Thousands of Texans have taken advantage of SaveOnEnergy.com to lock-in a low electric rate for 12, 18, or 24 months, if not longer.  However, because customers tend to “set it and forget it” when it comes to choosing an electric company, customers often forget when their low, fixed rate ends, exposing them to a higher price.

When a customer’s contract expires, the customer has the right to select any product or provider they desire.  However, if the customer isn’t keeping track of their contract, they may take no action, simply because they aren’t aware their contract is expiring.  If a customer doesn’t take any action when their contract expires, Texas electric providers have the right to place customers on the provider’s “default” rate.

These default rates can be much higher than both the customer’s current rate, and other rates in the market.  Worse, these default rates change month to month, and follow any price spikes seen in the energy market.

As noted by one Forth Worth Star-Telegram correspondent, these default rates can triple a customer’s electric bill.  One customer ended up with a $550 monthly electric bill, when their bill is normally less than $200, because their contract had expired, and their provider moved them to a default rate.

While Texas energy suppliers must notify customers of contract expiration, the notification process is not robust.  Suppliers are required to mail or email a contract expiration notice.  However, mailed notices often wind up with junk mail discarded by the customer, since the notice may be separate from the customer’s normal monthly bill.  Electric companies may also email customers a contract expiration notice, but customers may not be expecting such important legal information in their email inbox, and may have given their provider a secondary email address, for privacy and spam concerns, which they do not check often.  While electric suppliers must have a customer’s “consent” to send legal contract notices via email, such consent usually amounts to the supplier informing the customer, in the lengthy Terms Of Service which many customers do not read, that the customer automatically consents to email notice unless the customer objects.  Many customers are thus unaware they’ve unwittingly agreed to receive important contract notices via email.

This is why you need to check your energy rate every month, and compare it against prices in the market.  Fortunately, comparing energy rates takes only a few seconds using SaveOnEnergy.com.  All you need is your bill, which will state your energy rate listed as “the average price you paid for electric service this month,” or a similar description.  You can then go online to SaveOnEnergy.com, enter your zip code, and see the lowest electricity rates in Texas.  Determining if you’re paying too much for electricity can be done any time day or night, meaning there’s no excuse for not checking your energy rate.

However, so far this summer, Texas electric rates have remained low, meaning it’s still a great time to lock-in a low, secured fixed rate for electricity when you get that first summer power bill.  SaveOnEnergy.com is Texans’ one-stop shop for finding a low electric rate and comparing the different offers and options from energy suppliers.

Even though the weather has heated up, which typically pushes Texas electric rates higher, rates have remained relatively stable over the past two months, and the great deals that were available in the spring are still around.

Texas electric rates remain at historic lows because of reduced demand due to the recession, and a much lower price for natural gas, the main driver of Texas electric prices.  Last week, even as a heat wave boosted power consumption across much of the United States, natural gas prices were down another 6% as storage inventories continued to grow. 

This means great deals on electric rates are still available to Texans.  For example, customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex (at Oncor) can lock-in a low, fixed rate for electricity for just over 9¢ per kilowatt-hour.  In Houston (at CenterPoint), low fixed rates are available for just above 10¢ per kilowatt-hour, which is half of what the prevailing Texas electric rates were just two summers ago.  Customers need to lock-in a low electric rate now to take advantage of these historic low prices, and avoid any potential spike in Texas electric rates, such as the rates of more than 20¢ per kilowatt-hour seen during the summer of 2008.

If you’ve put off shopping for a low electric rate until seeing that first monster power bill of the summer, there’s still time to act.  SaveOnEnergy.com offers customers the fastest and easiest way to compare the lowest electric rates in Texas, allowing customers to save money on their power bills with just a few clicks of the mouse any time day or night.

But as going green becomes more popular among businesses, more and more people want to sell businesses green energy.  Not all of these green companies are bona fide, and may not be selling green energy whose renewable supply and offsets have been verified by third parties.  Other green energy providers are start-ups who haven’t been tested in the volatile energy industry yet, and lack the experience to manage a customer’s supply needs in a turbulent market.

SaveOnGreenEnergy.com ensures businesses find a reputable and experienced green energy provider, one that is offering true renewable energy supply or credits.  Founded and managed by energy industry experts with decades of experience, SaveOnGreenEnergy.com rigorously vets green energy suppliers to weed out the pretenders, and only recommends companies offering verified green energy who can stand behind their products.  By using SaveOnGreenEnergy.com, businesses can find a low rate for green energy while avoiding fly-by-night start-ups and other risky providers.

SaveOnGreenEnergy.com also ensures businesses find the lowest rate for green energy by pitting green energy suppliers in head to head competition.  Using the one-of-a-kind commercial exchange portal pioneered by its parent, SaveOnEnergy.com, only SaveOnGreenEnergy.com gives businesses the opportunity to get quotes for green energy rates from up to eight competing green energy providers, all with just a few clicks of the mouse.  SaveOnGreenEnergy.com takes the hard work out of finding a green energy provider, making going green simple for businesses looking to help the environment and save money in the process.

