Texans are seeing it across the state — falling energy prices , which means it’s a good time to shop for a new electricity rate for your home.

The statewide average for regular self-serve has fallen to $3.64/gallon, with prices in Houston falling 11¢ over the week to $3.60. It’s all because oil has dropped about $30 per barrel in the last month, and recently closed at under $114/barrel.

It also means Texas electric rates are sliding, and energy suppliers are offering their cheapest rates in months. Customers can find the cheapest electric rates at SaveOnEnergy.com , which makes electricity shopping a hassle-free breeze for residential customers, offering easy to understand comparisons of the best electric rates .

In the Dallas area, customers can lock-in a 12-month fixed price with MXenergy for just 14.2¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is anywhere from 10-20% lower than prevailing prices from June and July.

Dallas customers concerned that prices will keep falling have two good short-term options that will give customers price certainty for a short period of time, while serving as a bridge to the fall or winter when prices may be lower.

Cirro Energy’s "Smart Lock" six-month plan is only 14.1¢/kWh and is the cheapest Dallas area rate on SaveOnEnergy.com . Green Mountain Energy also offers a three-month plan for only 14.9¢ which gives customers the added benefit of pollution free power. Customers looking for a bonus with their electricity plan can choose Gexa Energy’s 12-month plan for only 15.3¢, which allows customers to earn either American Airlines or Continental Airlines frequent flyer miles simply for using electricity .

In Houston, Cirro’s "Smart Lock" six-month plan is the same price as in Dallas, just 14.1¢/kWh. The cheapest 12-month offer for Houston is 15.4¢/kWh, offered by both Cirro and MXenergy. That’s a big drop from 12-month price certainty plans that were in the 17-18¢ range just a month ago. Green Mountain’s three-month pollution free product is 15.9¢/kWh in Houston, while Gexa’s 12-month plan with bonus airline miles is 16.5¢.

Aside from giving customers a cheaper electric rate , the best part about SaveOnEnergy.com is that customers know they’ll be safe from losing their energy provider , which happened to about 40,000 customers who were buying from less stable firms earlier this summer.

But SaveOnEnergy.com only recommends financially robust electric companies with proven track records of excellent customer service and support. Customers can shop with peace of mind knowing they’re buying from fully vetted energy providers that aren’t going to leave them stranded.

Just last week, for example, Cirro Energy was bought by Dominion Retail , an electric company with operations in 12 states and 1.7 million customers, further strengthening Cirro’s position. All of the energy suppliers on SaveOnEnergy.com are similarly robust and reputable companies, and Texans can be sure they’re picking the right energy provider . Electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com also ranked highly in a new customer satisfaction survey by J.D. Power, with Green Mountain and Gexa taking two of the top spots.

Nearly two weeks of consecutive 100-degree days have put even greater strain on Texans facing mounting electricity bills. While some parts of the state have gotten a small reprieve (with temperatures "only" in the 97-99 degree range), remember it’s only the first week of August, and folks are already making comparisons to the late summer scorcher of 2006, and the record-setting 1998.

That means there’s still time to shop around for a cheaper electric rate before the summer ends, and SaveOnEnergy.com is the easiest way to do it.

However, some Texas business owners are seeing bills more than double what they paid a year ago, despite using about the same amount of electricity, because their rate when up dramatically. It shows the need to do your homework when shopping for an energy provider, or better yet, have someone find the best rate for you.

As reported in the McAllen Monitor , Benny Rodriguez Jr., who runs Bob Stark’s Beef Shop, saw bills for the meat market more than double because his variable electric rate spiked on 10 days in May and June. He wasn’t alone. Across Texas, small businesses with certain electricity plans have seen rates jump from 9¢ to as high as 25¢, and it’s time to find a better deal.

Most of the businesses seeing the big jump were paying a variable rate, often times on a product indexed to the wholesale price of power in the state, called the Market Clearing Price for Energy (MCPE). Under the rules of the market, the MCPE can rise as high as $2.25 per kilowatt-hour, which is about 20 times what used to be the average rate paid by customers (11-12¢ per kilowatt-hour) earlier this year. In other words, businesses looking to avoid huge jumps in their electric bills want to insulate themselves from the MCPE by locking-in a fixed rate.

And fortunately, electric rates are actually falling right now, because world natural gas and oil markets have receded. Texas electric rates for commercial customers are about 20% cheaper than they were a month ago, making it a good time to lock-in a manageable rate.

