Tag Archives: Chicago

05.30.17
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Comed Customer? Your rates are about to go up.

increase chartCommonwealth Edison (or Comed for short) is the electric utility that covers most of the Chicagoland Region. According to their website, they supply more than 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois. While it is no secret when their rates are scheduled to increase, many of their customers will be surprised to know that rates are guaranteed to keep climbing incrementally over the next two years.

The current Comed rate is 6.318 cents per kWh. That means if you’re an average user (average sized house, family, appliances etc) your cost might be about $63 bucks per month, not including delivery charges and other fees outside of the cost of electric. Over the next couple years Comed is stepping up prices:

  • June 2017 = 6.89 cents per kWh
  • October 2017 = 7.15 cents per kWh
  • June 2018 = 7.54 cents per kWh

If you’re doing the math then you’ll see that an average user might see a $12/month increase or $144/year. And if you’re an above average user of electricity (heated swimming pool, larger home etc.) your pocketbook will get hit even harder.

Because these prices are tied to the base price of electricity, alternative suppliers will also see increases, but if you’re currently a Comed customer it is a good time to begin shopping the alternative suppliers and actively monitor your costs.

12.20.16
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Better Business Bureau, Baby

bbb-logo

Today we received accreditation from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and we’re so proud we want to shout it from the mountain tops. However, since we are not on mountain tops and it is rather late at night, we’ll happily post it to the internet via our blog and social media pages.

According to its website, the “BBB helps people find and recommend businesses, brands and charities they can trust.”

Basically they help you, the consumer, know that you’re dealing with a reputable company that delivers on promises. Why does that matter to us? Honestly, because we save people so much money by monitoring and switching their energy supplier that it is a little unbelievable.

If you want to become a believer, sign up at http://www.EnergySimp.ly.

11.18.16
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FAQ: What if Comed is the cheapest?

Comed’s electric rates have recently gone down in Illinois prompting the question: what if my cheapest option is the “default” option? In Illinois, if you don’t proactively choose a retail electric provider you auto-default to Comed. This is different from Texas where you must choose a retail electric provider.  Diagram.

For Customers Who Want the Cheapest Electric: There are times when Comed offers a competitive rate, but even when their prices go down, there are typically still a handful of cheaper rates or incentives packages that we can switch our customers into. While the savings might, for a limited time, become smaller they’re still savings. And when prices begin to swing back up – you’ll rest easy knowing that you’re still getting the cheapest.

The Green Answer: Many of our Illinois customers utilize our service to ensure they’re always getting the cheapest 100% renewable electricity. Typically the cost is the same or just slightly more, as outlined in this past blog post. Since we are constantly monitoring and switching our customers into the cheapest rates, our customers often get to take advantage of cash back and gift card incentives from their electric providers as well.

10.01.16
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Seasons Changing, Energy Needs Changing

fall

Today marks the first day of October and you have likely made some changes in your home climate control (or soon will be.)  If you’re in a warm part of the country like Texas, your electricity needs may be decreasing significantly as the weather cools-off and you can turn-down your air conditioning.  If you’re in a cooler part of the country like Illinois, your electricity needs may be increasing as you need to heat your home.  For many of Energy Simply’s customers, electricity usage varies by more than 2x between the summer months and the winter months.

If you’re not already signed-up as a customer of Energy Simply, having us keep you in the best electricity plan for YOUR home, now is a great time to consider signing-up.  Learn more about how Energy Simply saves you significant money by keeping you in the best electricity plan for your home at: https://www.energysimp.ly/how-it-works.

02.05.16
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FAQ: Sorting all the electric company offers you receive in the mail

Why am I receiving so many electricity offers in the mail? Should I be switching to one of them if they say they’re the cheapest?

mail pile

If you live in Texas or Illinois you will receive lots of offers in the mail from electricity companies claiming to be the greenest or the cheapest. That is because Illinois and Texas have opened up the retail electricity market to competition. If you’re one of our customers there’s a good chance you’ll get lots of mail from these companies because they will recognize that you’re shopping the market (or, more accurately, that we are shopping the market for you).

Here’s the thing – a lot of those offers come with pitfalls. Perhaps they are offering a low introductory rate, or perhaps they have a variable rate and they’re counting on you being too busy to pay attention when it skyrockets. Either way, there is no electric company in existence who’s bottom line is your top priority!

We welcome your questions when you receive these offers. After all, our top priority is your bottom line! Our business model is based on saving you the most money on your electric. We are happy to provide free advice on the offers – or, if you just don’t want to worry about it you can sign up for our service and we will take care of it for you. From monitoring the market, to identifying and getting you into the best plan to switching you when we can save you even more – we take the hassle and uncertainty out of buying electricity for your home.

 

11.19.15
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3-6″ of Snow in the Forecast

We blogged last week about the seasons changing – and the impact that will have on your electric bills. And it is about to get real in Northern, IL!

