Chicago consumers are no longer confined to purchasing their power from the local utility company. As a result of the Illinois Electricity Choice Act, power users can now shop for lower prices among several electricity companies in Chicago.

Energy choice in Chicago is providing Chicago residences with huge savings versus their traditional utility’s price to compare. Commonwealth Edison has provided electricity service to the city of Chicago and surrounding areas since 1907. The new energy choice laws has changed the role of ComEd from a full service electricity company who supplies and delivers power to their 3.6 million customers, to just being in charge of power delivery.

ComEd is encouraging consumers to find low rates from Chicago electricity companies, citing that they do not profit off of price to compare default rates. Money from the price to compare rates are passed through to electricity companies who have bid for the right to service default customers. ComEd earns revenues and profits from the delivery charges on the bill which remain regulated by the Illinois Commerce Commission Energy Division.

Lower electricity rates are currently available against the official ComEd price to compare rate which includes the generation and transmission rates. The lower electric rates will result in big savings on the electric bill, which continues to be sent by ComEd even after a competitive electricity company is chosen.

Rockland Electric delivers electricity to just under 63,000 residences in northern New Jersey.  Though electricity choice has existed in New Jersey for several years, competitive electricity companies have just recently started offering competitive electricity rates in the Rockland Electric area.

Though, as of December 2010, only 1.8 percent of the residential customers have chosen an alternative electric supplier, Rockland Electric residential customers can save as much as 18% versus the Rockland default rates.  Rockland Electric offers default electricity rates for those customers who do not shop and compare electricity offers.

People have been slow to shop the competitive energy market in the area mostly because they are unaware of their choices.  Of the four incumbent electricity utility companies in New Jersey, Rockland Electric is by far the smallest.  Because of this, the competitive electricity suppliers are focusing more of their marketing efforts on the bigger utility areas of PSEG and JCPL, even though the greatest savings opportunities currently exist for Rockland customers.

It is expected that more and more Rockland Electric customers will shop for lower rates in 2011 as they become more familiar with their electricity choice options.

Rockland Electric Price to Compare – $0.1215
	$0.097 /Kwh	20% Savings

Residential customers who are serviced by Atlantic City Electric can currently save up to 22.5% on their electric bills. This is a result of the New Jersey Electricity Choice and Competition Act that went into effect in 2003.

Savings above 10% are available for the first time for Atlantic City Electric customers because retail electric rates in the competitive market are lower than current Atlantic City Electric default rates, also called Basic Generation Service (BGS) rates.

When an Atlantic City Electric customer chooses an alternative electric supplier, they will continue to receive their bill from Atlantic City Electric, who remains the customer’s electricity delivery company and who is still responsible for the maintenance and management of the lines and wires throughout the southern New Jersey Electricity grid.

See offers from competitive New Jersey Electricity Companies Below:

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 and Business Association (MBA) through Fluent Energy as a way to get better electric rates for their members.  In their own words….

“The Association has established the Employers’ Energy Alliance of Pennsylvania, Inc. (EEA-PA), which will act as an energy supplier for its more than 4,700 member companies and organizations operating throughout central and northwest Pennsylvania. By purchasing directly from the electric grid and gas pipeline and eliminating broker commissions and marketing costs, the EEA-PA is able to pass savings directly on to participating members.” (keep a mental note of the words in bold)

The statement sounds good in theory, but many members saw their rates skyrocket to over $0.13 a few months ago when PPL default rates are at $0.10402 and the majority of businesses in the area are able to get low fixed rate offers of $0.085 (35% less than the $0.13 rate).  So what is going on here?

First, upon reviewing the Energy Alliance Electric Service Agreement, the Alliance buys their electricity on a monthly basis from the wholesale market which makes them extremely and completely open to spikes in the market.  When the Alliance charged their customers over $0.13 the wholesale market did see a bump in prices.  However, the jump in wholesale prices should not have caused rates to go up as high as they did.  Here is where things get really interesting….

In the Electric Service Agreement, the part that explains how customers will be charged, it reads:

“Basic Commodity Price: this is a variable price which is comprised of the weighted average PJM Independent System Operator commodity price and other associated costs of goods sold, plus the administrative fee per kWh set forth below, and any applicable taxes and/or agent fees.”