But where can a Texas business owner go to find the best rate with so much clutter in the market? SaveOnEnergy.com offers businesses a one-stop shop for all their energy information and solutions. More importantly, SaveOnEnergy.com’s one-of-a-kind commercial retail exchange portal frees customers from time consuming efforts to locate and research competing electric companies and solicit bids for their energy usage. Instead, with one click of the mouse, SaveOnEnergy.com allows business owners to get quotes from eight energy suppliers competing head-to-head to win the customer’s business. SaveOnEnergy.com’s clearinghouse puts business owners in the driver’s seat, and also allows businesses to request customized and different types of products so they can compare different plans, and choose the best electricity rate for their business.

Texans are paying the highest electricity bills they have ever paid, and the worst may be yet to come with hotter August temperatures right around the corner. Although energy prices have eased slightly, oil is still above $128 per barrel. Natural gas hit a three-month low last week, but is still hovering around $10.50 per million British thermal unit, nearly double the price last year. In other words, any relief from energy prices isn’t going to come quickly.

Hotter temperatures compared with last year’s unseasonably mild summer have sent customers’ electric bills soaring. Because last year was so cool, with less need for power-draining air conditioning, Texans are seeing 30%, 40% or even 50% jumps in their monthly electricity usage, pushing their bills even higher. Combining this increased usage with higher electric rates just makes things worse.

It’s caught some Texans by surprise, as temperatures across the state reached 100 (with even higher heat indexes) in the past few days, while the 100 degree mark wasn’t hit until August last year. It doesn’t help that the heat has been "sneaky," as the Dallas Morning News put it, meaning in June Texans saw long stretches of very hot weather in the high 90s, but no headline-grabbing heat waves that got consumers thinking about their air conditioning use, and the impact on their power bills.

The heat, of course, makes attempts to cut back on power use to offset higher electricity rates more difficult, since air conditioning is simply a necessity for many customers. But even if customers are forced to run their air conditioners, SaveOnEnergy.com still offers some energy saving tips to make air conditioners work more efficiently, and save you money. Simple steps to make air conditioners more efficient include cleaning filters and coils, and providing shade for A.C. units (check this link for specific tips).

High bills also get customers thinking about their energy provider, and whether they could save money with someone else. SaveOnEnergy.com has the answer for customers, and gives Texans a quick and simple way to compare electricity rates. The lesson from the past few months, when some 45,000 Texans lost their electric company, is that you can’t go it alone in choosing something as important and complex as electricity. SaveOnEnergy.com breaks it down for customers using simple comparisons, giving customers one-click access to compare energy prices and special product features, such as airline bonus miles, bill credits, gift certificates and convenient payment options. Just as important, SaveOnEnergy.com only recommends reputable energy suppliers that won’t leave the Texas market and strand customers on high electric rates. That can give customers piece of mind that when they find cheap electricity rates on SaveOnEnergy.com, they know electric companies will stand behind them.

Texans who can shop for lower electricity prices through sites like SaveOnEnergy.com may not know it, but not everyone in the state can choose their own energy supplier.

The benefits of that freedom to choose were evident last week, when, right before Independence Day, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) saddled Northeast Texas customers with a bill for $500 million to pay for a new power plant for SWEPCO, the monopoly electric company in that region. Customers in the SWEPCO territory can’t broadly choose their own energy provider, can’t benefit from customized, lower pricing, and can’t avoid the hefty bill the state’s regulators just handed them. Since customers can’t choose, it means they have to pay for any power plants SWEPCO builds with state approval, even if the plants turn out to be bad investments or more costly than other alternatives.

The new SWEPCO power plant has been the subject of great debate. Many customers, such as industrial users, argue the plant is too expensive and isn’t needed.

"We are clearly disappointed by the commission’s ruling and concerned about the impact it will have on Northeast Texas ratepayers," said Eric Bearse of the consumer group Texas Electric Ratepayers Alliance.

Even the PUC, in approving the plant, raised concerns about potential cost overruns that could leave customers footing the bill for a dinosaur if technical innovations or carbon regulation make the coal-fired power plant obsolete.

But for most Texans, these concerns are a thing of the past. In the 1990s, the PUC stopped guaranteeing profits for electric companies in most of the state by opening the area known as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to competition. ERCOT covers about 75% of Texas’ land area, and includes the utilities Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas Central, AEP Texas North, Texas New Mexico Power and Sharyland. If you’re a customer of one of these utilities, it means you have the power to choose your energy supplier, and have been freed from the burden of guaranteeing profits for power plants.

