Over a quarter of a million customers at Pennsylvania’s second-largest electric utility, PPL, have shopped for a lower electric rate and are saving 10%, 20%, or even 30% off their electric bills by choosing an alternative energy supplier.  Pennsylvanians in other areas of the state, including in the Philadelphia metro region served by PECO, can now shop for these same savings ahead of the expiration of rate caps on January 1, 2011 using SaveOnEnergy.com. 

On January 1, 2010, the rate caps expired at PPL, fully opening up the Lehigh Valley region to electric competition.  Rate caps had been in place since 1996, and prevented new energy providers from entering the area and offering customers improved products and services and lower rates.

However, since rate caps have expired, new energy companies have flooded the PPL market offering tremendous savings on customers’ electric bills, up to nearly $200 per year for residential customers, and thousands of dollars per year for business customers.  Customers have been quick to choose a competing energy provider offering a lower rate, because customers who didn’t shop faced rate hikes upwards of 30%.  In fact, nearly 400,000 customers at PPL have switched to a new energy supplier since January 1, 2010, including over 330,000 residential customers.  These customers are realizing the huge savings from shopping for a lower energy price, while also experiencing the improved customer service from competing providers.  Additionally, customers who choose a new electric supplier still receive their power over PPL’s reliable transmission wires, and shopping customers are restored just as fast as non-shopping customers during outages.

The benefits from shopping for a lower power rate are now available to customers at the remaining Pennsylvania utilities which haven’t yet fully moved to competition — utilities like PECO in Philadelphia, Penelec, Met-Ed, and Allegheny (West Penn Power).  Although rate caps at these utilities won’t officially come off until January 1, 2011, customers can start shopping now for a lower electric rate to avoid any rate shock when price caps do end.  Dozens of competing energy providers are already vying for commercial and industrial customers, undercutting each other’s rates to win these customers’ business. 

Wholesale prices for electricity are at historic lows, making now the perfect time to lock-in a low energy price with an alternative supplier to avoid rate shock come January 1, 2011.  Customers can find a lower electric rate now and sign contracts today for a forward start date of January 1, 2011, allowing them to take advantage of the current lows in electricity pricing and preparing them for when rate caps come off.  The easiest way for business customers to compare rates of competing energy providers in Pennsylvania is by using SaveOnEnergy.com, which pits up to eight suppliers head-to-head to win your business.  This ensures that you get the lowest electric rate, but without the pain and hassle of finding price quotes from every electric company yourself.  With SaveOnEnergy.com, you can shop online at any time day or night by just entering some information about your business, which is instantly transferred to up to eight competing energy suppliers, who then contact you with their best rates.  Saving money on your electric bill couldn’t be easier.

As the electricity industry constantly progresses and evolves SaveOnEnergy.com is again at the forefront of this innovation.  As noted a few weeks ago, the SaveOnEnergy.com unique price comparison tool is driving product innovation in the Texas electric market by encouraging energy providers to come up with new and improved products and services in order to win customers’ business. 

SaveOnEnergy.com is innovating with technology, by working on new systems and tools to help business customers shop for electricity.  Tools available on SaveOnEnergy.com have long been sought by small businesses and the electric companies serving them — namely, a way to instantly provide customers with price quotes customized to how their businesses use energy.

Currently, businesses using SaveOnEnergy.com to find a great electric rate can take advantage of SaveOnEnergy.com’s exclusive retail exchange portal, in which up to eight qualified electric companies compete for the customer’s business.  It’s a simple and hassle-free process that takes the work out of finding the lowest energy price.

SaveOnEnergy.com is taking it to the next level.  Currently, customers using the SaveOnEnergy.com commercial exchange portal enter some quick information about their business, and the information is instantly transmitted to up to eight competing energy suppliers, who then contact the customer directly with their lowest rates.  This dramatically cuts down on the time of fielding price quotes, and also removes the delay of using a middle man.  The process is not, however, instantaneous.  Today, energy suppliers need to evaluate the customer’s specific usage and location before being able to provide a price.  Compare this to how residential customers can shop for a lower electricity rate using SaveOnEnergy.com.  Residential customers, after entering their location, can instantly view specific electric rates from a host of pre-screened energy providers. 

