[yls]

Hi,
We moved from out of state to Ann Arbor. We have gas heat through DTE Energy. I got a phone call from some company (I think it was IGS Energy) and they said they could "lock in" a spring & summer rate that was lower than the 5 yr Mich-Con average (or something along those lines). They said you could always go down if the rates for MichCon goes down and this all started with the deregulation of the utility market and now consumers have choices,etc. I am leery of things that I'm not sure if there are catches,etc.
Can anyone advise on this? Do you have utlities through these private companies and how has it worked? Do you save money? is it a scam?
I am totally unfamiliar with this and just want to get educated. I looked a bit on the Michcon page but would like to hear from personal experiences.
Thanks so much!

[kcam213]

I am leery as well simply because of the aggressive sales pitch. My thoughts are if it was such a good deal, people would rave on and on about what a great deal it is. Like members of Costco, or shoppers of Walmart.


We had this type of gas service company before, and I don't think we saved any money.

If you lock in the rates, before the rates are announced... maybe the rates will go down, but you are now "locked" in a higher rate.

[Jwo85]

Pass on them and stay with michcon

[Bydand]

I looked at the different offers and stayed away. While the rates may look lower than the "default" provider, you have to remember that it is for the product ONLY and you still get charged for the delivery and line maintenance fees from the other company. When I factored in the other charges it was going to "save" me $1.50 a month during the winter and pennies in the summer. Not enough to make the change

[yls]

ok, thank you all.

One other question: Do you just pay your bill monthly per usage (so it varies) or do you do a monthly average so the year is somewhat constant? I assume winter bills are very hefty and summer is really low, so do people tend to average it out so it's more consistent? I thought i saw that option and was just interested what most people do.
Thanks!

[Bydand]

I just pay the month that due and do not average it over the year. I think our highest bill was $225 for the last couple winters, averages about $150-$175 during Dec, Jan, Feb. About $75-$100 for Nov, Mar, April and less than $50 Sept, Oct, May. The summer is less than $25 a month for cooking and hot water. This year was warmer than usual and for May, June, July, Aug, and Sept the total bill for all 5 months was $50.52

Of course that will vary widely depending on the house and how warm you like to keep it.