Electric Utility Suppliers (York, Duquesne, Wyoming: how much, zip code, costs)

[Hopes]

Has anyone here opted for an alternate supplier via Duquesne Light?

Which company did you choose? Are you saving much money?

[robrobrob]

I went with Dominion recently. Not sure how much I am saying but the rate is lower than Duquesne Lights. I also looked at First Engery.

[Bong477]

Dominion promises you 10% off duquesne rates. Assume its true, id imagine its slightly less than 10% off the full amount of the bill due to fees/surcharges/etc. Waiting on my first bill since the switch still though.

I changed my supplier in Baltimore under a similar deal and the results were as expected.

[greg42]

Yeah, it won't be 10% off the whole bill; you'll get 10% off supply and transmission. Distribution is about 1/3 of my bill that I just looked at, so assuming that's pretty uniform (should be, as it is also charged per kWh, plus there's a fixed "customer charge", look at Page 3 of your bill) then you'll get 10% off about 2/3, or maybe a little less, closer to about 60%, of your total bill.

So the math would go like this: if your total bill is $100, then the 10% discount would really be about $6 and change. Still, that's $75/year at least, and certainly more if your bill is higher. Seems like I've seen rates that knocked more like 15-20% off, but look for 2 and 3-year terms on those, probably. There could be reasons not to be locked into such long terms, not sure. The rates don't seem likely to go down, but you never know, and new things like smart metering may be put in place within a few years that would also affect rates in a way where you could get a discount for off-peak usage.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Has anyone here opted for an alternate supplier via Duquesne Light?

Which company did you choose? Are you saving much money?

Everyone with an electric meter should know about the options in PA, so here's a couple of useful links:

Commonwealth Foundation - Citizen's Guide to Electric Choice & Competition

Electric Shopping Guide

[greg42]

Also, PA Power Switch - Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

That site lets you plug in your zip code and get the comparison rates. Either source of rates could be out of date, though; you only know the true rate from the provider itself.

Plus, some of them are variable rates anyway. Dominion's is fixed and with no cancellation fee according to this site, but if you're willing to lock it and risk a cancellation fee you can get even lower rates.

You also have to watch because the guaranteed lower than Duquesne Light may only last for x time. That means that after that time, their rate may shoot up to HIGHER than Duq Lt. This is what happened when I switched a few years ago. So of course I switched back, but not before losing a good chunk of my original savings paying them more. It's important to set some kind of reminder for the end of the rate guarantee (they're betting you will forget like I did) or at least look at the "rate to compare" EVERY month on your bill and compare it to your competitive provider's rate.

[kjtocool]

You're crazy if you don't switch. There are no drawbacks, only positives. The key is to get a fixed rate contract, stay away from the variable crap.

I myself went with TriEagle Energy and am paying 7.18 ¢ per kWh, down from the 9.33 ¢ per kWh I was paying. Sadly, only about a third of people bother switching, despite the only hassle being the 2 minutes it takes to formally switch online. Your bill, who you pay, literally everything else remains the exact same. It couldn't be easier. I locked in for 24 months, so now I don't have to worry about that bill getting raised for a couple years.

[greg42]

How long is the TriEagle contract? That's the cheapest one in the list on PAPowerSwitch, but it noted the cancellation fee. That, to me, is a drawback, although it's a minimal one compared to, say, when you're locked into a cell phone carrier. When the power goes out, you still call Duq Light like before so service doesn't really change.

Ah, missed your edit. 2 years, not bad. I think First Energy wanted 3 years for their lowest rate.

[kjtocool]

As far as I'm concerned, the longer the better. If you move, you can break contract without issue. It's only if you opt to stay where you are and switch suppliers that you'll break contract. I'd say, why would you want to do that? I have a hard time believing electricity costs will go down, certainly not by any extensive amount over the coming three years. There seems more of a chance prices go up.

I'm happy to lock in, it stabilizes your costs, you can budget accordingly. One less thing to worry about.

[kjtocool]

Some more information:

The three States with the highest average price of electricity in 2010 were:

Hawaii (25.12¢ per kWh)
Connecticut (17.39¢ per kWh)
New York (16.31¢ per kWh)

Those with the lowest average prices in 2010 were:

Wyoming (6.20¢ per kWh)
Idaho (6.54¢ per kWh)
Kentucky (6.75¢ per kWh)

The average retail price of electricity in the United States in 2010 was 9.88 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The average prices by type of utility customer were:

Residential: 11.6¢ per kWh
Transportation: 11.0¢ per kWh
Commercial: 10.3¢ per kWh
Industrial: 6.8¢ per kWh

So locking in at a rate near 7.2 is very near the lowest you'll go.