Electric Company HELP!!! (Dallas, Austin, Plano: sales, live in, price)

[zildjian415]

Ok, I currently live in Austin and I am moving to dallas because of my job. I have never had to pick an electric company before. Can someone give me some guidence on which one is the best? I am looking at Reliant Energy are they good. The place I am moving to I will only be at for 2 months and then I will be moving to the uptown area. Any help would be greatly thanked.

[GoPadge]

Well with only a 2 month stay, I wouldn't recommend a contract....

I haven't heard any complaints about Reliant, or most of the other company's. Other than some grumblings about Stream's sales network. (From what I've read it's practically a MLM scheme like Amway. I couldn't say from personal experience.)

[loves2read]

FTW paper had article a week or so about choosing energy provider--
do a google search for Star-Telegram and energy providers and see what comes up--don't think rates for plans will vary that much between Dallas and FTW...if you are into going green you might think about Green Mountain--all non-fossil-fuel derived energy--might pay more but you could pat yourself on the back for doing your part to keep carbon emmissions down...

You need to explain your situation when you apply--there are penalties if you try to cancel contract early but they just might move your service from one address to another...

[zildjian415]

Thank you for the replies....I never though hooking up electric was going to be such a pain...I still have not decided who I am going to pick. is 13-14 cents a good rate? Here is what my AUstin electric bill looks like

Total Consumption in KWH-961

500.00@$ .0355000 per KWH-$17.75
461.00@$ .0602000 per KWH-$27.75
961.00@$ .0334300 per KWH-$32.13


What would a normal bill look like for me in Dallas? This all is very confusing for me. Not to mention I have never had contracts before with electric or ever had to choose.

[scyogi]

I am with Z on this. The entire electric thing is just odd. I thought there was a web site that you could compare eletic companies but I have misplaced that in file 13. If any of you natives would like to guide us newbies that would be great. Also, who are the service providers for phone service in Texas? (Things I forgot to look up before I left.)

[momof2dfw]

Phone companies are Verizon or Southwestern Bell. They are locally dictated though for the most part. Verizon has been busy putting in fiber optics in some areas. Most of Garland was the first area in the Dallas area to get fiber and it has been GREAT!!!!!!!! You may not be able to pick what phone company you want in some areas yet. A couple of years ago AT&T came thru town and sold phone systems but it used a satelite system and there were MANY problems. I don't think they still offer it anymore.

I don't get to pick my electric provider since I live in a city that owns their own power company. That is fine w/ me as our electric bills have beaten a lot of peoples that do get to pick.

I don't think we can pick our gas company either, TXU is the main one in the Dallas area. Oops, it is now Atmos. All these name changes, mergers, etc........ errrr.

Cable is the same in some areas. You can be stuck w/ who the city has a contract with unless you get dish or satelite or Verizon has installed fiber in your area. We had Time Warner (stinks) until we switched to the Fios w/ Verizon recently for our cable, phone and internet. Not many areas have this choice though.

Water - most are thru the city.

[LOK222]

Originally Posted by zildjian415

Ok, I currently live in Austin and I am moving to dallas because of my job. I have never had to pick an electric company before. Can someone give me some guidence on which one is the best? I am looking at Reliant Energy are they good. The place I am moving to I will only be at for 2 months and then I will be moving to the uptown area. Any help would be greatly thanked.

what do you mean by "Good" ?

I have them and when I flip my switch, the lights come on

[GoPadge]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Phone companies are Verizon or Southwestern Bell. They are locally dictated though for the most part. Verizon has been busy putting in fiber optics in some areas. Most of Garland was the first area in the Dallas area to get fiber and it has been GREAT!!!!!!!! You may not be able to pick what phone company you want in some areas yet. A couple of years ago AT&T came thru town and sold phone systems but it used a satelite system and there were MANY problems. I don't think they still offer it anymore.

I don't get to pick my electric provider since I live in a city that owns their own power company. That is fine w/ me as our electric bills have beaten a lot of peoples that do get to pick.

I don't think we can pick our gas company either, TXU is the main one in the Dallas area. Oops, it is now Atmos. All these name changes, mergers, etc........ errrr.

Cable is the same in some areas. You can be stuck w/ who the city has a contract with unless you get dish or satelite or Verizon has installed fiber in your area. We had Time Warner (stinks) until we switched to the Fios w/ Verizon recently for our cable, phone and internet. Not many areas have this choice though.

Water - most are thru the city.

I was stuck with having to pick Verizon for my local service. They took about a week to actually perform the phone install and another two weeks to get my internet access installed. In their defense they could have had a copper line turned on within a day or two, but I went with FiOS for phone and data (combined package with unlimited LD and 5MB download rates run right at $100). Fortunately the Dunkin Donuts on Coit and Park in Plano has free wifi and free refills on coffee.

I've looked into switching to AT&T, (since I work for one of their division,) the price would save me about $5 - $10 a month with faster internet access (6MB vs 5MB), but since Verizon owns my lines it will take 10+ days for phone and 6 weeks for DSL. Currently I'm still debating the switch.

[lh_newbie]

Site with the options for TX:

www.powertochose.org

Z - 13-14c/KwH will be about the same you get here in Dallas also. Expect your bills to be about the same.

[socketz]

Originally Posted by GoPadge

I was stuck with having to pick Verizon for my local service. They took about a week to actually perform the phone install and another two weeks to get my internet access installed. In their defense they could have had a copper line turned on within a day or two, but I went with FiOS for phone and data (combined package with unlimited LD and 5MB download rates run right at $100). Fortunately the Dunkin Donuts on Coit and Park in Plano has free wifi and free refills on coffee.

I've looked into switching to AT&T, (since I work for one of their division,) the price would save me about $5 - $10 a month with faster internet access (6MB vs 5MB), but since Verizon owns my lines it will take 10+ days for phone and 6 weeks for DSL. Currently I'm still debating the switch.

FiOS uses GPON ONTs built by Tellabs here in town....have you heard about the IPTV services Verizon is looking to offer over the FiOS network ?

Trivia: FiOS is an Irish word for knowledge...