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Sorry about all the Richardson threads. It's just so different from the area we're coming from(1 Energy company, 1 gas company, and until recently 1 cable provider). I've never had to shop for an electric company before and I've got to admit, I'm nervous about doing so.
We will need an Electric company that services Richardson. We will hopefully have a 1700sq ft, 1 story, brick ranch style home. We want the most affordable company. Or at least a good ratio of affordability to customer service. What can someone recommend? At home in NOLA area we didn't do that averaging bill thing. The highest it got in summer was about $180 and the lowest in winter was around $55. I don't think we're looking to average here either. Also not sure about signing a contract. I'm wary of that, especially since I heard they can charge more than the what the contract states anyway, so I'm not sure I see a point and I don't want to feel trapped either.
Internet provider. We don't use cable(we have Roku, Hbo To Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime). We just need a high speed internet provider. Relatives recommended Verizon FIOS, but when I went to their website and put in the Richardson zipcode of our house, it says they don't service the area.
Can someone recommend a good Internet Service Provider for Richardson?
Are there different companies for Gas and Water or is there no choice there? If there is a choice, can someone please suggest one or two.
We're looking for the most affordable services we can find. I think electricity, water and gas was relatively cheap in NOLA, so we don't want to be overwhelmed by utility bills up here. Please, any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've been to the electicity company websites and its very daunting and confusing for me.
Sorry about all the Richardson threads. It's just so different from the area we're coming from(1 Energy company, 1 gas company, and until recently 1 cable provider). I've never had to shop for an electric company before and I've got to admit, I'm nervous about doing so.
We will need an Electric company that services Richardson. We will hopefully have a 1700sq ft, 1 story, brick ranch style home. We want the most affordable company. Or at least a good ratio of affordability to customer service. What can someone recommend? At home in NOLA area we didn't do that averaging bill thing. The highest it got in summer was about $180 and the lowest in winter was around $55. I don't think we're looking to average here either. Also not sure about signing a contract. I'm wary of that, especially since I heard they can charge more than the what the contract states anyway, so I'm not sure I see a point and I don't want to feel trapped either.
Internet provider. We don't use cable(we have Roku, Hbo To Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime). We just need a high speed internet provider. Relatives recommended Verizon FIOS, but when I went to their website and put in the Richardson zipcode of our house, it says they don't service the area.
Can someone recommend a good Internet Service Provider for Richardson?
Are there different companies for Gas and Water or is there no choice there? If there is a choice, can someone please suggest one or two.
We're looking for the most affordable services we can find. I think electricity, water and gas was relatively cheap in NOLA, so we don't want to be overwhelmed by utility bills up here. Please, any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've been to the electicity company websites and its very daunting and confusing for me.
Thanks!
FIOS is not available anywhere in Richardson that I'm aware of. A good rule of thumb is that if U-verse is available in a given area, FIOS is not. I have AT&T U-verse and I do not recommend it.
Gas is Atmos.
Electric, consult powertochoose.org to compare rate plans.
Water is City of Richardson.
If your house has a monitored alarm system, you are required to have a current alarm permit from the city for it. You are also required to register any pets and provide evidence that their vaccinations are current.
I don't know what your rates are in NOLA, but a lot of transplants here complain about our eye-popping electric bills. It'll be even worse if your house doesn't have gas service. My hot water heater and furnace are gas-powered so my electric bills drop in winter but my gas bills go up considerably. In summer my gas bills average less than $20 a month, but jump to $70-$80 a month in the cold months. My electric bills average $100-$120 a month in the hottest months but drop to about $70 in winter. Average water bill is about $50-$60 in winter, $90 in summer when I'm watering regularly. My house is about 1800 sq ft and I keep the thermostat at 80F in summer, 70F in winter. Your bill could vary considerably, though. One of my neighbors has a house with nearly identical square footage and an HVAC system about the same age as mine, but their electric bills in summer are usually double what mine are. This is probably because they like keeping the thermostat down at 70F in summer.
You can't average your gas/elec bill until you have lived in the house for 12 months. Then they average your usage. Each month your bill reflects a credit or debit depending on your usage. I loved it where I lived before b/c I could budget accurately. I lived in Metairie for 33 yrs and your bills will be much higher.
Actually, our bills in Metairie were about what Big D says theirs average. Hopefully ours will be about the same. The house we are in the process of buying has double insulated windows and new insulation in walls as of 2009. I hope that helps. We also put thermostat on 80 in summer when we leave for work. We do drop down to about 75 when we get home and when sleeping. In winter, I could do without heat at all, but the GF won't approve LOL. We usually keep thermostat around 68 or 70 though. I'm pretty mindful of trying to conserve as I don't want any $500 bills.
Will go with Atmos for gas, Richardson for Water(at least that is easy to figure out lol). Will search for high Speed Internet online. I won't go with ATT Uverse, b/c I haven't heard anything good about them back home in Metairie either.
The electricity will be the biggest choice then. How should I pick? I went to that right to choose site and I know I shouldn't just go with the cheapest right? I'm not familiar with any of these companies either, so I don't know who has a good reputation and who doesn't. We only had Entergy in Metairie.
I don't think we'll go with a contract, so probably variable rate, unless we should go with a short-term contract maybe? I did pick up in research that winter has the best rates. This is all soooo confusing.
Which do you use Big D and are you happy with the company? I don't mind not paying the cheapest, rock bottom rate to some fly by night crappy customer service company, but I don't want to pay the most expensive rate either.
