Minimum electrical usage tricks?

[Ghost Town]

Originally Posted by pnc66

Not that it matters, but you're not really getting your electricity from different providers. Centerpoint owns the lines and is who actually supplies the electricity. You're just choosing who to pay your bill to each month.

So if I switch from Reliant to Centerpoint I won't have that ridiculous $25 centerpoint surcharge, correct?

[xiabelle]

Centerpoint does not provide electricity directly to consumers. You're stuck with that charge.

I shop around every time my rate is up. Right now I'm with Gexa because they had the best rate. Before that I had Champions and StarTex and Pennywise. I usually look at both the Power to Choose website and the MyTrueCost, then read all the fine print for the ones I'm considering. I took a 6 month contract this time to get me through to January so rates should hopefully be nice and low then.

The MyTrueCost website is good for seeing your actual usage, and getting a historical map of usage over the last year. We moved to a house recently and fortunately our A/C is better at the house than it was at our apartment and with the addition of a Nest thermostat we are getting usage comparable to the apartment for a bigger space.

[Ghost Town]

Originally Posted by xiabelle

Centerpoint does not provide electricity directly to consumers. You're stuck with that charge.

Thanks! I did not know that. Because I have gas from Centerpoint and pay them directly for my gas bill.