| THE BASICS |
| So, you want to see if you can save money by choosing a new supplier? Well, here is how it works. First, understand what you are shopping around for. You are shopping for a better price for the "generation" portion of your electric cost. This is about a third of your current eletric bill. This means that when you see advertisements to save 10% or 25% off your electric, they mean off the generation portion only. NOT the entire bill. If you switch suppliers, you will still get billed the rest of the cost, called Transmission and Distribution, from your current Utility company. They own the lines and equipment, and your power will be delivered by them. This also means that they will still handle all repairs, meter reading, etc. It is their equipment. So a savings advertised as 20% will only be off about 1/3 of your bill, not the rest. So if your current bill is \\$100, you won't save $20, more like about $7 or $8. What you need to do to find out if you can save money is find out your current "price to compare" from your current company, and the advertised rates for you, and get a recent bill and check out our section on "figuring the savings". Also, if you currently recieve a discounted rate due to an all electic home, geo-thermal, retirement discount, or other reason, you will probably find that you will not benefit from switching suppliers. They won't honor your current discount. And if you are on a budget or percent of income plan, that will not transfer to a new supplier. Questions to ask possible new suppliers are : 1. Any switching fees, during or after the guaranteed price period? 2. How long is the rate good for? 3. What happens after that? 4. Will your bill be combined with the one for transmission and delivery from your current company, or will it be a seperate bill? |
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