Doing some looking around on the powertochoose.org site and these are the companies I chose to look into only based on what I've read in other threads/forums:
Pennywise
Gexa
StarTex
Mission
Reliant
I've only chosen these b/c from what I can tell they are reputable companies and are not fly by not. They are not the cheapest on the website.
I'm looking at 6 month and 12 month fixed and month to month rates:
Based on these rates, I'm leaning towards Gexa, b/c from what I understand it's a reputable company. Does anyone have any experience with them good or bad? Not sure if we'll go with month to month since we're new to the area and still trying to figure things out. We may go with a 6 month or 12 month contract though.
I read somewhere that just b/c you're contract states .082, the company can charge more than that b/c the cost of power may go up. Is this true? What's the point of the contract then? Wish I could remember where I read that, I've been reading so much stuff lately. But it basically said that if energy goes up to where the company is paying way more than .082, they can recoup the cost even if you have an agreement. Any truth to this?
Is Gexa a good choice? Should I go with a cheaper company that I've never heard of?
I think I'm going crazy with all of these #'s spinning around in my head
FIOS is not available anywhere in Richardson that I'm aware of. A good rule of thumb is that if U-verse is available in a given area, FIOS is not. I have AT&T U-verse and I do not recommend it.
Although not available where OP is, the parts of Richardson close to Murphy have FIOS.
Actually, our bills in Metairie were about what Big D says theirs average. Hopefully ours will be about the same. The house we are in the process of buying has double insulated windows and new insulation in walls as of 2009. I hope that helps. We also put thermostat on 80 in summer when we leave for work. We do drop down to about 75 when we get home and when sleeping. In winter, I could do without heat at all, but the GF won't approve LOL. We usually keep thermostat around 68 or 70 though. I'm pretty mindful of trying to conserve as I don't want any $500 bills.
Will go with Atmos for gas, Richardson for Water(at least that is easy to figure out lol). Will search for high Speed Internet online. I won't go with ATT Uverse, b/c I haven't heard anything good about them back home in Metairie either.
The electricity will be the biggest choice then. How should I pick? I went to that right to choose site and I know I shouldn't just go with the cheapest right? I'm not familiar with any of these companies either, so I don't know who has a good reputation and who doesn't. We only had Entergy in Metairie.
I don't think we'll go with a contract, so probably variable rate, unless we should go with a short-term contract maybe? I did pick up in research that winter has the best rates. This is all soooo confusing.
Which do you use Big D and are you happy with the company? I don't mind not paying the cheapest, rock bottom rate to some fly by night crappy customer service company, but I don't want to pay the most expensive rate either.
Please help!
I use Reliant. Power companies here do not actually generate the power nor do they own the lines. Oncor does that, and all these companies do is re-sell electricity.
I've actually changed my list up a bit after going to a review site where customers reviewed the company. Also went to JD Power and Assoc and the top 3 companies in TX according to them are:
Champion
Bounce
Startex
I also have Reliant on my list b/c it got good customer reviews on the review site and their prices are pretty competitive.
So I've narrowed down to: Champion, Bounce, Startex, and Reliant
I'm also thinking maybe I should go with a year contract, or at least 6 months. I read that rates are pretty cheap in winter, so around now or Dec. which is when I'd be turning on power if all goes well, and if I lock in for a year now I won't have to sweat the high rates of summer. Is this correct?
For 12 months:
Reliant: 9.3
Startex 9.7
Bounce 9.5
Champion 9.5
Reliant looks like it's winning out
I'm also going to have to see how much power the gf and I use on average a month. I don't think we can get to old bills from Metairie(in the file cabinet in storage), but we've been staying with the girlfriend's mom since late August in Garland. Her home is a little smaller, but it should give us an idea of our energy consumption(GF's mom only comes home once a week, so she shouldn't factor in too much).
I've actually changed my list up a bit after going to a review site where customers reviewed the company. Also went to JD Power and Assoc and the top 3 companies in TX according to them are:
Champion
Bounce
Startex
I also have Reliant on my list b/c it got good customer reviews on the review site and their prices are pretty competitive.
So I've narrowed down to: Champion, Bounce, Startex, and Reliant
I'm also thinking maybe I should go with a year contract, or at least 6 months. I read that rates are pretty cheap in winter, so around now or Dec. which is when I'd be turning on power if all goes well, and if I lock in for a year now I won't have to sweat the high rates of summer. Is this correct?
For 12 months:
Reliant: 9.3
Startex 9.7
Bounce 9.5
Champion 9.5
Reliant looks like it's winning out
I'm also going to have to see how much power the gf and I use on average a month. I don't think we can get to old bills from Metairie(in the file cabinet in storage), but we've been staying with the girlfriend's mom since late August in Garland. Her home is a little smaller, but it should give us an idea of our energy consumption(GF's mom only comes home once a week, so she shouldn't factor in too much).
Honestly the only difference you are likely to see between any of these companies is the name on the bill and the rate. All these companies do is buy electricity from Oncor and sell it to you. If your power lines go down in a storm, for example, it's Oncor you'll be calling...not your electricity provider.
Compare the TDU Electric delivery charges; they vary between carriers, sometimes significantly. Some provider may have a low TDU charge, but a portion of it is "hidden" as a percentage of the overall kw rate, which makes comparing rates not as easy as it first appears.
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