Electricity Providers

North American Power Review

Electricity customers approached by sales reps from North American Power should be careful before signing an electricity contract with the supplier. North American Power contracts that offer a variable rate are likely to increase almost immediately. Their contracts do not even guarantee that the rates they advertise on their site will be locked in for the first month.

The company promotes their rates by emphasizing that by choosing them you will be supporting charitable organizations. This is true, however it should be noted that you will be doing this as an extra cost to you, by paying more on your electric bill. You can support these charitable organizations without choosing North American Power as your electricity supplier. By choosing a variable rate with North American Power, you will pay a price for electricity at the company’s choosing.

Current North American Power prices for customers in the Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) territory are listed as $0.0899 per KWh. However, customers in this area are paying $0.0999 cents per KWh on their most recent bill, a price that is even higher than the CL&P default rate.

We strongly recommend not choosing a variable rate for your electricity for the simple reason that the price has no ceiling. In contrast, a low fixed electric rate can guarantee you savings if the rate is lower than your utility’s default price to compare. The fixed rate will be fixed for a set term indicated on the electricity agreement that you choose.

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Patriot Energy Alert

Patriot Energy is an electricity brokering company. They are currently offering electricity contracts to businesses in Pennsylvania with deceptive language that could cost your business thousands of extra billing expenses.

First, it is important to understand that electricity brokers should not be involved in the practice of offering their own electricity contracts. The practice of electricity brokers in Pennsylvania should involve obtaining contracts from licensed electric suppliers for the client, negotiating the terms and conditions of those contracts for the benefit of the client, and then offering those contracts to their client. Patriot Energy is not licensed to offer retail electric supply contracts to customers.

Patriot Energy uses their false electric supply contracts to mislead customers into thinking they are signing lower fixed rates than other competing electric suppliers. In reality, the low fixed rate stated on the Patriot Contract is artificial and does not lock the customer into any guaranteed rate.

At the top of their contract in a big friendly box, their contract displays the words “Fixed Rate” followed by the rate. However, at the bottom of the contract written is very small print surrounded by more small print reads the following sentence:

“This document is not a contract for electricity supply and that Patriot Energy Group Inc has not guaranteed that it will be able to place the above account with a competitive supplier on the terms and conditions set forth herin.”

Furthermore, the small writing also includes this sentence:

“The actual terms and conditions pertaining to electric supply……will be defined by the competitive electric supply contract entered into by Patriot Energy Group”

By signing the “Patriot Energy Contract” you are merely giving them the power to sign any type of electricity contract on your behalf. Even though a rate is displayed on the “Patriot Energy Contract”, the contract language allows them to sign any rate for your business that they wish, with any set of terms which can include a number of hidden charges and pass through expenses that should be included in the rate but are not.

I highly advise businesses not to sign this “Patriot Energy Contract” on the simple fact that it does not guarantee the customer anything and instead only gives Patriot Energy the authority to sign your business into any type of electricity supply contract they wish. Furthermore, Patriot Energy is not licensed as an electric supplier which means that they are not licensed to be offering electric supply contracts.

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Business Electricity Companies

New energy choice markets in the northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut) as well as existing deregulated areas such as Texas and Illnois are making some business electricity companies household names as the battle for market share has heated up.

Electricity companies who offer electric service to commercial and industrial clients buy power commitments in advance for the businesses and then sell it back to them in the form of a monthly electric bill. Essentially these business electricity companies act as banks for large energy users. As retail electric suppliers, they buy blocks of power on the wholesale market and then sell it to the customer with a retail markup. This is why electricity companies require businesses to sign electricity contracts that locks them into service with the supplier for the term of the contract.

However, some of these business electricity contracts can be confusing and misleading to executives who are looking at purchasing energy for the first time. Some of the misleading practices include “passing through” part of the charge to other sections of the bill, thus making the rate appear lower than it really is. Also, electricity companies can add unnecessary meter charges that can add up for businesses that have multiple meters.

It is important for businesses to do their due diligence or work with a energy consulting company who has a clear expertise in the field of deregulated electricity. Electricity brokering companies can compare electricity contracts, rates, and suppliers.

Businesses should be weary of electricity companies offering variable rates that are contract free. Usually the offer will not guarantee any type of rate allowing the electricity supplier to charge whatever they want in any given month.

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Delmarva DE Electricity

Delaware has a deregulated electricity market. What does this mean? It means that the local incumbent utility Delmarva, which was once a regulated monopoly controlling all aspects of electricity service – generation, transmission, distribution – is now only in charge of distribution (they are just an electricity delivery company). The state mandates that they offer all of their customers a generation default rate for those customers who do not choose an alternative supplier.

Even though Delmarva offers a default generation rate, they do not profit off of these charges. Their only profit is derived from the delivery charges that are still regulated by the state. Because of this fact, Delmarva not only does not care if their customers choose a competitive electric supplier, but actually support it. They want all of their customer to purchase their generation electric service from alternative suppliers so that they can focus their attention on the management and reliability of the electric lines and wires in the state.

Customers looking to shop for competitive electric rates can use the Delmarva default rates (Price to Compare) to determine if the offers they receive are worth signing a contract. Current competitive electricity rates are showing good savings (8-20%) versus the default rates over the last several years.

Delmarva default rates change about every 4 months. It is important for Delmarva customers to realize that signing a fixed electricity contract is not only about saving money off of the current default rate, but also about price protection into the future. It is possible that the future default rates can become lower than the fixed rate that you signed. However it is possible, and more likely, that they can drastically increase. Fixed rate contracts are designed to offer customers with budget certainty giving them electric rate protection.

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Integrys Energy Review

December 15, 2010

This article pertains to commercial and industrial electricity customers in deregulated markets where Integrys Energy is active, including but not limited to Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York. Integrys Energy has offered electricity contracts with misleading rate quotes to commercial and industrial customers. If you are deciding to use Integrys Energy as [...]

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Energy Alliance of Pennsylvania Review

October 27, 2010

We have recently been getting a lot of questions pertaining to the Energy Alliance of Pennsylvania as a result of their increased rates over the past few months. After much research, here is what I have discovered: The Energy Alliance of Pennsylvania is a licensed retail electric provider that was set up by the Manufacturing [...]

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Viridian Energy Review

October 4, 2010

Viridian Energy is a new company, founded in 2009, who offers a variable electric rate to customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Viridian Energy only offers a variable rate which can be dangerous if you are a customer. There is really no limit to how high a variable electric rate can go up [...]

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Compare Electric Rates

September 29, 2010

The time and energy that it takes to compare electric rates can be overwhelming for some. However, with a little research and education, customers in Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut can lower the cost of their electric bill by comparing electric rate offers from electricity companies against the electric rates of the [...]

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Compare Electricity Companies in Pennsylvania

August 4, 2010

Commercial and residential electricity customers have a number of options when it comes to choosing an electricity company for their supply rate in Pennsylvania. In areas where the capped rates have already expired, such as PPL and Duquesne Light, there are over 20 electric providers actively offering service. Choices are more limited in areas where [...]

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PPL Electric Providers

May 21, 2010

The purpose of this article is to briefly explain the different type of electric providers in the Pennsylvania PPL electric market. With the competitive electric market in the PPL utility territory maturing, business and residential customers are starting to become more familiar with some of the 30+ alternative suppliers’ brand names. With many consumers the [...]

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