Tag Archives: Tricking Consumers

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.

 

11.26.15
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Don’t be a Turkey: Stop paying too much for Electric

The electric companies love you. Every month they can count on you to not review your bill, check for competitive pricing and they are taking that to the bank! You’ve helped pay for a lot of lavish Thanksgiving feasts for energy executives today.

It’s Thanksgiving, so don’t be a Turkey – compare prices on your turkeyelectricity. Perhaps you’ll even find that you can get 100% renewable electricity for cheaper than traditional, dirty electric. If you don’t have the time to shop the electric markets let us do it for you. For $5 a month we’re saving our customers $10, $25 – many as much as $50 every month!

And, because we are thankful for our customers we have incentives to help you sign your friends up such as a free Nest thermostat. Loosen that belt after dinner, grab your electricity bill and sign up to start saving.

07.06.15
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Texans Energy creates a new low in market manipulation

Texans Energy, a new power company, has come onto the scene with a seemingly appealing offering that shows up on the first page of Power To Choose offerings.  With Texans Energy, if you use over 999 kWh you get a $65 bill credit.  Seems great right?  There is one big catch though, you don’t get the credit if you use more than 1200 kWh.  You might be scratching your head right now thinking, “what are the chances I’ll be within a 200 kWh range of usage?”  Seems unhelpful right…

Why would they do this?  One reason, to manipulate their ranking on Power To Choose.  As I’ve written about before, Power To Choose ranks plans based on their average kWh cost for 1000 kWh of usage.  That means that even though it’s unlikely that a customer will hit Texans Energy’s narrow range, it’s 100% likely that they will succeed in artificially inflating their ranking on Power To Choose.

What’s next, a $100 credit if you hit exactly 1000 kWh?  That way a company can be assured to be at the top of the rankings while still screwing over it’s customers. Hey Power to Choose! It’s time to change the “rules” so they work for customers and not market manipulators.MiLkAzLgT

06.18.15
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Case Study: Accountants Use Energy Simply, Shouldn’t You?

accountant

Herschel is an accountant who decided to research to find his best energy plan. After researching, he decided to become an Energy Simply customer.  Here are some of his reasons:

  • Time – It took multiple hours to research offers, read the fine print, and build a simple model.  Doing this every time his contract comes-up (3 to 6 mos) is not the best use of Herschel’s time; but Energy Simply does this for him.
  • Expertise – While Herschel may be able to amortize a fixed cost like a professional, he’s not an expert in the electricity industry.  Energy Simply understands the tricks companies play to make their prices seem better than they actually are and has a sophisticated proprietary model for finding the best plan for each household’s electricity usage.
  • Monitoring – Energy Simply monitors the electricity market frequently and looks for price changes.  Herschel doesn’t check as often and may be missing-out on opportunities to switch providers if a better deal becomes available.
04.03.15
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Texas Tribune: Companies charge you more when you use less…What’s up with that?

“Toni Harrelson tries to limit her electricity use, she says, because every dollar counts for fixed-income folks like her…The fruits of those efforts? A $9.95 surcharge on most of her electric bills. Dallas-based StarTex Power adds the fee whenever she uses fewer than 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month.”

What's up with that

Read the whole article here.

There is a law being proposed that would ban this practice. The Texas Power Companies have the gall to be actively lobbying against this! If you’re getting burned by your electricity company we want to hear your story. Get in touch with us through our contact page. And, consider becoming a customer so you’ll know you’re getting the best deal on the market..and no longer have to say…

What's up with that 2

08.14.14
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If You Just Use Power To Choose…Chances Are You’re Paying Too Much

Does this sound familiar? You want the cheapest (or greenest) energy provider, so you go to The Power to Choose website to find a new plan.  You have a medium-size house, so you can assume the first plan that comes up with the “lowest” price in big letters is the best choice, right? You sign up and feel great about the savings, but…you’ve just played right into the power companies’ hand and are still paying too much for energy.

Power To Choose Website screenshot of supposedly lowest priced plan

Surprise! EnergySimp.ly’s research team has discovered that the companies are gaming the system.  Energy companies have figured out that Power To Choose and every other power plan comparison site uses the same benchmark (1000 kWh per month usage) as the key plan ranking point, and they take advantage of that by artificially lowering their prices at that exact benchmark. Use more or less than 1000 kWh? You’re going to pay more than the advertised price.

For example,  Gexa Energy, the company featured in the Power To Choose screenshot above.  While it appears they are $0.6¢/kWh (~$70/year) cheaper than the third listed company, Discount Power, what isn’t obvious is they are using Hocus Pocus to make it seem that way.  Hocus Pocus here means higher per kWh energy charges and a $30 credit that you receive when you hit the “magical” 1000 kWh threshold.  The result is their average kWh cost is at it’s absolute lowest point at the 1000 kWh threshold, and that is what Power to Choose displays.

Our electricity usage varies significantly throughout the year.  We use more power in the winter and summer, when our heat and A/C is running, and we use less power in the spring and fall when we don’t need to use to heat or cool our homes. So- your average power usage doesn’t matter.  What matters is what your actual usage will be over the term of the contract you are signing up for. Here’s what a typical usage pattern would look like using the two plans shown in the screenshot above:

Power To Choose comparison of the 2 plans shows Gexa Energy cheaper

Energy Simply analysis using varied monthly usage of a typical household shows 4Change much cheaper

Gexa Energy appears cheaper in the first graph using just what you’d see as the headline kWh cost on Power To Choose.  But typical month-by-month household usage tells a different story.  Discount Power is cheaper than Gexa in 5 of the 9 months.  And ridiculously Gexa is 1.5¢/kWh (~$15/month) more expensive in the 2 months when a typical household would not be projected to hit the magical 1000 kWh and therefore would not receive the Gexa Energy $30 credit. Over the 9-month contract term, a typical household would spend ~$40 more with Gexa Energy’s plan.  That’s $40 that should be staying in your pocket.

The example above compared 2 of the “Top” plans and the difference was $40.  If you are not in a top plan, like the majority of Texans, you are overpaying by far more.

So what can you do?

Well, you could spend hours every 6 month figuring your actual usage and then search painstakingly for the best price that matches your actual usage.

Or… let Energy Simply find you the best plan using your actual usage profile.

Our Power Plan Ranking page can be used to find best pricing for homes similar to those in your area. Check it out and then email or call us.

We don’t work for the big power companies that are gaming the system to charge you more. We work for you – call us today!