To break that sentence down, the first part (basic commodity price) is the wholesale price of electricity.  The administrative fee per kwh is listed in the contract at $0.0012 which isn’t out of the ordinary.  Applicable taxes are always warranted.  Then comes the kicker, ever so slightly written, “agent fees”.  What exactly is an agent fee?  It is not defined anywhere else in the contract, and to me it seems like it is the very thing the Alliance set out to eliminate in the first place (bold area from above “liminating broker commissions and marketing costs“).

Basically this “agent fee” gives the Energy Alliance the right to tack on whatever commission they would like on a monthly basis, and it is possible that when the members of this alliance payed a rate of $0.13 cents per KWh a few months ago, someone walked away with a nice undeserved bonus.

I would recommend to any business involved in this Energy Alliance to seek out a fixed electric rate that will prevent such spikes to happen in the future.  For a list of electric companies offering fixed rates and their offers, email us or write a comment to this article.

The thing that really gets to me about the Energy Alliance of Pennsylvania is the way they market themselves.  They come off trying to sell the whole “power in numbers” mentality when really their buying structure is not taking advantage of their buying power at all.  Furthermore, there statement of lower rates due to the fact that they will eliminate broker fees, followed up by adding their own agent fees is just plain misleading.  Even the name “Energy Alliance of PA” gives the impression that they are a non-profit when clearly they are as profit seeking as Walmart or McDonalds.

If you are living in Texas and have noticed in recent months that your monthly electric bill has become higher, it may be time to start looking for a new electricity contract.  The reason for the recent upswing in your electricity bill may very well be due to the fact that your old electricity rate contract has expired.

The Texas electricity market is the most active deregulated electric market in the country.  However, what many Texas electric rate payers do not understand is what happens in many cases to their rates when their electric contract expires.

Usually a person will sign a fixed rate electric contract for a set term, for example twelve months.  When the contract expires, the electricity company chosen by the customer will continue to service the customer usually on a marked up rate.  The longer you go without signing a new contract, the greater the chance your rate will continue to rise.

Electricity customers have thousands of “rolling customers” on their books.   Rolling customers are customers who have expired contracts.  The electricity company continues to serve the customer but instead of charging a fixed rate, they are able to charge almost anything they want, as stipulated in the original contract.  At the point it become a game of economics for the electricity company.  They try to determine what the maximum rate is that they can get away charging you before you will look for a new competitive rate.

Right now electricity rates are very low.  If you are paying over 10 cents per kilowatt hour you should look into securing a lower fixed rate.  Champion Energy is offering low fixed electric rates below 9 cents for customers in Texas.

Recently, we helped customers who were previously with TXU get off of rates as high as 15 cents transferred onto fixed rates of 8.6 cents, a 43 percent savings; all because the customers had gotten “comfortable” with TXU who raised their rates over time to well above the current competitive electric rates.

Connecticut Light and Power (CLP) customers can reduce their home electricity bills by finding a cheaper electric rate for the supply section on their electric bill.  There are still a number of Connecticut residences who are unaware of their electricity choice options.

For CL&P residential customers, you can find your competitive electric rate underneath the section “Supplier Service Detail”.  If it says “Generation Service Charge $0.11051 then you are paying the CL&P default price to compare rate.  This is the rate that you should compare against alternative electric rate offers.

Compared to the default rate, MX Energy is offering the lowest fixed electric rate at $0.095.  This represents a savings of 14% that you can save on your monthly electric bill by taking the time to compare electricity companies.  CLP continues to manage the delivery of the power and will also continue to send out the monthly electric bill even after you choose a lower electric rate.

Connecticut set up their deregulated electricity market so that the Utilities (CLP and UI) do not care if their customers leave their default service and choose an alternative electric company.  Connecticut Light and Power, as well as United Illuminating Company, receive their profits through the delivery charges on your bill which are still regulated by the state.

For the lowest fixed rate in Connecticut, click here and type in your zip code.

Philadelphia electricity users are customers of PECO energy, who provides electric supply service as well as electric delivery service for businesses and households in the city.  While PECO energy will remain the electric delivery company for these electric users, many customers will change their electric supply company in 2011 when PECO’s capped rates expire.

Starting January 1, 2011, commercial and industrial energy users in Philadelphia who do not choose an alternative energy company to supply their electricity needs will be on the PECO default electric rates.  Most businesses in Philadelphia will find in advantageous to shop and compare Pennsylvania electricity companies.

Large Commercial and Industrial electricity users in the PECO territory (whose KW demand is greater than 500KW) will pay a default price to compare rate of $0.0897 per kilowatt hour, if they elected to go with the fixed default electric rate.  If they did not elect for the fixed default rate, they will be forced to ride the volatile hourly ahead market rates.  Large electricity users in Philadelphia have bee offered fixed electric rates of $0.072 in recent weeks, a price 19.8 percent less than the PECO price to compare default rate.

