Electric Service providers (Dallas, Fort Worth, Van Alstyne: lease, how much, buy)

[fuzzys]

We are moving to Dallas next week and i just got a list of the electric service providers. Yes, a list.. of no fewer than 9 companies! I am at a loss. I have never had to choose an electric company before (it's always been dictated) and I have no idea what to look for. I went to the powertochoose.org website and it lists all of the companies but it talks about contracts and terms which also makes no sense. I just want to have electric service and pay my bill on a monthly basis like I always have, without worrying about a contract or terms. What's the deal with this?

Here are the companies I have been given:

Ambit, Cirro, Coserv, Direct, Gexa, Green Mountain, Reliant, Stream, and TXU. I don't want to call all of them. Any suggestions?

[loves2read]

we use TXU
it is more expensive than some
we have had one billing problem in more than 20 yrs

they are running a new plan that gives you Southwest airline points and a fixed rate for 24 mo
sounds good to me...choose them

[ChristieP]

I use Reliant, mainly because they give American Airlines miles.

[frado]

We are with Cirro Energy. Our highest bill this summer was $140.

[BigT3x]

There's no difference, pick whoever is the cheapest.

[stillkit]

Originally Posted by fuzzys

We are moving to Dallas next week and i just got a list of the electric service providers. Yes, a list.. of no fewer than 9 companies! I am at a loss. I have never had to choose an electric company before (it's always been dictated) and I have no idea what to look for. I went to the powertochoose.org website and it lists all of the companies but it talks about contracts and terms which also makes no sense. I just want to have electric service and pay my bill on a monthly basis like I always have, without worrying about a contract or terms. What's the deal with this?

Here are the companies I have been given:

Ambit, Cirro, Coserv, Direct, Gexa, Green Mountain, Reliant, Stream, and TXU. I don't want to call all of them. Any suggestions?

The thing you have to watch out for is teaser rates. They're low to start out, but balloon near the end of the contract like an adjustable rate mortgage. And, watch out for variable rates. Stick with fixed rates, even if they're higher to start.

In the end, it really doesn't matter much because they all buy power from the same source and you'll pay whatever they want for it, one way or the other. The net effect of the "de-regulation" of the energy business the Bush administration brought us years ago has been the concentration of generating capacity into a couple of hands, which is just a legal monopoly, and higher rates than our neighbors pay. Most of those "power" companies listed on that website are just middle men who don't generate a single, solitary kilowatt themselves.

If you happen to end up in rural Collin or Grayson County, I'd recommend the Grayson-Collin Co-op. Their rates are among the lowest fixed rates in the state and you always deal with a person, not a computer voice, when you call them or go to their office in Van Alstyne.

[fuzzys]

Any experience or feedback with YEP?

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by stillkit

In the end, it really doesn't matter much because they all buy power from the same source and you'll pay whatever they want for it, one way or the other. The net effect of the "de-regulation" of the energy business the Bush administration brought us years ago has been the concentration of generating capacity into a couple of hands, which is just a legal monopoly, and higher rates than our neighbors pay. Most of those "power" companies listed on that website are just middle men who don't generate a single, solitary kilowatt themselves..

This is pure fabrication. You know NOTHING about what you are talking about.

I do this stuff for a living.

There are over 100 power companies in Texas consisting of conventional power plants, nukes, wind, and solar.

Power Plants in Texas - TX

Wind power in Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As far as price goes, wholesale prices in Texas dropped by 50% in the last two years and have stayed pretty stable.

Texas' wholesale power price drop could affect future electricity plants | Dallas-Fort Worth Business News - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

As for what other states pay, Texans pay less for electricity than the surrounding states.

My data centers in TX pay 50-70% less than those in the other states around TX. We buy wholesale and its cheaper than dirt. Go look at the spot market for wholesale power and find the lowest number. Then go lower. Thanks to degregulation, we dropped our costs for power by 60% in 2008 and they have not changed since.

As far as residential goes, looking at OKC, they pay around 11c per KWH for residential on average for the year vs 9.6c for TXU here. Not bad.

What we've seen since deregulation is the cost of power for large consumers had dropped a lot and the cost for power for residential has dropped a little bit. Other states have seen large increases.

This is another reason Texas continues to have a strong economy while others like California (which botched its deregulation process) are failing.

[Macbeth2003]

The one regulation I would like to see is requiring a flat rate pre kilowatt hour for each plan. The fact that when your usage drops below a certain point you pay a higher charge per KWH is a terrible disincentive to energy efficiency and saving power. I'm all for competing plans, but they need to be simpler. Simply state the flat cost per KWH which should be the same no matter how much you use. And that should be the only fee allowed to be variable. As it is it is damn near impossible to compare rates, different fee structures, different points at which the KWH rates change, etc.

[fuzzys]

I am still a bit baffled. We have a one year lease so I don't want to get locked into anything longer than one year. However, it looks like the shorter "contracts" have better prices.. some as low as 7 cents/kwh. I assume that is because they jack up the rates after your 3 or 6 mo. contract expires? I like the looks of YEP Texas but not sure. Anyone know of them? They have a bunch of "green" options including one that is variable at 7.3 cents with no contract... but I guess there is nothing to stop them from doubling that during the 2nd month of service??