ERCOT, the organization that runs the state’s electric gird, reported that customer switches to different electric companies were up "significantly" in June, an indication that customers reacted to higher June prices and shopped around for better deals. Customer switches reached 80,000 for the month, nearly double the total from May.

With prices now falling, it’s an even better time to shop, and this month’s numbers should exceed even June’s levels.

Additionally, ERCOT reported that 43% of residential customers have switched away from their old legacy provider, known as the Affiliated REP or AREP, as of June 30, 2008. That’s an increase from 39% a year ago. The AREPs are the companies like TXU, Reliant, CPL, WTU and First Choice Power that customers had been on before choice began, although sometimes under different names (like Houston Light & Power).

While the number of customers shopping for a better electric rate than that offered by their AREP is increasing, a majority of Texans are leaving money on the table by sticking with their AREP, even though they now have a choice for cheaper electric rates.

Two of the biggest reasons customers often cite for not switching, even when there are cheaper deals out there, is that shopping is confusing, and that they trust their AREP more than some of the new electric companies.

Fortunately, the online comparison website SaveOnEnergy.com has answered both of these concerns, and makes shopping for the best electric rate simple and pain free, while assuring customers that only high-quality, reputable energy providers are listed.

SaveOnEnergy.com culls through the hundreds of residential offers in the market to pick only the best deals, ranking companies on price, customer service, payment options, and bonus features like airline miles or rebates. SaveOnEnergy.com’s unique portal breaks down the offers into easy to understand comparisons, showing customers the rate as well as additional features of each offer, so customers can make a quick and easy comparison of the best offers.

Customers can also rest easy that the energy provider they choose through SaveOnEnergy.com will be reputable, financially secure, and won’t suddenly leave the market and strand customers. The energy suppliers vetted by SaveOnEnergy.com are every bit as reliable and dependable as the old AREPs, and in some cases, more so, with extended customer service hours and online service options. In fact, one of the old AREPs, First Choice Power, is considering selling its business, which means customers could be transferred to another provider.

In a quickly evolving Texas electric market, being with the AREP doesn’t give customers any additional security, and the electric companies on SaveOnEnergy.com are just as competent and stable and ready to provide dependable service at cheaper rates. With SaveOnEnergy.com vetting every aspect of their recommended energy suppliers, customers no longer have to pass up savings because they’re afraid of leaving their AREP.

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.

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.

Now, August is normally the busiest time of the year for the sales and customer service departments at most Texas energy providers. It’s when customers start really shopping around for a cheaper electric rate after having received higher bills from summer air conditioning use. So getting the attention of an electric company to get a custom price quote or help you switch is normally a little bit tougher now than during any other time of the year.

But this year it’s even more difficult as energy providers have built up a backlog of customer requests for a couple of reasons. First, with record prices, energy suppliers are naturally getting more customer service calls from consumers angry about their bills. Second, higher bills have prompted customers, especially business owners looking for a custom price, to search out a cheaper rate, which has taxed the sales staff at many energy suppliers who are having to produce many more price quotes than they usually generate.

Now that Texas electric rates are falling, even more customers are shopping around and asking for quotes, and many energy providers are simply falling behind in answering all their customers’ requests. In order to keep prices down, electric companies aren’t top-heavy and don’t carry a lot of extra staff, meaning that when they are flooded with customer requests like they are now, it takes them longer to respond, and customers can become frustrated with that non-responsiveness.

How can Texas business customers get to the front of the line? By shopping for electricity through SaveOnEnergy.com, which offers businesses the opportunity to receive eight competing offers through one click of the mouse.

SaveOnEnergy.com is designed to pit eight electric companies in head-to-head competition for a customer’s business. Through SaveOnEnergy.com’s unique commercial retail exchange portal, business customers can instantly send their information and rate request to eight energy providers, who will then immediately respond directly to the customer.

Because electric companies know requests received through SaveOnEnergy.com also go to seven other suppliers, responding to quote requests from SaveOnEnergy.com become their first priority, and suppliers respond to customers as quickly as possible to avoid losing out on a deal. This makes getting a cheaper electric rate a faster and easier process for business customers, who don’t have to wait days or a week for their price quote and avoid having their request being buried or missed in the flood that energy suppliers are receiving daily.

SaveOnEnergy.com provides commercial customers with exclusive, one-click access to eight energy suppliers, and empowers them to cut through the backlog of quote requests to start saving money as soon as possible.