Small and medium commercial customers in PECO will not know their exact price to compare rate until later in the year.  It is estimated it will be between $0.09 and $0.095 per KWh in 2011.  The number of electricity companies offering competitive rates to these customers will increase as 2011 approaches.  Savings are expected to be between 8-15% off of the price to compare default rates.

Update:  We have received numerous reports from our partners at Electric Rate that businesses are seeing significant savings with competitive peco commercial rates for contracts starting in 2011.

If you are looking for competitive electric rates for your home, we would recommend the below:

Electric rate payers who are serviced by the utility Delmarva in Delaware are finding cheaper electric rates in the competitive market.  Both residential and commercial electric customers are discovering that the way to lower their electric bill is to find a low cost electricity company who is offering a fixed electric rate that is lower than the Delmarva Price to Compare rate.

Delmarva Power, the utility provider that serves the majority of Delaware, offers their Price to Compare rates as a default service for those customers who have not compared electric rates with other electricity companies.  Delmarva continues to serve as the lines and wires company in Delaware and thus is still responsible for the delivery of the power to homes and businesses.  Delmarva does not receive profits from offering default service to electricity consumers.  Delmarva is encouraging their customers to find lower electric rates and locking in the rates with alternative electricity suppliers.

By doing an electricity company comparison, customers can reduce their electric bills by 10-30% depending on their rate class, usage requirements, and electric rate product choice.  As an example, small general service customers, a rate class for small businesses in Delaware, are paying an electric default rate of 11.27 cents per kilowatt hour.  We have found fixed electric rates for such customers as low as 9.0 cents per kilowatt hour which translates into a 20 percent savings on the Delaware electric bill.

States that have decided to deregulate, or restructure, their electricity utilities are giving their consumers the opportunity to lower their electric bills.  Misunderstanding how to lower the electric bill has been a problem for some of these electric rate payers.

As a simple review, the electric bill is divided into two main sections; the delivery (lines and wires) section and the retail supply section.  The delivery section is the portion of the bill, usually between 20-30% of the total charge, that is paid to the utility company for delivering the power through the lines and wires.  These charges are still regulated by the state.

The energy charge, also called supply charge, makes up the majority of the bill and is the section that has been deregulated.  It is here where customers can lower their electric bill by finding an alternative electric company that will supply electric power at a lower price per kilowatt hour than the current default electric rate that the incumbent utility offers.

Most default rates are set for a specific period of time.  You can lower your electric bill by finding out how long the default rate will be at a certain amount per kilowatt hour and then finding an alternative provider who will offer a lower electric rate for that period.  For example, the default rate for customers who are served by the utility PPL in Pennsylvania is $0.10402 per kilowatt hour for the entire year of 2010.  Locking in a fixed rate of $0.09 per kilowatt for any period in 2010 will give the customer a lower electric bill by 13.5% off of the energy supply portion of the bill.  It might be wise to lock in a low electric rate for a period that goes beyond the expiration of the current default rate if you think energy prices are headed up.

States where you can currently lower your electric bill against the utility default rate include Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.  There are also saving available in Texas if you have not shopped the competitive electric market within the past two years.

Large commercial and industrial electricity customers in PPL who are on a variable rate will see an increase on their electric bills in August due to an increase in their kilowatt hour cost.  Many PPL (Pennsylvania Power and Light) commercial customers who are on default service and are under the PPL rate class of MP, MT, or L5 have their rate directly tied into the wholesale energy market.

From January until June 2010 these default customers have enjoyed low default rates as the wholesale prices have averaged between $0.06 and $0.08 cents per kilowatt hour over the period.  However, in July these rates got out of hand and were as much as $0.30 cents per kilowatt during some hours.  Many of these MP and MT rate class customers can expect their kilowatt hour cost to be above $0.10 when their August bill arrives.

These large commercial and industrial energy users did not have an incentive to shop the competitive market for low electric rates because the floating rate that they were receiving were so low.  Now that these variable rates have increased, many of these commercial electricity customers will shop the market for low fixed electric rates from an electricity company offering competitive supply rates.  Large commercial electricity customers can find fixed rates as low as $0.073 per kilowatt hour, which can help these customers budget against volatile energy prices.

Current wholesale prices for electricity for PPL can be found at www.pjm.com