It also means independent electric companies are competing head to head for your business, which means savings for you.

SaveOnEnergy.com offers customers a quick, reliable and hassle-free way to check out these competing offers, and assure themselves that they’re getting the best deal.

Residential customers can simply select their area and see a list of the best offers out there, with SaveOnEnergy.com highlighting the best deals. From the comfort of their home, anytime of day or night, customers can shop around for cheap electricity prices. Many of the electricity products on SaveOnEnergy.com include valuable bonuses for customers, such as airline miles, gift certificates, cash-back offers, and bill credits. Texans can also choose to help the environment by picking from a selection of renewable and green electricity products.

Business customers get access to SaveOnEnergy.com’s unique commercial retail exchange portal which pits eight energy suppliers against each other to give each business the best rate possible. Rather than having to call a bunch of different energy providers for quotes, business owners can submit their information just once to SaveOnEnergy.com and compare up to eight electricity prices to find the cheapest rate. It couldn’t be easier.

And, with another electric company leaving the market last week, customers can rest easy that SaveOnEnergy.com screens its energy suppliers so only those which are financially robust and reliable are listed. It’s piece of mind customers can’t find when going it alone.

All this is possible because customers in the ERCOT region aren’t tied to specific power plants, and aren’t forced to pay a specific rate of return to a power plant owner. For customers at SWEPCO, this freedom is going to take a bit longer to attain.

Even though the Public Utility Commission and the state’s grid operator are rushing to fix problems that have caused Texas electricity rates to soar, the changes aren’t guaranteed to bring lower prices, and may even carry unintended consequences that still result in high electric rates for customers who haven’t locked-in a fixed price.

While the news is filled with reports about regulators trying to calm the wholesale market, Texas businesses should remember that even with the changes, the wholesale electricity price will still be designed so that, at times, it hits $2,250 per Megawatt-hour, or about 30 times higher what may be considered a "normal" price. All that means is that businesses should still be looking for fixed-price deals to avoid summer price spikes and volatility to avoid being left open to anymore unexpected turmoil in the wholesale market.

Last week proved again that as businesses shop for a good fixed rate, they need an expert to help them avoid picking an unreliable or unhealthy energy provider. Riverway Power became the fourth electric company to fail, stranding over 6,000 customers on high-priced Provider of Last Resort rates. Some 40,000 customers of four different energy suppliers have shared that fate, exposing them to prices as high as 30¢ per kilowatt-hour, or nearly triple the average rate.

High electricity rates and market turmoil make the commercial retail exchange program at SaveOnEnergy.com more important to businesses than ever. Not only does it pit eight electric companies against each other to save businesses money on their electricity bill, SaveOnEnergy.com only uses qualified, financially sound energy providers , so customers won’t make the mistake of choosing an energy supplier that is forced to declare bankruptcy.

Even if the Public Utility Commission fixes the problem of unprecedented prices in the wholesale market, the summer still promises to see extremely high prices. The Market Clearing Price for Energy (MCPE), or spot market price, will still be allowed to rise to $2,250/Megawatt-hour, meaning customers who buy on the spot market will be exposed to wild price swings, as the spot market price normally falls around $50, with $100 considered a high price seen at peak times. All the factors driving high electricity prices remain — record natural gas and oil prices, hotter weather, increased electricity demand, and a congested power grid. What regulators are doing is making sure prices don’t go above the $2,250 cap, which has happened because of some quirks in the system. But that’s still a high and volatile price.

And the question of unintended consequences looms as well. The solution being considered by regulators is a highly complex, complicated mechanism. While it might fix one problem, some industry experts have questioned whether it will transfer high costs from one area to another, in affecting the value of so-called "Transmission Congestion Rights," or instruments that protect power marketers from paying certain costs when the grid is overloaded. A few industry experts are blaming a little-debated March decision concerning the wholesale market "shadow price," or price arising from congestion, for the spot market prices in excess of $4,000 that have caused the turmoil. It just shows how in a system as complex and interdependent as an electricity market, one small change can wind up having big consequences. The price protection offered from fixed-price electricity products is more appealing than ever in light of this uncertainty.

Through SaveOnEnergy.com’s commercial exchange, Texas businesses can find the cheapest electricity available while getting a product that fits their needs and risk appetite. The custom energy prices available through SaveOnEnergy.com can fix all or part of a business’s electric usage at a fixed price to give the business budget certainty.