It’s all because the price of natural gas, which is one of the main drivers of retail electric prices, has fallen nearly 30% from a peak of $13.57/MMBtu June 30. That means energy suppliers can charge cheaper rates for electricity, and are starting to trim their prices. While it varies by energy provider and product, some offers have been cut by 5-10%. A few of the higher-priced plans have fallen more, up to a nickel from where they were just a month ago.

But like with gasoline prices or airline tickets, falling prices often start as a trickle, as energy providers try to determine how low they should go. The big drops come when competitive pressure revs up, and one electric company cuts its rates a little more than everyone else, prompting competitors to follow suit, or lose out on new customers.

Customers can accelerate this process and get cheaper electric rates now by forcing electric companies to compete for their business, and by demanding that suppliers match and undercut each others quotes. The quickest and easiest way for business owners to have that happen is by using SaveOnEnergy.com to get custom price quotes from energy suppliers competing head-to-head. SaveOnEnergy.com’s exclusive commercial retail exchange portal is the only place where Texas business owners can get electric rate quotes from various competing electric companies with one click of the mouse. Commercial customers simply enter their business and usage information, and the data is then delivered real-time to each of the competing energy suppliers . The suppliers then evaluate the information and contact the customer directly, drastically reducing the complexity and time required for business owners to get price quotes from competing suppliers. SaveOnEnergy.com makes it simple for business owners to take advantage of today’s cheaper electric rates .

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.

The reason is that many electric companies have fixed-priced contracts which automatically renew. But instead of renewing onto the same or another fixed price, the contracts often automatically renew onto a variable rate which fluctuates with the wholesale cost of power. That means a business which has paid 12¢ per kilowatt-hour for 12 or 24 months could end up paying 18¢ to 20¢ per kilowatt-hour under that legalese of the contract.

Many customers aren’t aware of these automatic renewal clauses that can change how a customer’s electricity is priced. In fact, the Public Utility Commission is looking at that issue in a rulemaking, as reported by trade journal Energy Choice Matters.

Choosing a new electricity rate isn’t something that can be put off because of the risks in auto-renewals. Although it can be daunting sifting through the myriad of competing offers in the Texas energy market, the price of not picking a new plan, whether with the same energy supplier or a new provider, are too high to not take action.

Additionally, while business owners with a cheap electric rate that’s about to expire may not like the current price climate and want to put off signing another long-term deal to see if prices fall, they should still avoid simply letting their contract auto-renew in order to exercise some control over their price. Even if a business wants to wait and see if prices fall after the summer, they should sign a short-term or variable deal that gives them some certainty as to electricity costs, instead of relying on whatever pricing stipulation their energy supplier can use under their auto-renewal clause, which may include pass-throughs of expensive real-time charges.

SaveOnEnergy.com solves both of these problems for businesses. Its market-leading commercial retail exchange portal gives business owners a variety of competing quotes for cheap electricity with just a few clicks of the mouse, saving business owners time and money in trying to research every energy provider themselves. SaveOnEnergy.com’s commercial retail exchange portal also allows businesses to get custom offers to compare different types of electricity rates. For example, businesses with expiring term deals can ask for energy suppliers to provide quotes for both variable or short-term service, and for longer (12+ month) fixed-price offers, so they can evaluate whether they want to sign a new long-term deal now, or wait a few months. Business owners trying to get all those different, custom quotes from individual electric companies could take weeks if not a month, but SaveOnEnergy.com immediately alerts energy suppliers of the quote request, and suppliers jump into action so they don’t lose their potential customer to one of their competitors.

One more thing to keep in mind is that if a business owner wants to change electric companies, that switch can take time, meaning it’s best to put the switch request in at least 30 days before the expiration of the business’s current fixed-price contract, if not earlier. That will ensure that the switch occurs immediately upon expiration of the current contract, and the customer does not get stuck with their current supplier on a higher rate just because the business missed the switching window to avoid automatically renewing onto a high, variable rate. It’s best to ask your new supplier to do everything they can to expedite your switch if you’re only a few weeks away from your contract expiring to make sure your switch can go into effect when desired at the end of your current contract. But you’ll also want to be sure you don’t prematurely switch before your current fixed-price expires, both because it’s probably cheaper than any current electric rate, and because it could expose you to cancellation penalties. The best thing to do when switching is to share the expiration date of your current contract with your new supplier (which typically coincides with a scheduled meter read) and tell them you need to be switched over right after that date.

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.

NFIB isn’t telling business owners anything new by reporting that energy costs have increased rapidly over the last two years and even more so in the last six months. Small business owners are not able to adjust the price of their goods and services quickly enough to match the steep energy price increases without hurting their customer base, NFIB noted.

