Houston Electricity Crazy Competition (Dallas, San Antonio: insurance, luxury, utilities)

[glitterik]

Houston electricity rates are the highest in the country. Thanks a lot, Texas politicians.

[tstone]

You can lock yourself in at 10 cents per kWh right now. Before regulation it was quite a bit higher than this. 10 cents is not a steal but it's definitely not the highest in the country.

The problem isn't Americanesque de-regulation. The problem is the average consumer who sits around and wants the government to take care of him. If everyone buying from a high-priced company changed over to a low-priced company, what do you think would happen? The market is the way it is because people are willing to pay it. Simple. Many people still believe unfounded rumors of service degradation. Nothing changes when you switch. Nothing but your unit price.

Deregulation did increase prices at first, but I've been watching the markets ever since and can say they have been slowly & steadily creeping down. The system is finally in place now that rewards the proactive and punishes the lazy. Please don't let it turn into the opposite.

[chris_ut]

I have Entergy in Kingwood too

[ericka709]

Unfortunately, I have TXU and pay $0.133939. Customer service is horrible - I can hardly understand what they're saying.

What's worse, is that I signed a one-year contract with them. Any suggestions for ways to get out of it??

[tstone]

Originally Posted by ericka709

What's worse, is that I signed a one-year contract with them. Any suggestions for ways to get out of it??

Eat the cancellation fee. Is it worth it? Some are big and some are small. If you can project a savings greater than or equal to the fee, with a new company over the rest of the remaining TXU contract period, go for it. You'll give up a little in the short term to come out ahead in the long term. Considering doing this myself right now, because my cancellation fee is only $60.

[ericka709]

Yeah, that is a good idea. My cancellation fee is $100. Usage for January was 1,002 kWh. If I used a company that offered me a rate of 10.9 cents - I would have saved $25 last month. In just 4 months, there's the $100.

I'll be on the phones this weekend, thanks for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by tstone

Eat the cancellation fee. Is it worth it? Some are big and some are small. If you can project a savings greater than or equal to the fee, with a new company over the rest of the remaining TXU contract period, go for it. You'll give up a little in the short term to come out ahead in the long term. Considering doing this myself right now, because my cancellation fee is only $60.

[tstone]

Beware of those companies that offer a great rate, but charge you an extra $10 if you don't meet their minimum monthly usage. This can nail you in the spring & fall when you don't have to use either the AC or heat. I have yet to decide whether or not this is actually a good thing for me. I'm not one for number games.

Glad to see you're taking a proactive approach to this, and not being lazy, blaming our politicians. You know, those people we elected?

[Mr. Football]

Our politicians are corrupt as hell. We couldn't get Bilderberg Perry out of office because two other candidates ran interference in the last election (even though only a little more than 30% voted for him). Now we're stuck with him. As for the others...everyone needs to wake up, Republican or Democrat -- odds are they're in the pocket, bought lock stock & barrel by one of the heavyweight industries in this state.

From Deregulation, whether it be Energy, Utility or Education...has been a bad deal for Texas consumers who've been bent over royally.

[glitterik]

I'm not sure that the folks living in Harris County, Texas are lazy people who "let" their electric companies rip them off. Electric rates are determined in Austin by the Railroad Commission (or some other regulatory body), not in Houston by Houstonians, and deregulation has only allowed service to deteriorate while prices go through the roof. It's a myth that deregulation and the free market solves all problems. I am old enough to remember good rates and good service and that all disappeared from the telephone, gas and electric companies when they were deregulated.

We were sold out in Austin in exchange for political campaign donations. It's an old story. And Houstonians being forced to scramble to find electricity at 10 cents rather than 12 or 13 cents--when the rest of the nation is paying 5 cents--is not a great solution.

[Mr. Football]

Let us not forget who pushed this deregulation scheme through under the promise that it would deliver "more choices and better value to Texans" Enron and Ken Lay (back when they had good names) and the Bushes (back when they had good names).

Enron's gone, but the horrid laws they pushed through remain.