The risks from choosing the wrong electric supplier are not just hypothetical.  In other markets where electric competition has allowed customers to save money on their electric bills, there have been energy suppliers that have gone out of business, as can be expected in any market where competition is driving down prices and margins, and only the strong survive.

Pennsylvanians can not simply choose the lowest electric rate when shopping for an energy provider, tempting as that may be.  While a low price is important, customers need to be assured that their electric company can honor that price, whether it be for a short-term contract, or up to 12, 24 or 36 months.  If their energy supplier offers a low “teaser” rate, but can’t stand behind it and goes out of business due to mismanagement or risky plays in the electric markets, customers could be stuck paying extremely high rates for “default” service, which is the safety net service customers are automatically pushed to if their electric supplier goes out of business.  These default rates can be high and volatile, and for some large business customers, they can change every hour of the day, with changes in the wholesale electricity market.  These “hourly” prices can spike as high as thousands of dollars — or more than 10 times the normal price.

Businesses have been exposed to these punitive rates on several occasions in the competitive Texas electric market, particularly in 2008 when five electric providers defaulted and dropped customers to the safety net Provider of Last Resort, mainly due to poor risk management by the suppliers.  Pennsylvania customers must protect themselves against such dangers.  However, researching the 100 electric companies now competing in Pennsylvania would take hours and hours, adding up to weeks if not months.  Moreover, getting a good handle on the competency and capability of each energy supplier in Pennsylvania is a daunting task, as the electric industry is extremely complicated and technical, with limited information available publicly.

That’s where SaveOnEnergy.com can not only save Pennsylvania businesses thousands on their electric bill; SaveOnEnergy.com can also save businesses thousands in hours of research, allowing business owners to focus on what matters, helping their customers and running their businesses.  As noted last week, the experts at SaveOnEnergy.com screen all electric suppliers in the market using a rigorous criteria, including financial strength and management competence.  This includes investigating an energy supplier’s capitalization to ensure that it can weather volatile changes in the electric market; a supplier’s risk management and commodity purchasing strategies to ensure that the supplier is not taking risks with its customers’ money by playing the market; and a supplier’s leadership to ensure that they have a history of sound business decisions and have not broken contracts with customers in the past. 

By relying on the expertise of SaveOnEnergy.com to shop for a lower electric rate, Pennsylvania business customers can be assured that they will not be stranded on a high-priced “default” electric service because their supplier went out of business.  In this way, SaveOnEnergy.com not only provides customers with a low electric rate, but ensures this rate translates into real savings, and doesn’t vanish in just a few months because the supplier went out of business.

Many agents or brokers represent the interest of a single supplier, or perhaps two or three energy suppliers.  These energy suppliers are not necessarily chosen for their low rates or superior customer service; they are chosen because these suppliers will pay the broker the highest commission for any sales.  The broker thus acts less as an independent matchmaker, and more as a supplier’s solicitor, with little difference from being an employee of that energy provider.

SaveOnEnergy.com is different.  Instead of a broker acting as a sales arm of an energy supplier, SaveOnEnergy.com instead provides a platform where energy providers compete directly for your business.  SaveOnEnergy.com does not represent any supplier’s interest, and therefore can offer the lowest rates, but, just as importantly, can also recommend the most reputable and financially sound energy companies.

SaveOnEnergy.com rigorously screens all the electric companies on its exchange portal, to ensure only the best suppliers which provide high levels of value and customer service are recommended to customers.  The energy industry experts at SaveOnEnergy.com vet all suppliers in the market to weed out shaky or fly-by-night operators that don’t have the wherewithal to survive the volatile energy market.  SaveOnEnergy.com also rejects suppliers that don’t value their customers, and have a high rate of complaints or poor levels of customer service.

To ensure that customers find the most respected energy providers, SaveOnEnergy.com applies its demanding criteria to all energy providers in the market, scrutinizing suppliers on numerous factors such as pricing, plan features, payment options, customer services, business ethics, and financial stability.  Specific criteria include, but are not limited to:

Pricing

• Competitive pricing
• Consistent price savings
• Fixed rates and month-to-month options

Experienced Leadership

• Proven financial stability
• Established and trustworthy management team with significant industry experience

Quality Billing System

• Billing accuracy
• Easy to read invoices with no ’small print’
• Usage and rates that are clearly displayed on the bill
• Online account management
• Paperless billing
• Payment options include credit card, automatic bank draft, online or payment by phone
• Bill payment assistance and payment plans

By applying these metrics to potential electric suppliers, SaveOnEnergy.com provides a peace of mind unavailable from other agents in the Pennsylvania energy market, and ensures that customers find not just a low rate, but an electric company that will stand behind it.

Starting January 1, 2011, business customers at PECO, Met-Ed, Penelec, and West Penn Power (Allegheny Power) are likely to see electric rate increases as high as 30% if they stay with their utility for their electric supply.  Fortunately, with competition among new alternative energy companies, businesses can lower their electric bills and save thousands, if not millions, each year. 

