Electric companies--so many choices! (Houston, Katy: to rent, broker, how much)

[gusmahler]

I just moved to the Houston area from the Phoenix, AZ area. In Phoenix, there are two electric companies, but each has a monopoly--you either live in an SRP area or an APS area and you get your electricity through them.

I just reached an agreement to rent a house in Katy. My broker told me to go to a website and choose my electric company. I figured that I would maybe choose between a couple of companies. Nope. There are 233 plans for my neighborhood, according to Power to Choose.

Is there anything a person new to Houston needs to know about choosing an energy company? It says to base it on how much energy I will be using per month. But I literally have no idea how much energy I'm going to use in Houston (e.g., I don't know how often I will be using air conditioning). FWIW, in Phoenix, my energy usage ranged from 355 kWh in the spring to 1797 kWh in the summer for a 1300 sq foot house. I will be living in a 2500 square foot house in Katy.

[eylu]

depends how new the house is but given the climate you could probably use your Phoenix numbers as a good base for estimation purposes.

[SuperPollito]

It doesn't help that there are multiple promotions such as free electricity at night, etc., that you have to read the fine print to know how it's really priced.

[SL Hawkeye]

As someone who once had a $400 increase in one month due to a summertime fluctuation in the variable rate, I always recommend locking into a fixed rate.

I'd recommend doubling your Phoenix usage, as your home size has doubled. You won't see 118 degree temps here, but it's not the "dry heat" you're accustomed to.

[detachable arm]

Champion energy for 2 years and forget about it.

[aero100]

If you invest about an hour into understanding the powertochoose web site you can save a tremendous amount of money. Powertochoose displays a price per kWh in three tiers of monthly usage (500, 1000, and 2000 kWh). That price is the sum of the following:

1) Provider base monthly fee (if any)
2) Transmission service charge (this pays for the lines to your house and it is Centerpoint Energy in most of Houston. It is regulated, currently fixed at $5.47 per month + 3.9 cents kWh, and the same no matter who you pick).
3) Energy generation charge by the provider (usually between 1 and 10 cents per kWh).
4) Rebates, if any. Usually for a specific usage level.

You can see the exact breakdown of each plan by clicking on the "Fact sheet" link on each provider. Be wary of rebates, they are usually targeted at a specific usage and may cut off precisely at 2001 kWh (meaning the 2000 kWh price looks attractive on the summary page, but may go up drastically if you top it by just 1 kWh).

Most of the plans are priced low to attract new customers and are from 3-24 month contracts. Typically 45-60 days before the contract ends the provider contacts you to pick one of their (more expensive) long term plans. At this point you can go right back to powertochoose and just pick another provider and get the introductory rate from them. It is ridiculously easy to switch providers (usually takes about 5 minutes) and just keep grabbing intro rates. As a customer, about the only difference I notice is the web site to pay the bill.

Since you don't know your usage (which depends on square footage, age/efficiency of the house and HVAC, and your personal preferences) I'd pick a 3-6 month fixed plan that is relatively evenly priced across all usage tiers. See how it goes and then just switch it when it is ending after you understand your usage.

You should easily be able to keep your bill in the 6-7 cents per kWh range, sometimes less.

Every 3 to 6 months I spend 10 minutes reshopping my electric when the contract expires. I think I have accounts on the web sites of 5 different companies, the same username/login works when I switch back to them. My neighbor and I compete on who can find the best deal.

[ilikeme]

Originally Posted by detachable arm

Champion energy for 2 years and forget about it.

Agreed. I have them and they have been great. Much better than TXU. I have a promo code if anyone wants it. We each get $25.

[huma281]

powertochoose.org and mytruecost.com