This is because residential customers, with rare exception, have similar “load profiles,” which is a proxy used to determine during what hours of the day residential customers use electricity.  For most residential customers, with traditional electro-mechanical meters, their meter does not record when power was used, only their overall consumption.  Since electricity prices on the wholesale electric market vary every 15 minutes, a method is needed to determine when a residential customer’s usage actually occurred; hence, a load profile.  Since all residential customers in the same area have the same load profile, energy suppliers do not need unique customer information to generate price quotes; providers can provide “standing” offers for residential customers since all customers have the same load profile.

Things are more complicated for small businesses.  Like residential customers, small businesses typically do not have “interval” meters which record their hourly or 15-minute usage, meaning their power usage must be “settled” using a load profile.  However, unlike residential customers who generally use power in the same way (using the most in the afternoon), small businesses use power very differently depending on their type of business.  For that reason, there are many more rate classes into which a small business could be categorized, and each rate class may have its own unique load profile.  That makes things more complicated, and thus far has prevented suppliers from having “standing” offers for small business customers, because they need to know the customer’s load profile before generating a price quote.

While there are a variety of small business load profiles, the number is finite, and the trick is simply identifying it, so a price quote can be instantly generated.  That’s precisely the type of innovation SaveOnEnergy.com is working on to make the process of finding a low electric rate faster and simpler for small businesses.  As envisioned by the experts at SaveOnEnergy.com, there would be a set of “standing” small business electric rate offers on SaveOnEnergy.com based on a small business’ location and load profile, much like there are a host of “standing” residential electric offers based on the customer’s location.  All a small business customer would need to do is “select” their load profile, enter their location, and a list of low electric rates from a host of pre-screened electric companies would appear, with a variety of term lengths and value-adding features.  This will make shopping for a low electric rate using SaveOnEnergy.com even easier for small businesses, letting them compare offers directly and instantaneously, instead of having to wait for offers to come back from suppliers as is the case now.

With Texas electric rates the lowest that they’ve been in about a decade, now remains the perfect time to switch to a lower rate using SaveOnEnergy.com.  As we noted a few weeks ago, the spring (and fall) are the best time to shop for a lower electric rate because electric usage is lower in these “shoulder” months, since Texans are using less power with the mild temperatures.  With SaveOnEnergy.com, Texans can choose from among the premier energy providers in state, and find the plan that’s the best fit for them, opting for fixed-price security from 6 months or 12 months, all the way up to five years, or choosing a month-to-month rate for a lower price and to preserve the ability to switch risk free.

Choosing a short-term, such as 6 or 12 months, fixed rate is a good deal right now, with prices for both types of products in the 9 cents per kilowatt-hour range for many parts of the state, including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  Signing up with either a 6 or 12-month fixed rate plan will ensure customers lock in a low, fixed rate for the summer season, avoiding any potential spikes in prices accompanied by summer electricity demand driven by air conditioning usage.  These 6 and 12-month fixed plans are only about a penny per kilowatt-hour higher than the current variable rates, and are a wise pick for customers looking for budget certainty, while still offering substantial savings, as fixed rates are as low as they have ever been in Texas.

One drawback of the fixed rate contracts is that, like a cell phone contract, they carry an early termination fee for canceling the plan before its end date.  While all the electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com are vetted to ensure that they provide a great customer experience, customers shopping for the first time may want to test the waters before locking-in a contract with a new energy supplier for 12 months or longer.  In that case, SaveOnEnergy.com offers month-to-month plans that do not include any cancellation fee, giving customers the freedom to pick a new energy supplier if they want to try someone else or if prices go down and they want to save even more money.  Right now, these variable plans are the lowest rates in the Texas electric market, and are in the 8 cent range for most of Texas.  These variable rate plans offer the maxim savings now, but may rise in future months, especially in the summer as demand increases.  Still, these variable rates have been relatively stable in the past 18 months, and there is no indication that this summer should see variable rates go haywire, though nothing is guaranteed.

SaveOnEnergy.com also offers a product similar to the variable rate known as an “indexed’ product.  Like the variable rate, this product’s price changes monthly, but it only changes based on a known formula, like the price of natural gas, a major fuel source for electric power generation in Texas. 