Last week showed the dangers of choosing an energy provider without some qualified assistance, and why it’s essential customers get some help from a company like SaveOnEnergy.com before making an uninformed decision.

National Power Company of Houston did the unthinkable and tried to raise rates for customers on fixed-price contracts, citing a buried “material change” clause in customers’ contracts.

Customers who thought they were guaranteed a good rate of about 11¢ per kilowatt-hour shockingly started getting letters saying National Power was going to jack up the rate to 15.3¢, even though customers believed they had signed for a fixed price for as long as 18 months.

After customer outrage, the Texas Public Utility Commission pulled National Power’s listing from the state’s electric choice website, and started an investigation.

The experience – unfortunately not the first of its kind in Texas – shows the dangers of just picking the cheapest offer available in the market, regardless of provider.

With nearly 30 electric companies competing for residential customers (and about 100 for business customers), customers face a mountain of complex contracts and “Terms of Service” documents filled with legalese and technical jargon even some industry expects don’t understand.

That means customers need help when sifting through all the clutter to determine what really are the best deals.

SaveOnEnergy.com offers just such a service, blasting through the promises and marketing to give customers the best handful of products from a certified list of energy providers .

The experts at SaveOnEnergy.com vet each energy supplier to make sure each is consistent and honest with pricing, is highly regarded with strong business ethics and is financially stable.Only the best make the cut.

The energy suppliers on SaveOnEnergy.com aren’t going to pull a fast one on customers by trying to break a fixed-price contract.They’re reputable energy providers with a strong record in the marketplace that will be around for a long time.

It’s tough for customers to judge an energy provider themselves.The Public Utility Commission doesn’t publish complaint statistics, while local better business bureaus may have incomplete complaint info on energy providers .

That’s why it’s risky for consumers to just look at a list of prices and make a decision.Some of the electric companies offering the lowest prices are also the least known.

SaveOnEnergy.com takes the guesswork out of choosing an energy provider and gives customers peace of mind.It also offers a variety of products to fit customer needs, from renewable products to plans including airlines miles or gift cards, as well as different term lengths to offer customers the level of price certainty they desire.

While National Power has since backed down and promised to honor the 11¢ rates, its customers aren’t out of the woods yet.National Power obviously had a reason to raise rates while risking the ire of customers, and now it won’t be getting that extra income.

In the past, many marginal electric companies have been hurt by wild swings or increases in natural gas prices like the spikes we’ve seen recently, especially if they have tried to offer lower prices by gambling on fuel prices.Consumers may remember names like Texas Commercial Energy, Ampro Energy, Utility Choice Electric or Ideal Energy – all of which went out of business.

What happens to customers when their energy supplier goes out of business?They are switched to a company called the “Provider of Last Resort” (POLR).The problem is, the POLRs charge an extremely high price for this “backstop” service, because they never know when they might be required to serve new customers.POLR prices are based on high, volatile wholesale electricity prices plus a premium, and are severely penal to consumers.That’s why customers want to avoid being switched to a POLR at all costs.

What this means for National Power customers is that while they might feel good about keeping their 11¢ rate, they need to start thinking about National Power’s viability.If National Power was trying to raise prices because it couldn’t cover its costs to buy wholesale power, it might be facing a crunch in making regulated credit or other financial obligations required to trade power and function in the market.If National Power ultimately can’t meet those obligations, customers will still wind up losing their 11¢ rate, and be transferred to the highest price in the market: POLR rates.

No one can say if that’s likely to happen, but customers need to weigh their risks.If National Power can’t survive in the market, customers might be better off switching to another fixed-rate with a more reputable electric company now at 12¢ or 13¢, rather than waiting a few months only to see National Power go out of business, and leave customers scrambling to find a replacement deal during the height of summer, when fixed-prices might cost 15¢, 16¢ or even 17-18¢.

While electricity rates have jumped because of rapid rises in natural gas and oil costs, customers in some parts of Texas can still get a good deal.Residential customers in the Texas New Mexico Power utility area can still get a one-year, fixed price of 11.9¢ on SaveOnEnergy.com from Gexa Energy, while the same product costs 12.3¢ for customers living in the AEP Texas North area (Abilene). For Dallas area customers in the Oncor region, the cheapest one-year fixed offer on SaveOnEnergy.com is 13.5¢ from Direct Energy.Prices are higher for the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, but SaveOnEnergy.com still has several one-year, fixed-price offers from energy providers under 15¢ in each area.