Business owners are also not able to change business practices fast enough to offset the increases. For example, NFIB reported that most owners cannot afford to buy new, more energy efficient equipment if current equipment still has useful life. "They are effectively caught in a squeeze that only time and/or good fortune will release," NFIB warned.

High electricity rates particularly impact retailers and non-professional service providers, such as auto repair shops, barber/beauty shops, theatres, restaurants, motels, and delis, NFIB found.

Texas small businesses at least have the power to take control over one facet of their energy costs by choosing a low-cost electricity provider . But small businesses, according to the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC), have not historically shopped for a lower electricity rates in as high as numbers as their larger competitors. Instead, they’ve stayed with their old "legacy" provider who sold them power before customer choice began. The PUC found that more customers who shopped paid lower electricity rates , while those who stayed with their legacy provider typically were paying the highest rates.

Not only does that mean small business owners are paying more than they should for power by not shopping, it also means they are losing an advantage to their competitors who do go out and scour the market for cheaper electricity .

Of course, large corporate conglomerates have entire staffs devoted to energy management which allows them to devote the time needed to compare energy prices and energy providers . Small business owners, busy ringing cash registers or stocking shelves, find it harder to cull through hundreds of offers from nearly one hundred Texas energy providers .

That’s where SaveOnEnergy.com can help small business owners. SaveOnEnergy.com provides a one-stop shop for small business owners to receive and compare custom electricity offers from eight energy suppliers , just like the big guys.

SaveOnEnergy.com’s exclusive commercial retail exchange portal allows small business owners to shop for cheap electricity with one-click of the mouse, so they can get back to running their businesses. SaveOnEnergy.com’s online exchange puts small business owners in charge, and lets them buy electricity on their time and terms. Business owners just enter some information about their electricity bill, location, and any special requests for the type of product they’re interested in, and they’ll receive up to eight quotes from competing electric companies . And SaveOnEnergy.com vets their suppliers to ensure they’re financially sound providers with good customer service. That gives small businesses piece of mind, and frees them from having to devote time and resources trying to track down whether an electric company is stable and reliable.

SaveOnEnergy.com gives small businesses the power to save money on electricity without having to take time out of keeping their businesses running. That makes them more competitive and puts them on equal footing with the big guys.

Essentially, FERC found higher prices to be inescapable because of higher fuel (coal, natural gas, etc.) prices and higher construction and raw material prices (copper, aluminum, nickel, etc.) caused by worldwide demand and increasing demand for electricity here at home. Add in uncertainty over climate change legislation, and you have a recipe for persistently high power prices .

The effects are starting to be felt by consumers nationwide. While electricity rates may lag in some areas, utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29% , mostly to pay for soaring fuel costs and to build new plants and refurbish an aging power grid. According to USA Today, "Even more dramatic rate increases are ahead. The mounting electric bills will further squeeze households struggling with spiraling gasoline prices."

While retail electricity rates may ebb and flow in Texas, the data shows over the long run they won’t be immune from these pressures, and are set to keep rising along with prices across the U.S.

Natural gas, the primary fuel for Texas power plants, will continue to be the leading fuel for new capacity over the next half decade, FERC reported. But FERC also found future natural gas prices to be as high as $13 for the coming winter, and remaining as high as $10-11 through 2010. That’s compared to a cost of $6 just last year. It’s just another confirmation that electricity rates aren’t going fall anytime soon.

But while customers in most states have little choice but to grin and bear ever-increasing prices, Texans do have a tool to at least shield themselves from future increases by shopping for a fixed-price term product. Most energy providers offer plans lasting 12 or 24 months which provide protection against rising power prices, and some energy suppliers offer 36-month or longer term deals on a custom basis.

SaveOnEnergy.com provides customers with an easy online portal to review and evaluate fixed-price electricity plans. Since SaveOnEnergy.com pits electric companies against each other in head-to-head competition, customers are assured the best rate for their fixed prices, and can evaluate value-adding features such as airline bonus miles.

The analysis from federal regulators and other market experts regarding ever-increasing electricity prices shows there’s little downside to shopping for a fixed-price electricity rate right now. While Texans don’t want to lock-in a high rate at the height of the market, no one sees significantly cheaper electricity rates in the near future. Finding a good fixed-price rate on SaveOnEnergy.com will actually shield customers from the trend of rising prices and provide budget certainty that’s only available in markets like Texas where customers have the freedom to choose their electricity provider .