Author Topic: Changing electicity providers (texas)  (Read 1276 times)

Frankies Girl

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Changing electicity providers (texas)
« on: August 10, 2019, 03:41:15 PM »
So I realized that I hadn't been paying attention to our energy costs, and since I live in a state that deregulated there is apparently tons of service providers that are "competitive" insofar as new customer offers.

It has always bugged me that loyalty is screwed over, but I guess the companies consider those of us that don't hop around as suckers that are too lazy/unmotivated to go seek better pricing elsewhere. :(

SO I have the ability to change to any number of providers, lock in on a contract rate for 10-24 months that is at least half as cheap all in as the current provider. They all seem to have average to better than average customer service and I can initiate the switch online and not have to talk to a person. I do online billpay currently and there would be no issues I would think in continuing to do so, just need to add in the new one when I get relevant payment info. All seemingly pluses in my book.

I am however still hesitating on pulling the trigger as I'm worried I'm missing something that will end up screwing me over as I literally have never switched energy providers before and wanted to see if there are any folks here that can give me a basic summary of "do this, then this, and watch out for this" so I don't overthink things and get stuck in my anxiety over messing this up somehow that I freak out and end up not doing anything.

I know my average usage, likely staying in current abode at least another few years, not interested in average billing and do lots of energy saving stuff already.

So. Help please? Reassurance? Hand-holding and telling me it's all going to be okay and my bills will be sooooo cheap? How long a contract should I go for and anything I need to watch out for?

formerlydivorcedmom

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Re: Changing electicity providers (texas)
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2019, 10:08:02 PM »
We use EnergyOgre.  It costs $10/month, and you can quit after the first month.  You give them your login credentials to your current electric provider, and they analyze your usage and find you a plan that will be the least expensive.  If you keep paying, then they redo this analysis every month to see if they need to switch you.

Our energy bills have been cut by 30-40 percent since we started using them.

Frankies Girl

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Re: Changing electicity providers (texas)
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2019, 12:27:09 AM »
I'd heard of Energy Ogre, but I can use the power to choose site that pulls up all the available companies and offers so it's just a short review

So if I DIY: I can go to the site to get the pricing per company per kwt used, length of contract/renewables, etc.... pick my new provider, then it gives me the option to sign up from there. So I go fill out all the forms, they get the ball rolling, within a week or so they'll shoot me my account info so I can get things set up for payments, everything wrapped up in a nice bow?

And forgot to mention I have my credit frozen and wasn't sure if I need to unfreeze as despite the whole supposed to be a soft pull, they can't do ANY pull if everything is frozen?

dblaace

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Re: Changing electicity providers (texas)
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2019, 05:29:59 PM »
And as soon as you switch they will  be offering great deals to get you back! I went with Green Mountain. They were to only ones offering a discount if you used less than 1000kw. I couldn't get the same deal when I renewed though. I usually only have 3 months over 1000kw.

So I realized that I hadn't been paying attention to our energy costs, and since I live in a state that deregulated there is apparently tons of service providers that are "competitive" insofar as new customer offers.

It has always bugged me that loyalty is screwed over, but I guess the companies consider those of us that don't hop around as suckers that are too lazy/unmotivated to go seek better pricing elsewhere. :(

SO I have the ability to change to any number of providers, lock in on a contract rate for 10-24 months that is at least half as cheap all in as the current provider. They all seem to have average to better than average customer service and I can initiate the switch online and not have to talk to a person. I do online billpay currently and there would be no issues I would think in continuing to do so, just need to add in the new one when I get relevant payment info. All seemingly pluses in my book.

I am however still hesitating on pulling the trigger as I'm worried I'm missing something that will end up screwing me over as I literally have never switched energy providers before and wanted to see if there are any folks here that can give me a basic summary of "do this, then this, and watch out for this" so I don't overthink things and get stuck in my anxiety over messing this up somehow that I freak out and end up not doing anything.

I know my average usage, likely staying in current abode at least another few years, not interested in average billing and do lots of energy saving stuff already.

So. Help please? Reassurance? Hand-holding and telling me it's all going to be okay and my bills will be sooooo cheap? How long a contract should I go for and anything I need to watch out for?

Altons Bobs

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Re: Changing electicity providers (texas)
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2019, 10:44:29 PM »
We've been using an electric broker for years, it's free. They'd shop for us every renewal. They'd go over the different options, and even when dh was looking at another that seemed cheaper on powertochoose but they pointed out the fine print and that it wasn't a good deal afterall. It's been working out for us, even when we switched to another provider, they would do all the work for us, we didn't need to do anything. If you're interested, I'll find out from dh their contact info.