Tag Archives: Texas Power Plans

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.

09.30.16
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FAQ: Can I change power companies?

We get this question more often from Illinois customers, rather than Texas. Both Illinois and Texas are deregulated energy states. That means that people can choose which “retailer” they purchase their energy from. The difference between Illinois and Texas is that Illinois has a “default” retailer which is the well-known utility, Comed. All Texans have to choose an electric retailer in order to obtain their power.

So, the simple answer is: YES.  change-cycle

However, once you’ve signed up with Energy Simply, you won’t ever have to worry about changing power companies again. It can be a hassle to navigate the hundreds of companies and thousands of plans to figure out which one is right for you. That is why Energy Simply monitors the markets and takes care of the switching – saving our customers hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

For answers to more of your questions, click on the FAQ category, located on the right hand side of this blog.

09.19.16
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Energy Simply Offers Commercial Service

Energy Simply has expanded its services to include small business clients who stand to save thousands of dollars in electric costs.

1107_small-business_650x455Building on its successful residential business model, Energy Simply is offering competitive commercial electric advising services for small businesses in Texas. Small business owners, eager to put more money into their business instead of their electric bills, have quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Strong potential clients include retail, office, restaurant, coffee shops, bakeries – any small business that could benefit from cost savings.

Interested parties can sign up for their free consultation by calling 1-844-586-9850, or emailing jordan@energysimp.ly.

05.27.16
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Energy Simply Announces Aggressive New Referral Program

At Energy Simply we love our customers – and it appears they love us! We’ve been growing at a steady clip because our service is all about conveniently saving money – we take care of choosing the best electric plan and switching energy companies for you so you’ll always be in the cheapest or cheapest renewable plan.

chain of peopleThe less obvious part, which we have come to learn, is that the majority of our growth is due to customer referrals! Our customers love us so much they are encouraging their friends and family to sign up with us.  We don’t want to be free-riders on that love, so as a way to say THANK YOU we are offering $10 for every signed up customer referred to us. There’s no limit either, we will pay $10, $50 or $500 – we will be happy to encourage people to spread the word about our company.

Even If you don’t live in Illinois or Texas, you can still go to our referral program page to sign up to refer people you know who do live there. Once they’re signed up, we’ll process payment and put it in the mail. And…Thanks!

04.22.16
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Obligatory Earth Day Post

Too cynical? Probably, but if you’re like me you’re probably a little tired of every company using Earth Day as a way to sell its wares. Well, today we aren’t buying into the hype. We make good decisions every day to promote Earth’s health and environmentalism, and our company is working – one household at a time – to try and get more people using renewably produced electricity.

Here’s an article from Inhabitat writer Jill Fehrenbacher about the top 5 worst Earth Day Gimmicks. It’s a fun read, and a good reminder that our actions every day are what count. It’s a good reason to think about what habitual changes you can make to protect the health of the planet. Might we suggest choosing 100% renewable electric? There’s a good chance it won’t even cost more than traditional. Happy Earth Day!

01.15.16
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Over Three Million Texas Households Aren’t Taking Advantage of Energy Choice

 

You could be one of over three million Texas households not taking advantage of energy choice.

The “incumbent” power companies in Houston and Dallas, Reliant Energy and TXU Energy, have over three million (3,000,000) Texans as customers between the two of them.  Except in some very rare cases, all of these customers could be saving money by taking advantage of energy choice.

If you’re on Reliant Energy’s cheapest variable plan in Houston, you’re currently paying $0.086/kWh at 2,000 kWh/month.  That’s $172/month.  You could be on a fixed rate plan for $0.069/kWh or $138/month.  That’s a savings of $34/month; and that’s just with rough numbers(1).  Choosing a plan specific to YOUR electricity use could save you even more.

If you’re on Reliant Energy’s cheapest variable plan in Dallas, you’re currently paying $0.076/kWh at 2,000 kWh/month.  That’s $152/month.  You could be on a fixed rate plan for $0.038/kWh or $76/month.  That’s a savings of $76/month or CUTTING YOUR ENERGY BILL IN HALF!  And that’s with just rough numbers(2).  Choosing a plan specific to YOUR electricity use could save you even more.

Energy Simply provides a service to our customers for $5/month to monitor the electricity market and keep you in the cheapest (or cheapest 100% renewable) plan for YOUR energy use.  You can sign-up today at https://www.EnergySimp.ly/.  And Energy Simply is 100% customer-focused – only accepting money from our customers and never taking kick-backs from power companies.

If you’re curious, read below to see how we calculated the number of customers who could be taking better advantage of energy:

Analysis

Texas power companies don’t usually publicly report their number of customers, but the staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) suggests an amount of taxes each company is required to pay proportional to their number of customers.  Paul Ring of EnergyChoiceMatters.com has a story with these numbers.  You can easily calculate the approximate number of Texas customers for each power company:

 

Company             Taxes paid          Approximate number of Texas customers

TXU Energy               $22,210         1,670,000 customers

Reliant Energy           $19,770        1,500,000 customers

Ambit Texas               $5,627          425,000 customers

Green Mountain Energy     $4,567              350,000 customers

Stream Energy             $4,203        315,000 customers

Direct Energy             $3,896          300,000 customers

Just Energy               $3,327            250,000 customers

(1) Data is from PowerToChoose.org for Houston zip code 77009 as of Friday, September 25, 2015

(2) Data is from PowerToChoose.org for Dallas zip code as 75206 of Friday, September 25, 2015

01.07.16
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Seasonal Variance and Personal Variance

How do seasons and personal energy usage impact costs?

