Regional Talk > New York > Switching Energy Suppliers?

Switching Energy Suppliers?

I did analysis and on top of the spam phone calls that I had to ask multiple times to be taken off the DO-NOT-CALL list, the differences were negligible.

The other offerings seem to be higher prices for their fixed rate offerings.

Energetix is the cheapest legitimate provider Ive found. The question is what happens after 1 year is up. I would probably get a good deal the 1st year but when I try to renew, or get put into variable, that is when I will see the rates jacked up.

I think I'll stick with what I have now.

Good point.

reply to EnergySupply
I looked into it a couple of years ago and came to the same conclusion. It just seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

What happens when your One Year Contract is up? You get to research prices all over again.

I don't think any of the firms provide a lower price considering Con Edison is regulated for supply so the variable rate option is just a way to artificially inflate the price but give a lower price perhaps on 2 months before the rates go much higher.

The only rates which are legitimate are fixed rate pricing in the deregulated marketplace and Energetix comes out as the lowest one who fully discloses their pricing upfront without having to call and ask.

If one insisted on green energy, considering Energetix is affiliated with NYSEG which just got new permits on wind farms upstate, this seems like an excellent way to go.

But in my case, it is the fixed option of roughly 8.9 cents per kw/hour or 9.6 cents of 50% renewable (hydro/wind) vs my bills now which average at around 10 cents per kw/hour. But for the small savings chance on only one single provider plus a cancellation fee, its likely not worth it.

We all have to pay for the renewable fund thru the state on our bills. But one could put more into renewables by deciding to pay more but then you might as well just build your own wind farm.

Moral is: Keep con edison and if you want green power to buy carbon credits or fund green power initiatives which likely do more than switching providers.

reply to EnergySupply
I was switched 'accidentally'. (Not going to go into that story, but can give you the results.) My bill was the same or higher each month. The company wanted a cancellation fee. Con Ed said they can do nothing about it. I believe that many of these companies are really scams; and make their money on the cancellation fees.

Switching from Con Ed was discussed in depth already, albeit, in a non-NY thread:

»Electricity through 3rd party?

..and NY threads (albeit older).

»Con Edison and ESCOs (shopping for suppliers)
»Need a NYC Gas and Electric company cheaper then ConED??

reply to whizkid3
The problem is the vast majority of ESCO's are just middlemen manipulating prices to profit providing nothing beneficial to the process.

I asked one ESCO where they got their electricity mix from in public chat and the sales guy didn't even know.

Energy firms need to be transparent with the consumer as to where they get their mix from and how they are obtaining their energy from. Also as I said in a deregulated marketplace, fixed pricing is the only real pricing option since you can do an average of your supply costs.

Mine is roughly 9.8 cents average supply cost. I can get 9.6 cents at energetix for 12 months for 50% Renewable energy (A mix of wind and hydro) so money will definitely be used from my proceeds on their wind farms which they are getting permitted for such as Stony Creek.

But other than Energetix, other firms that are legitimate are quoting higher prices and they also are further away to transport power to so transportation costs are more.

Hence as of now Energetix is legit and seems to be the best deal going on the marketplace.

Basically if I went the Energetix route, I am deplacing supply from Con Edison with supply from an interconnected power company and will be paying for 50% of regular electricity mix which I assume they will get from existing plants in upstate New York, but obviously elsewhere when demand is higher, and 50% of a combination of new wind and low impact hydro.

But there really isn't much price competition since changing suppliers right now is really a wash but you can make a social impact by doing so and could invest seperately which will have a greater potential impact.

"We have an excess of generation capacity and tremendous wind power potential in upstate and western New York, and north of the border in Quebec. We have tremendous energy needs downstate," Cuomo explained. "Just as we built the New York State Thruway to unite distant parts of the state, we will develop an energy highway system that will bring excess fossil-fuel energy from western New York downstate, and also tap into upstate’s potential for renewable energy, like wind power. Just like we built the Northway, we will develop an energy expressway down from Quebec."

This was from Cuomo's state of the state address. So based on this comment, is it no wonder Energetix is the best priced ESCO right now.

So essentially by switching to Energetix, I on an individual basis wind up doing exactly what Cuomo was talking about based on my own accord.

And there have been some folks who have already switched to Energetix which saved money but the savings isn't much.

But other than upstate NY, due to large transportation costs, you can't really import electricity from say Texas to get to New York. It won't lead to any cost savings.

Utility Expense Reduction is the premier third party supplier in the state of New York. For UER to get you the lowest price on both your electric and natural gas you must supply us with your Con Ed account number; which is located on the second page of your bill. After you submit the account number I will be able to look up your annual usage and then come back to you with the lowest price possible. If you have any question or prefer to do this over the phone please do not hesitate to call me directly at XXX

I used the email solicitation option on the PowerYourWay website.

I think I'll pass on giving this guy the account #. Not a legit firm with generation assets like Energetix who fully discloses pricing upfront.

These guys give deregulation a bad name and seem to be the vast majority.

reply to EnergySupply
I seriously looked into it and contacted every one of the companies that could be contacted via the ConEd site for a quote.

Of those, I down-selected my choices to those who offered a fixed rate. I think I also looked at one that had variable rates as well but only because they were more transparent about some things and asked the right questions.

Bottom line was this: the cost savings (dollar-wise) was negligible and I felt like I was running the risk of actually paying more for energy (KwH).

The other tid bit I learned from this exercise is that while the energy unit costs (for both electric and gas) is pretty darn high in NYC, the transport costs were about half my bill and these alternate providers do not save you anything on those costs.

So paper napkin math: take your electric bill, divide by half, take off 7 - 10% possible savings, multiple it by 12 months and see if thats the aggravation.
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~ Insert a Funny Sig Here ~

It doesn't work like that.

The 7-10% promises are only off the 1st two months.

The only way to purchase electricity if you switch to an alternative supplier is to choose a fixed rate that comes to less than the average price of supply that you pay. The fixed rate with contract allows them to procure electricity supply in bulk for you.

Problem is most of the fixed rates will wind up costing you more than the utility and have high cancellation fees.