoot up with the stock market, and I'll regret not signing up now. I can also choose short term promotions and jump around to whoever's cheapest at the time.

So - how many of you use alternative suppliers and how many use the local utility? If an alternate, who are you using? How often do you change suppliers, and why?
 
I think you have a decimal point in the wrong place if that is the price per KWH, if you are correct you are double what I used to pay in California and I believe they have the highest rates in the lower 48.
 
I have no choice. I pay just over $.14/kwh when I divide the total cost by the amount of electricity used.
 
I think you have a decimal point in the wrong place if that is the price per KWH, if you are correct you are double what I used to pay in California and I believe they have the highest rates in the lower 48.

Yikes! I agree, it's likely that he means $0.083 per KWH. Up here in Oregon, it's around $0.05 to $0.11 depending on the utility which are small "monopolies" (some of the cheapest in the nation as I understand plus minimal need for A/C and even heating which is usually done by gas anyway). I think the only options are local utility or "grow your own". There are options to purchase "green" power but that, of course, is more expensive.

The Dude
 
I'm at the tail end of a contract and need to make a decision on who to buy from next. I've been harassed on a regular basis by cold call salesmen offering deals to sign contracts. I find these guys so annoying I want to blow up the phone to avoid them. On a $800 to $1000 monthly bill I'm currently paying $.83 on a 3 year contract. PPL's current default price is $.77. I'm now being offered as low as $.71 for a 3 year contract, 6 months ago it was $.66. There are similar deals on the PPL website for short terms, but I'm wondering what catches are waiting for the unaware(me).

If I do nothing I'll default to PPL and can wait for a lower rate in the summer if that happens again. It could shoot up with the stock market, and I'll regret not signing up now. I can also choose short term promotions and jump around to whoever's cheapest at the time.

So - how many of you use alternative suppliers and how many use the local utility? If an alternate, who are you using? How often do you change suppliers, and why?

Hello Mud
An interesting & foreign concept.:confused: These companies that you have a choice of, do they actually generate the electricity, or are they just brokers buying large amounts & then re-selling. How do they get it to you??? Who owns the distribution network? Is it open for anyone to use?:confused:
Here in MB we have 1 choice & 1 choice only for electricity, MB Hydro. Unless of course you want to generate your own electricity (which isn't currently economically feasible).
 
One choice?? New York has made the system crazy. This is residential, but I have 77 different suppliers of electricity available, in addition to Rochester Gas & Electric. They are all delivered by RG&E.

RG&E | Electricity Suppliers

Then there's the bill.

Electricity Delivery Charges
Customer charge 21.38
Delivery charge 0.04181
Transition charge - Oct -0.002756
Transition charge - Nov -0.002313
Revenue decoupling mech 0.000276
Reliability support svcs. chg. 0.003521
NY state assessment 0.00085
SBC charge 0.006635


Electrical Supply Charge
Variable supply charge 0.04176774 (have to love 7 significant figures on that one)
Merchant function charge - Oct 0.003798
Merchantfunction charge - Nov 0.00384

Electricity Taxes and Surcharges
Taxes on delivery charges 2.04%
 
No choices here, I pay about $.12 per KWH. I think the bulk of it comes from the local nuke plant.
 
Adams Electric Coop.

Energy charge .07290/kwh
WPCA (discount) -.00280/kwh

Access charge 29.50
Storm reserve 1.00
Distribution charge .02580/kwh

Adding the three rated charges comes out to .0959/kwh

Classified as "residential all electric"

Bill
 
Yes it's .083 not .83.

Hello Mud
An interesting & foreign concept.:confused: These companies that you have a choice of, do they actually generate the electricity, or are they just brokers buying large amounts & then re-selling. How do they get it to you??? Who owns the distribution network? Is it open for anyone to use?:confused:
Here in MB we have 1 choice & 1 choice only for electricity, MB Hydro. Unless of course you want to generate your own electricity (which isn't currently economically feasible).

I don't know all the details but a few are generators and the rest must be brokers. We pay the utility (in my case PA Power and Light - PPL) for distribution and are allowed to purchase the power from someone else, or purchase it from the utility. The distribution costs are fixed and are regulated by the PUC while the generation costs allow competitiveness in pricing. I thought this was nationwide by now.

The general principle is great, but it's been a heyday for relentless coldcallers playing lets make a deal.
 
American power and gas 6.16 cents per KWH But beware dont accept the energy saving light bulbs or they will automatically double your rates.

Dont fall for the green energy they offer again double..

Dont keep them for more than the year (change providers anytime you like no penalty).
If you stay with them for the year they send you a rebate check and they double your rates..ALSO
The rebate dosnt come close to the amount of your NEW rates.

If they give you any crap Remind them about the Pennsylvania utility commission...One of the very few good things Pa provides. .
 
One reason I moved where I did is the small power co-op. We buy direct from Bonneville dam and nobody profits. I can run everything in my 6500 sq ft shop balls out and heat my 3400 sq ft 1926 house at 72 degrees with electric heat and my bill for both is under $150/mo
 
I'm on a co-op, which was a blessing 25 yrs ago, but now I think that I am paying more than I would be if I was on Edison. I think that we are in the $.14 (tax, title, out the door) area now?




One reason I moved where I did is the small power co-op. We buy direct from Bonneville dam and nobody profits. I can run everything in my 6500 sq ft shop balls out and heat my 3400 sq ft 1926 house at 72 degrees with electric heat and my bill for both is under $150/mo



I just called the riggers, and we are heading towards Portland tomorrow.
I'm @ $2000/month.
Try to find me 12K' or more by mid next week when we git there eh?

------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Seattle suburbs - Puget Sound Energy

Base charge: $25.81 / mo
Energy rate: $.099212 / kWh

Running approx 15 hrs / day with 1x Okuma M560 VMC + Kaeser screw compressor = ~$330 / month

I don't think we have any commercial power nukes in WA state. I think it is mostly hydro + wind. If we had more than 4 hours of daylight here, I might think about adding some solar...
 
I'm on a co-op, which was a blessing 25 yrs ago, but now I think that I am paying more than I would be if I was on Edison. I think that we are in the $.14 (tax, title, out the door) area now?








I just called the riggers, and we are heading towards Portland tomorrow.
I'm @ $2000/month.
Try to find me 12K' or more by mid next week when we git there eh?

------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Yabutt, you'll miss all that nice windblown SNOW ya'll get at your place....:D
 
I can trade out my Wawa, Searchmont, Hornepayne, Hearst, Marathon, Manitouwadge, Dubreuilville, for:

Stewart/Hyder
Whistler
Kamloops
Fernie
Golden
Revelstoke

Or even some of the Sierra Cement if no time to travel....


---------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 








 
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