Your electricity bill varies significantly by season.  If you live in Texas, you’re likely using relatively little energy during the winter months and likely using lots of energy during the summer months.

We use data below from a randomly selected sample of twenty-five Energy Simply customers from Texas.

SEASONAL VARIANCE: Look at the line in the graph below labeled “TX Average.”  The horizontal line labeled “1” below represents average usage.  Looking at the six months from November to April, electricity usage is well below average; but for the three summer months from June to August, usage is well above average.  If your average usage was around 1,000 kWh, you would want to find the best plan for 750 kWh in the winter months and around 1,500 kWh in the summer months.  Rarely is one plan the best plan at both of these usage levels so you’ll want to be switching plans when the seasons change (or let Energy Simply do this for you.)

Seasonal and Personal variance PNG

PERSONAL VARIANCE: Seasonal variance is a big factor in choosing the best plan for you, but personal variance is also very important.  “TX Customer 1” and “TX Customer 2” represent two customers from the randomly selected sample of 25.  They illustrate the significant variance individuals might have even from the average.  Assuming an average monthly usage of 1,000 kWh for both of these customers, “TX Customer 1” used more than 2,500 kWh in June; more than 2.5x their average.  “TX Customer 2” used about 333 kWh in February and March; about 1/3 of their average.  Most plans that are good deals at 2,500 kWh/month are not so good at 1,000 kWh or 500 kWh; and same for plans that are good deals for 500 kWh/month aren’t often so good for 1,000 kWh/month or 2,000 kWh/month.

If you want to be in the best plans for your personalized usage, you should be changing with the seasons (or letting Energy Simply do this for you.)

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..

08.13.15
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FAQ: Why do you need my credit card?

You’re serious about saving and you want it to be simple, right? Us too. But we get it – we’re asking you for some personal information like a power bill and credit card info, so you want to know why. Here’s a brief explanation, with a more detailed one available on our website:

  1. You’ll enter your email and zip and tell us if you want the cheapest or the cheapest 100% renewable electricity.
  2. Enter your payment information – IMPORTANT – you will not be charged anything until we provide you with your tailored plan and you approve it.
  3. Upload an electricity bill (or take a picture of it and send it to us) so we can provide you with your tailored plan.

Once you’ve submitted this information you’ll receive a tailored plan within 24 hours via email. By approving that tailored plan you’ll complete the process and become a customer. We will never charge a fee until your tailored plan goes into effect and we keep your information safe and secure.  bank vault

We are serious about savings and service – we want customers who are serious too – by providing your detailed information up front we can provide you savings faster and more efficiently.

06.19.15
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FAQ: Can I switch my electric power company?

You don’t have to keep overpaying for electricity,  or keep polluting the world with dirty electricity.  If you live in Texas or Illinois, you can switch and start getting cheaper and/or greener power now.

changesameIn Texas, if you are currently not under contract (on a month-to-month or pay as you go plan)  you can switch right now.  You can also switch right now, with no termination fee, if your plan expires in the next 14 days (you are within the state mandated grace period).  If you are not in either of those 2 groups, you can still switch right now, but you are likely under contract and subject to a termination fee ranging from $100-$200 if you switch.

If you fall into one of the first 2 groups you  should always switch right now.  You are definitely paying more than you need to if you have a month-to-month plan or a pay as you go plan, and if your plan expires in the next 14 days you want to switch now so the company can’t hit you with month-to-month variable rates upon contract expiration.  If you have a cancellation charge, it may still be worthwhile to switch.  Our average customers save ~$50/month and some of our customers have saved $100s/month.  If you haven’t changed providers in more than a year, you have more than a few months left on your contract, and you live in a 2000+ square-foot house, chances are you can save money by switching.  You can go to www.powertochoose.org and pick a plan.

Things to remember when picking a Texas plan:

1) Always choose a fixed price plan

2) You can often save money with 3-6 month plans

3) Make sure you note your contract end date, so you can sign yourself up for your next plan before the one you choose expires

4) Your use varies so take a look at www.smartmetertexas.com to help you figure out what your expected usage will actually be

5) Always look at the fact label and make sure the company isn’t playing games with pricing using large credits or other tricks to make their plan look cheaper

In Illinois, the vast majority of people will have no cost to switch (basically if you’ve never switched before there will be no cost to switch).  So you can go to www.pluginillinois.org,  choose a cheaper (current price to compare from ComEd is ~7¢/kWh ) or greener plan and in 3 to 7 weeks you will be receiving power from your new provider.

Two things to remember when choosing an Illinois plan:

1) Always choose a fixed price plan!

2) Make sure you know when your plan will end and remember to switch again to a new plan ~5 weeks before the end of your plan to avoid getting hit with variable rates at the end of your contract (to figure this out you also need to know when it starts).

And lastly,  remember there is an alternative to spending your precious tine staying on top of this stuff.  You can let Energy Simply manage it all for you.  We are electricity market experts and we are always thinking of ways to keep you in the best cheapest (and potentially greenest) plans.  We sign you up for the best available plan, track prices in case it ever makes sense to switch mid-contract, and switch you before your contract expires so you never get stuck paying variable rates.  And it will only cost you $5/month.  Sign up today!