Changing Electricity Plans

[lovehoney]

I need to change my electricity plan. What do you look for - fixed, indexed or variable?

I live in Texas and our summer electricity bills are killers. Right now I'm paying 13.5 per kilowatt hour. I was on a fixed rate plan that expired 2 years ago and I never changed. I checked Texas electric choice and there are variable plans that start at 5.6 kWh. How much do these go up in the summer?

I have no idea how much the rates change in any given year. Does anyone know how I can find that info?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Purseval]

They tell us right on our bill how much we paid at that time last year. If you use electronic bill payment you can also search your payment history to see the difference in payments.

 

[mydisneyobsession]

I was on a variable rate plan for a few months between fixed rate plans, and I found the rate to be much, much higher once the introductory period was over. I always prefer to be on a fixed rate plan, but they say the winter is the best time to lock in your rate. I locked in to a fixed rate at 8.9 per kilowatt hour for a two year period, and saw a huge difference in my electric bill. I'm very happy to not have to worry about my rate adjusting!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Wow, wish we had the option here! Our bills in the summer can get over $400/month easy. Once it was about $575. We work in our home and when it's 95-100 during the day we need to run the air in order to work.!

 

[cglaura]

I actually just switched yesterday. I'm in NJ and I chose Public Power Supply, LLC.

I was on an on peak 8am-8pm 0.12 / off peak 8pm-8am 0.09 rate..that is a variable rate, and can be on/.15 to off/.11.

The new rate is a fixed at 0.099. If I had that this month it would have saved me $20.

And they had a sign up bonus of $50 credit on your bill after 7 months.

I like the flat rate all year as around here the rate is always higher during peak demand times in the summer.

I haven't had a first bill yet, but looking over my past bills I would average save $10 - $35/month depending on the month (electric heat...this winter was horrible, I can't remember ever having so many below freezing days).

 

[disneymom2003]

Are you talking about changing companies? if so we can't do that. Only one company in our area. But we do have a choice of how to pay. You can either pay what the meter says each month or you can have them average your bill over one year then they divide hat by 12. It's called level pay. That's what we do. Much easier to handle and you know what the bill is each month.

 

[cglaura]

Are you talking about changing companies? if so we can't do that. Only one company in our area. But we do have a choice of how to pay. You can either pay what the meter says each month or you can have them average your bill over one year then they divide hat by 12. It's called level pay. That's what we do. Much easier to handle and you know what the bill is each month.

It doesn't say what state you are from, I'm in NJ. I can't change my electric company, but I can choose what company they use to supply my power. Maybe yours is similar?

Here is a list of states that have deregulated Energy, it shows both Electric and Gas:
http://www.quantumgas.com/list_of_energy_deregulated_states_in_united_states.html

 

[mydisneyobsession]

It doesn't say what state you are from, I'm in NJ. I can't change my electric company, but I can choose what company they use to supply my power. Maybe yours is similar?

Here is a list of states that have deregulated Energy, it shows both Electric and Gas:
http://www.quantumgas.com/list_of_energy_deregulated_states_in_united_states.html

Actually, OP is in Texas like me. We do have deregulation of power, which allows us to change companies as well as rate plans, etc. I think that the competition does help keep rates down, but I've heard people argue that it didn't work as expected.

It's been a while since I've lived anywhere without deregulation of power, and I wasn't so budget conscious then, so I can't really compare.