With the impending end of rate caps at these utilities, over 50 new sales channels, many of them start-ups, are marketing electric supplies to customers.  They all promise lower rates, but many of these sales agents work with only one supplier, or only a handful of preferred suppliers that provide these agents with higher commissions.  It means customers aren’t assured of getting an impartial analysis and may not receive the lowest rates.

SaveOnEnergy.com is different.  Only SaveOnEnergy.com offers business customers the chance to get competing electric rate quotes from up to eight screened and reputable energy providers, ensuring that competition drives the customer’s electric rate lower.  All business customers have to do is take a few minutes to enter their information on SaveOnEnergy.com’s commercial exchange portal, and the information is instantly transmitted to the competing energy suppliers, who then develop customized low rates and contact the customer directly.  Because the electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com know they are competing against seven other energy suppliers, they are forced to provide their lowest rate to the customer, with no padded margin or profit.  Other electric brokers working with fewer energy providers can’t provide the same low rates because there’s less competition for your business.  Furthermore, these other brokers may not bid your electric load individually, and instead may only quote a more expensive “standing offer” that the energy supplier provides to them to solicit business.  This all means using another broker to choose an electric company will end up costing you more money than using SaveOnEnergy.com to make energy suppliers compete for your business.

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.

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.

It’s simply another reason why customers are better off getting help in choosing the lowest electric rate, by relying on an industry expert like SaveOnEnergy.com.

During a recent PUCT open meeting, Commissioner Donna Nelson noted that some smaller electric providers in Texas are simultaneously marketing under several names.  The use of multiple names can confuse customers and frustrate their efforts to check an energy supplier’s track record, complaint history, and compliance, Nelson said.  Ultimately, the use of multiple trade names can hinder a customer’s understanding of what company is truly trying to sell them power.

There are legitimate reasons why an electric company may want to use one or two “assumed” names in marketing electricity.  For example, the company might be part of a larger conglomerate whose name otherwise does not connote their presence in the electric industry.  Another example is that an electric company may want to differentiate one of its product lines –such as renewable energy service or prepaid service — by branding not only that product with a unique name, but by offering the product exclusively under a different trade name.

Unfortunately, there are also less legitimate reasons for an energy supplier to use multiple assumed names.  As cited by the PUCT, using multiple names, or frequently changing names, could be used to distance an electric company from a history of complaints or a bad public image.  Certainly, there are examples of such actions in other industries.  Although not completely analogous (since it involved a merger and change in corporate structure and not simply the creation of a new assumed name), the rise of the brand AirTran, in place of the much-maligned ValuJet, is a prime example of a company seeking to shed baggage associated with an old name.

Customers, however, can avoid being duped by multiple trade names by using SaveOnEnergy.com, a trusted industry expert, to find the lowest electric rate.  SaveOnEnergy.com’s experts diligently research and screen all energy providers, and track each different supplier’s trade and assumed names.  Only reputable electric companies with proven tracks records of providing customers with low rates and high levels of customer service are recommended by SaveOnEnergy.com, so customers don’t have to worry about whether their electric supplier is just a shell company for another provider trying to hide its history.

There are over 100 energy suppliers in the Texas electric market, about 30 of which are marketing to residential customers.  “They’re not all created equal,” Roylance explained, even though the Public Utility Commission of Texas strengthened some rules for certification of energy companies last year.

Still, the Texas electric market has some energy suppliers which have stronger financial backing, and some that have higher levels of customer service.  While comparing the hundreds of offers listed on some electric rate comparison websites is not always easy for customers shopping for a low electric rate, it’s child’s play compared to the arduous task of performing due diligence before signing up with an electric company once you find a rate you’re comfortable with (things like checking the company’s financials, its complaint rate, its customer service, etc).  Much of this information is not easily accessible, and the information consumers can find may still be confusing due to the use of multiple names by certain electric companies.

That’s where SaveOnEnergy.com fills a gap for consumers, Roylance said. 

SaveOnEnergy.com is continuously vetting its energy providers every day, so customers can be sure that a provider listed on SaveOnEnergy.com is a reputable and competent provider.

SaveOnEnergy.com acts as a filter, weeding out the pretenders, and only providing customers with the best prices and best values from the best electric companies.

“We turn down more retailers than we accept, not only because they may not meet what we believe are the right thresholds to understanding the market, but also because they’re just not differentiated in their product,” Roylance explained.  If SaveOnEnergy.com already has a wealth of competing low-priced fixed rates, for example, Roylance said that adding another rate from a supplier that has done nothing to distinguish itself or add value for customers only creates more clutter for the customer.  Instead, SaveOnEnergy.com tells suppliers to come back with better offers, either lower prices, or some added benefit customers can receive for signing up, so customers can maximize their energy dollar.

Although SaveOnEnergy.com provides customers with an easy to use filter to find the lowest electric rates, Roylance said that there is still a “huge education gap” in customers’ understanding of electric competition.

That’s why SaveOnEnergy.com isn’t just a filter, but an advocate for customers in dealing with the energy companies — not only in getting customers a low electric rate, but in making sure the electric company lives up to its deal.

“We play a role in helping customers understand the market.  On the front end, by making the offers comparative, and on the back end, by making sure that customers are getting what they bought,” Roylance said.