For customers satisfied with today’s low rates, SaveOnEnergy.com offers the opportunity to lock in rates for even longer periods of time, like two years, and even up to five years.  These longer-term fixed rates cost a little bit more than 12-month rates, but are still reasonable, especially compared to prices just two years ago.  A 24-month fixed rate is in the 10 cent range for much of the state, a price that is one-third lower than the lowest priced rate from the middle of 2008.  The 24-month rate carries a small premium, but offers guaranteed price certainty and a historically low rate in the face of future unknown prices.  The five-year fixed price carries a larger premium because it goes so far out into the future.  However, it’s still in the 12 cent range, which is again a rate that would’ve been considered a steal 24 months ago.  Customers expecting a rise in prices in the long-term, due to economic recovery and inflation, may find that the five-year fixed rate is the best deal.

Aside from all the different contract lengths, SaveOnEnergy.com also offers a range of green electric products at a small premium, so you can help the environment while still saving money on your electric bill every month.

During last week’s KEMA executive forum in Irving, Texas — a gathering of thought leaders and movers and shakers in the retail energy industry — executives all called for more innovation — both technological and in customer service — to support the growth of retail energy choice in America.  With its unique connection to customers, providing them with a one stop shop to compare competing energy plans and find the lowest power rate, SaveOnEnergy.com is poised to be a driving force in making retail energy providers live up to their promises of innovation, and provide a better customer experience to energy consumers. 

Chris Weston, CEO of Direct Energy for just under a year, keynoted the KEMA conference by telling energy companies that they have to be, “better with the service we provide to our customers.”  Furthermore, to fend off opponents of choice in the energy industry, Weston stressed that energy providers must innovate.  “We are at an important point of inflexion for our industry, created by smart meters and environmental awareness and we must take advantage of this situation, cementing the benefits of competition and becoming more than a line on the bill,” Weston said.  If energy suppliers can not live up to the promise of better customer service and innovation, the industry risks backsliding in a return to the monopoly system, Weston said.

Thousands of energy consumers looking for a new energy supplier use SaveOnEnergy.com every month to compare not only rates, but value-adding product features like airline miles, rebates, and green energy.  However, SaveOnEnergy.com only lists the premier energy suppliers in the industry — companies that its experts have vetted and companies that customers can trust.  Gaining a listing on SaveOnEnergy.com, by proving its product is worthy to be considered by customers, is a top goal for energy providers looking to win more customers in a crowded and fragmented market.

That puts SaveOnEnergy.com in the position to represent customers and demand innovation from energy companies.  Much like Wal-Mart uses its thousands of stores and millions of customers to force vendors to be greener and more efficient with packaging and shipping as a condition of gaining access to Wal-Mart’s coveted shelf space, SaveOnEnergy.com similarly places high standards on suppliers for recommendation on its energy comparison website.

Right now, that means only energy suppliers with high levels of customer service, unique billing and payment options (online bill pay, credit card payments), and value-adding bonus features (airline miles, prepaid gift cards, green energy, etc.) are recommended.  In the future, as smart meters support more advanced products, it means only electric companies offering customers new ways to manage and lower their electric bills through energy efficiency, unique rate designs, and in-home monitoring devices will win SaveOnEnergy.com’s recommendation. 

Those energy companies that don’t innovate and don’t offer added value to customers won’t have access to SaveOnEnergy.com’s thousands of monthly shoppers.  This will force them to re-invent their products, come up with new ideas, and ultimately create a better customer experience in their efforts to win a listing on SaveOnEnergy.com and gain customers.  Additionally, bad actors who mistreat customers or don’t provide a good customer experience will be shuffled out of the industry quickly, as they will be barred by SaveOnEnergy.com, choking off their ability to find new customers and stay afloat.  SaveOnEnergy.com thus acts as a filter so only the best, most customer-friendly suppliers are able to find and win customers, rewarding these energy providers for their commitment to customers, and forcing other energy suppliers to strive to the same high levels of customer service.

Through SaveOnEnergy.com, Weston’s vision of an innovative and customer-responsive industry of energy companies offering customers the best services and the lowest rates can be reached.