PECO energy is the utility company that delivers electricity to Philadelphia and surrounding areas.  PECO is the largest utility in Pennsylvania in terms of the number of customers it serves.

Many PECO energy customers might be unaware of their ability to choose an alternative electric supplier for the generation portion of their electricity bill.  With price caps being lifted earlier this year, the PECO service area is now a fully competitive electricity market.  Customers can lower their electric bill by shopping for an electric company who is offering a lower rate than the PECO default rate.

Below are some PECO offers that are lower than current PECO default rates.  PECO electricity default rates will change every three months.  According to PECO, the PECO residential rates are expected to increase this summer.  Locking in a fixed electricity rate with a competitive electricity company will save you money right away and protect you from future rate increases.

Some of the offers below also include promotional offers such as gift cards and cash back.  Click on the offers for more information.

PECO energy customers might notice a slight increase on their energy bills this month.   February 2011 will mark the first set of bills that PECO electricity customers receive that include PECO default rates since capped rates were lifted on January 1, 2011.

Many PECO customers are still unaware that they have a choice when it comes to who supplies their electricity, and some of those choices will result in savings on the electric bills.  Though it should be noted that many electric suppliers are offering rates that are higher than current PECO default rates.

Most electric suppliers offering service in the PECO area offer a single billing option.  In other words, if you choose to switch electric suppliers, you will still only receive one electric bill per month from PECO for the delivery and supply of your electricity.  The alternative would be to receive two bills; one from PECO for the electricity delivery, and one from the new electric supplier for supply service.

The single billing option combined with a lower electric rate than the PECO price to compare rate make switching electric suppliers equivalent to getting a rebate from PECO energy.  For example, if you choose a fixed electric rate of 8.9 cents from an alternative electric supplier, you in effect are getting a PECO rebate of 10% off of the current PECO electric supply rate of 9.92 cents.

Below are “PECO Rebate” offers from electricity suppliers who offer single billing.

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 your supplier it is extremely important that you either review the contract thoroughly, or work with a consultant or energy broker who is equipped to do so.

As a business electricity customer, here is what you need to know:

Every deregulated electricity state divides their bill into two basic parts, the regulated delivery part and the competitive supply part.  Depending on who is your local regulated utility will depend on how these charges are viewed on your bill.  Sometimes, like in the case of PSEG in New Jersey, the two parts are clearly divided.  Other times, like in the case of PPL in Pennsylvania, the charges are not so clearly separated.

The competitive supply portion of the bill can further be separated into several components (energy charge, transmission, capacity, line losses, etc.).  When you receive a competitive rate offer from an energy supplier, the rate should include every component of the competitive supply portion.  However, what some suppliers do is give a quote that only includes a portion, and then passes on the rest of the charges in a subsection on the bill.

So for example, you might get an offer from Electric Supplier (A) for a rate of 8 cents that includes every aspect of the competitive supply part.  Then Electric Supplier (B) might offer you a rate of 7 cents that only includes part, say the energy charge, of the competitive supply part.  The remaining part of the competitive supply part (transmission, capacity, line losses) will show up on the bill in a different section, and all of a sudden 7 cents is really 9.5 cents.

Integrys Energy practices the method of Electric Supplier (B) from the example above.  Recently I reviewed a contract that they presented to a customer.  After reviewing the contract I found that the customer would have paid exactly double to what they thought they would have paid.  This is because Integrys divided the competive supply part into two sections, and gave both sections the same exact rate.  This was extremely misleading as the implementation of the exact rate for two different sections was designed to make it appear as if everything would be charged the single rate once.  But after taking a closer look, I was able to see that there would in fact be two separate charges.

To summarize the above paragraph, had the customer signed they would have paid:

6 cents per KWh for (energy commodity)

6 cents per KWH for (capacity, transmission, line losses)

12 cents total

The sales person representing Integrys presented the rate as 6 cents.  The customer thought that the 6 cents was a great offer compared to the 8 cents offer they were getting from another legitimate supplier (the 8 cents offer was found to include the entire portion of the competitive supply part).  In reality the 8 cents should have been compared to 12 cents, and not 6 cents.

People making electricity decisions for businesses need to be aware of these deceitful practices.

A simple way to do this is to email the sales person and ask them:  Does the rate include energy, capacity, transmission, line losses, and all other components of the utility price to compare?

Anything less than a “yes” means that there will be some surprises.

PECO conducted the third of four auctions for power to serve customers starting in January 2011. It was the second in which the company purchased power to serve small and medium commercial and industrial customers. Those two auctions have an average price from PECO of 8.66 cents/kWh for small and 8.63 cents/kWh for medium C&I customers. The retail price for small and medium C&I came from a wholesale energy price of 7.61 cents/kWh.

Because energy prices fluctuate, PECO is buying the electricity needed to serve customers in 2011 at four different times – reducing the risk to customers of purchasing electricity all at one time when market prices could be high.  PECO will complete the remaining purchases in September 2010. The results of all four purchases will determine the exact price PECO’s customers will pay for electricity beginning Jan. 1, 2011.