We are fans of Danny Neal and the Stormchaser’s blog. This morning  we woke up to news from Danny that Illinois can expect multiple inches of snow this Friday night and Saturday morning. winter storm watch

Hop on over to Danny’s blog and follow him on Facebook for great weather tracking…and, after you’ve done that – sign up with Energy Simply so you’ll know that you’re not paying way too much for electricity in these cold, dark winter months.

 

11.05.15
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Chicagoland Residents could go green AND save 5% vs ComEd

A large number of people in the Chicagoland area are with their incumbent electricity provider, ComEd, and likely paying too much for electricity.

From, October 2015 through May 2016, ComEd is charging its customers $0.07006/kWh.  If you’re in a two-bedroom apartment and using 1,000 kWh/month, you’re paying $70.06 (plus a fixed delivery fee) per month.  If you’re in a four-paying too muchbedroom house using 2,000 kWh/month, you’re paying $140.12 (plus delivery fee) per month.

If you just wanted the cheapest plan, you could be saving about 15% and if you wanted to go green with 100% renewable energy, you could still be saving 5% compared to your default ComEd rate.

Energy Simply actively monitors the Illinois energy market including the nearly 80 plans available for Chicagoland residents as of early October and watches for the best deals for our customers.  We automatically switch you to the cheapest electricity provider for your home based on applying our proprietary models to your own energy usage.  Learn more at:https://www.energysimp.ly/how-it-works or sign-up at: https://www.energysimp.ly/users/sign_up.

10.28.15
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Chicago Case Study: Go Green and Save Green

Case Study: Go Green and Save Green

Abbie works for an environmental non-profit in the Chicago-area.  She cares deeply about the environment and wants to use renewable energy for her small apartment.  BUT, Abbie also works for a non-profit so she was worried that green energy would be too expensive.   girl_environmental_activist_H

Abbie saw our cost comparison for green energy and decided that for about 0% – 15% premium, she could afford to choose 100% renewable energy.  Abbie had been on the default plan for her area and by signing-up for Energy Simply she actually was able to get a lower price on 100% renewable energy than she had been paying.

Sign up for Energy Simply’s service and you can rest easy knowing you’re getting the cheapest or cheapest green energy at all times.

10.21.15
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If you live in one of these Illinois cities, you’d better watch your energy bills

Many Illinoisans live in cities that have negotiated competitive electricity rates for their citizens. This is referred to as money to burnmunicipal aggregation. In most cases, the negotiated rates are lower than the default Comed Utility rate. However, Comed’s rates have come down to 7.006 cents/kwh which means many city rates are now too high. Depending on electricity use, consumers who live in these higher rate cities could be paying an extra $10, $20, $30 or more for electricity every month.

The cities and their rates are listed here:

Aurora – 8.086/kwh

Dwight – 7.88/kwh

Justice – 7.89/kwh

Lanark – 7.852/kwh

Morton Grove – 7.84/kwh

Mount Prospect – 7.935/kwh

Owen Township – 7.845/kwh

Riverside – 7.81/kwh

Warrenville – 7.89/kwh

Consumers living in those cities should consider opting out of their municipal plan. There are no penalties to do so under Illinois law. While they can now switch back to Comed whenever they want, consumers in those cities could also shop for much cheaper rates or let a service such as Energy Simply manage that shopping and switching for them. Rates in Illinois are as low as 6 cents/kwh meaning that significant savings can be realized. And – when consumers let Energy Simply do the shopping and switching, they can rest easy knowing that they’re in the cheapest electricity plan at all times.

10.14.15
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It’s Rob’s Birthday and he wants you to switch to renewable

Ecofriendly Birthday Cake

Picture courtesy of http://www.ecofriend.com

This week I celebrate a milestone birthday and I have a small favor to ask: please consider switching to 100% renewable energy.  As shown in a previous blog post, renewable energy is sometimes the same price as or sometimes 10%-15% more expensive than non-renewable energy.

This was a big year for my spouse and I as we raise our first child in (see my personal Facebook page for pictures) and we are experiencing all of the joys and challenges of parenthood.  One of those joys and challenges is thinking about the world you want your child to live in.

I have heard people say that the current generation is the first generation to experience the effects of pollution and the last one that can make a major change.  I hope that for sake of the next generation, we have the collective will to make a change.

Thanks–

–Rob

P.S. Energy Simply is only available in some states, but there are options to go 100% renewable in nearly all states.  For example, in Washington state, Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy both offer programs to go renewable:

Rob Dolin is the Co-Founder and CTO of Energy Simply.  He has over a dozen years experience in the technology industry including work in the Office, MSN, and Windows divisions of Microsoft Corp. and technical partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Sina Weibo.  Rob holds a B.S. in Engineering with Honors from the University of Illinois and a Graduate Certificate in User-Centered Design from the University of Washington..