Texas businesses buying electricity in today’s climate of high energy prices face a tough question: is now the right time to lock-in a price, or are high prices temporary, and is a better deal just a few months away?

For customers willing to accept a bit of risk in the short-term, Texas energy suppliers offer a product that lets customers ride the market, and avoid the prospect of locking-in a high price, only to see electricity rates fall a month later.

It’s called buying on the Market Clearing Price for Energy, or MCPE for short, and essentially means the customer accepts the floating wholesale price for electricity in Texas , rather than locking-in a fixed price for a set term.

While the mechanics of MCPE can be a bit complicated, finding an MCPE plan isn’t. Eight energy providers are waiting to compete and offer their best MCPE product to customers through SaveOnEnergy.com , whose unique commercial portal lets customers receive competing bids for their power needs through just one click of the mouse.

The basic principle behind MCPE is that the customer is never out of the market, and is never paying more for power than what they could get that day. This allows a customer to test the market, and watch prices before choosing a long-term deal. If the customer thinks prices are currently too high, and expects them to fall in a month or two, then buying on MCPE lets the customer wait before locking-in a better term deal for electricity .

However, the MCPE product is not without risks. First, there is no guarantee that prices will go down, and waiting to buy a term product may increase the eventual price paid under the term deal. Second, the MCPE can be volatile given the nature of the wholesale market, and does expose customers to the potential of very high price spikes.

The Texas wholesale electricity market is run by an organization called ERCOT, and a new price for power, the MCPE, is set every 15 minutes, based on the interaction of buyers and sellers. The MCPE varies greatly throughout the day, and is typically lower when people are using less power (such as nighttime), and higher when people are using more electricity (such as during the late afternoon). The MCPE can also spike for short periods of time when there is a shortage of power, just like how gasoline or food prices can sharply rise when there is not enough supply. Customers buying electricity at a fixed price avoid these risks, but buying on MCPE means the customer could pay much higher prices at certain times.

Energy suppliers offering an MCPE product typically price it at the wholesale MCPE plus a “retail adder.” The adder covers the provider’s overhead costs, and also some “ancillary” electricity costs at the wholesale level which aren’t counted in MCPE. The adder is essentially what differentiates each provider’s MCPE product, and is what electric companies compete on.

Depending on the energy supplier and the product the customer wants, the customer could receive a bill based on true MCPE calculated every 15 minutes, or a daily, weekly or monthly average of the MCPE.

Texas electricity providers offer a suite of customized MCPE products as well. For example, if a customer wants to ride the market for a bit, but wants to be protected from a price spike that’s too high, energy suppliers can build a “trigger” into the MCPE product. The trigger allows the customer to move to fixed-pricing at certain times or under certain conditions, such as a price point. Such a product protects customers against abnormal spikes in the MCPE, which may be caused by a power plant or transmission line outage, while still letting them ride the market.

Buying on MCPE comes down to a customer’s risk appetite, and the best way to judge MCPE products is by comparing different options from competing suppliers. The quickest way to get eight quotes from vetted, reputable energy suppliers is to use SaveOnEnergy.com’s online commercial portal, which allows business owners to shop for power on their schedules and at their convenience.

Business owners can simply enter their monthly bill payment on SaveOnEnergy.com and tell the suppliers that they’re interested in an MCPE product, and the eight energy suppliers will compete head to head for the customer’s business. Electricity providers will contact the customer directly with their best offers, putting the customer in charge.

As energy prices continue this year’s trend of going up, up and up, Texas residents who haven’t locked-in their electricity price yet may want to do so before rates start rising appreciably, and a website like SaveOnEnergy.com makes things clear and simple for new electric shoppers comparing offers for the first time.

Last summer, electric customers were wise to shop for short-term deals because natural gas was hovering in the $6/mmbtu range. But by the start of 2008, the price of natural gas had crept up to around $8, and now it’s trading near $10. It’s part of a rising tide of energy prices that saw the average statewide Texas gasoline price hit yet another record to end the week, with one gallon of regular unleaded hitting $3.214.

Texas power prices are closely correlated to natural gas prices, because 70% of the electricity used to power the state’s main grid comes from power plants burning natural gas. That means when natural gas costs more, the electricity produced from it tends to cost more as well.

Energy suppliers that sell power to residential customers at the retail level try to hold back any increase for as long as possible, because they’re afraid someone else will come and undercut them, stealing their customers.

