I need electricity advice So, in today's paper, I find this article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5821958.html Last-provider customers can reduce sting of power bills Simple steps can help those dumped into plans with providers of last resort By TOM FOWLER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle In the last month, nearly 30,000 customers have been moved to providers of last resort — retail companies that take on customers from retailers that go out of business or leave the market. National Power Co., PreBuy Electric and E-tricity have defaulted on financial obligations to the state's grid operator, prompting the forced migration of most of their customers to other companies. The rates they face are sharply higher than their old plans, with some reaching as high as 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with previous fixed rates as low as 12 cents in some cases. Public Utility Commission officials are urging those customers to switch quickly to other providers with lower rates, but making the move can take from 30 to 45 days, since their meters must be read and consumer protection laws require a mailed notification of change in service. Customers can speed up the process, however, by asking their new providers to order an out-of-cycle meter read and by agreeing to waive the notification process, PUC spokesman Terry Hadley said. National Power Co. was my provider, so I went to their Web site and of course they are in fact leaving. I had a fixed rate plan, so I'm being switched to a provider of last resort. I'm going to take the paper's advice and switch. I'm strongly considering Amigo Energy, especially if I can score some Dynamo swag. Has anybody else had to switch recently? What provider did you choose? Anybody got a strong recommendation to make?
I'd be wary of Amigo right now because they might go out of business later this summer. I don't know that they have any particular financial hardship, I just know they are privately-owned so they may not have pockets deep enough to survive what is going to be a hard summer for all REPs. If you don't mind going through 2 bankruptcies, then do it. Otherwise, go with the big guys like Reliant, TXU, [shameless plug]Gexa Energy (subsidiary of FPL)[/shameless plug], or anyone else that is a subsidiary of a major company.
I switched to Yep energy last month. I hope they don't tank. Amigo is also First Choice. I think they're going pretty strong.
Thanks for the input guys. Here's another question: since I'm switching in the summertime, am I better off with a fixed or month-to-month plan? I live alone, so my usage isn't terribly high. I'll probably be moving in the next 6 months; will one type of plan save me more in the short term than the other?
