Is Free Electricity Always Cheaper?
It always amazes to read about people asking around on social media groups like Talk of Manvel and others for the cheapest/best electricity company. What makes me do a facepalm is when some people respond by saying they have been with Company X for 5 years with no issue. I can guarantee you whoever stays more than 1 year with any company will pay more. Since the electricity deregulation changes in Texas that happened in 2002, several companies have opened and some have closed. Companies like TXU or Reliant are Retail Electricity Provider (REP). They don’t actually produce the electricity nor do they transport it. All they do is buy power on the free market and sell it back to us, consumers. Knowing that it really does not matter who your REP is. All that matters is how much are they willing to sell it to you. Most less known companies have really low prices for new costumers. Most well-known companies are actually not really competitive with their price. I am assuming they have higher overhead costs due to more aggressive advertisements. They do have all kinds of gimmicks to try to get you like free nights or free weekends. To compensate for this gimmick, they jack the price up for when you are actually paying the electricity. At the end of the month, you don’t save anything. Over the past several years I have been paying good rates as I switch companies every time my contract is up. For some reason, the REPs don’t offer good rates to keep you when the initial contract nears expiration.
How do I get my cheap rates??
The best way to do it is to go on the www.powertochoose.org website about 1 month or so before your plan expires. You will be able to sort all the different companies by price, contract duration, monthly consumption, etc. I usually don’t sign up for contracts that last more than one year. You can see the customers’ rating for each REP but I don’t really care about it. I may avoid 1-star companies if I can but it won’t change anything. The REP does not produce the electricity and does not transport it. Depending on where you live your electricity is distributed by CenterPoint or Texas New-Mexico Power (TNMP). If you have an outage they are the ones who will fix it, not your REP. All your REP does is bill you. As long as you pay the bills, you will keep the lights on. Hopefully, this will help some people make better decisions and pay less.