That gives customers a chance to buy before higher gas prices force electricity suppliers to raise their rates, and right now is one of those times.

Competition has thus far mitigated any serious rise in Texas electric rates as natural gas prices have jumped, but suppliers may not be able to hold the line much longer.

It’s especially important to shop around on a site like SaveOnEnergy.com if you’ve never switched from your “incumbent” provider, or the electric company you’ve always bought power from. You could be paying much more for power than you need to, without a guarantee your price won’t go up soon because of higher natural gas prices.

For example, if you live in Houston and have always bought from Reliant Energy, you may still be paying over 15¢ for electricity, or more, without the guarantee that your prices won’t go up in the next 12 to 24 months.

SaveOnEnergy.com provides customers a simple way to check electricity prices and see whether locking-in a fixed rate is a good idea for them right now, and brings the best and most innovative products right to customers’ computer screens. Right now, energy suppliers competing on the website are offering products with special features and bonuses, such as airline miles, gift cards and bill credit coupons, plus additional convenience services, such as online or credit card billing. All you have to do is take a look at the comparisons and decide which supplier is right for you.

For example, despite rising gas prices, customers in the Houston area can still choose from among four fixed-priced plans under or at 15¢/kWh on SaveOnEnergy.com, from providers that have been vetted and scrutinized by the website. Not only would you save money on these plans compared to the old Reliant price, but you’d also be guaranteed that your prices wouldn’t go up over a fixed period of time, either 12 months or 24 months — no matter how high gas prices climb.

TXU Energy is offering the lowest fixed-price plan on SaveOnEnergy.com in the Houston area, at 14.2¢/kWh locked-in for 12 months. New customers also get a $50 Bill Credit Coupon for switching to TXU.

Gexa’s Guaranteed Plan may be one of the most popular products because of its additional bonus — frequent flyer miles on American Airlines or Continental Airlines. Customers earn either 2,000 American Advantage or Continental One Pass frequent flyer miles just for choosing Gexa, which is offering a fixed-price of 14.7¢/kWh for 12 months. Customers on the plan also earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on electricity every month and can pay via American Express, MasterCard, and Visa for convenience.

In the Houston area, Cirro Energy is offering its Smart Pass 12 product at 14.4¢/kWh for one year. In addition to the low, fixed price, Cirro offers online billing, payment by credit card, or by bank draft or telephone. No deposit is required for qualified customers, making switching a hassle-free process.

Customers wanting price protection for a longer period can sign up for Commerce Energy’s Sure Choice Plus All-In Rate of 15.0¢/kWh, which gives customers the peace of mind of a fixed price for 24 months.

Each of those products is available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area too, for customers of Oncor Electric Delivery, at slightly different prices.

For the DFW area, Cirro Energy’s Smart Pass 12 product, which gives customers a fixed price of 13.2¢/kWh for a year, is SaveOnEnergy.com’s top pick.

Gexa Energy’s Guaranteed Plan with its airline miles bonus is 13.8¢/kWh for 12 months in Dallas. Gexa also offers a 100% pollution-free wind product that includes all the airline mile benefits for just a bit more money, 14.2¢/kWh. The price is locked-in for one year.

Dallas customers wanting additional price protection can sign up for a two-year deal from Commerce Energy at 13.7¢/kWh.

SaveOnEnergy.com offers customers in the Corpus Christi, Abilene, and Texas New Mexico Power areas the chance to enroll in the price protection products as well.

One of the best deals statewide may be Commerce Energy’s Sure Choice Plus All-In Rate that’s fixed for two years at only 11.1¢/kWh for customers of utility AEP Texas North, including customers in the Abilene area. If you live in that region and have never chosen an energy supplier, you could be paying more than $50 too much every month by not shopping, if you’re still paying the old rate of 16.6¢/kWh.

Gexa Energy’s Guaranteed Plan, with its initial 2,000 airline bonus miles, costs only 11.9¢/kWh for customers in the Texas New Mexico Power area, a great value considering customers who have never picked a supplier could be paying over 14¢/kWh without getting any special bonuses.

But since everyone likes something different, your best bet is to check out SaveOnEnergy.com’s complete list of offerings for your service area, so you can choose what features are most important to you: lowest price, renewable power, bonuses such as airline miles or bill rebates, alternate payment methods, and so on. It’s easy to do, all you have to do is select your utility area, and you’re ready to start saving money every month on your electric bill.