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So a few years ago they tricked someone in my household to switch over to AmbitEnergy, under disguise as a ConEd rep asking for account info.
We've been using them for a few years but now it's renewing late April or so. Are there other options out there that are better? And is it better to switch back to ConEd? I'm located in Brooklyn, NY.
Would like to know what others do for their electricity and experiences..
Did someone come to your front door and speak to you about switching? I usually refuse to speak to such people. I think sticking with ConEd is the best option as I am suspicious about other so called money savings options.
Not all ESCOs in NY are scammers, but most of them are. IIRC isn't Ambit some BS MLM scam? I think they lost some court case here for overcharging and had to pay back a bunch of customers. I'd definitely do a little research before sticking with them.
So a few years ago they tricked someone in my household to switch over to AmbitEnergy, under disguise as a ConEd rep asking for account info.
We've been using them for a few years but now it's renewing late April or so. Are there other options out there that are better? And is it better to switch back to ConEd? I'm located in Brooklyn, NY.
Would like to know what others do for their electricity and experiences..
TIA
I think most of these electricity providers are much the same thing.
Not all ESCOs in NY are scammers, but most of them are. IIRC isn't Ambit some BS MLM scam? I think they lost some court case here for overcharging and had to pay back a bunch of customers. I'd definitely do a little research before sticking with them.
Yeah, Ambit is the one I was thinking of. They had to pay out $1M in refunds. My wife's uncle was trying to run the MLM side on them last year and I did a bit of research before saying no thank you.
Quote:
The state investigation was launched following complaints about Ambit's customer disclosure statements and renewal notices, particularly for customers who were moved from a guaranteed-savings plan into a variable rate plan charging significantly more.
Ambit Energy is an ESCO. ESCOs are for-profit private companies. They do not produce electricity or gas and just buy it from the producers to sell to you and make a profit. Con Ed is public entity that is really limited or non-profit. With that said con-ed is the best option because no matter what they say to you at your door, it is likely to be cheapest. Some of these ESCOs are scams and overcharge. Frankly, I don't know why they are allowed by law. I don't know if it's an experiment with neoliberalism or if they buy electricity from non-con Edison sources to assist with the power-needs of NYC or if they are all just useless scam artist middleman
Actually, the ESCOs were mandated by law. The state wanted the break the Coned''s monopoly on both the production and retain ends of the electricity market. So the made it sell off all of its generating capacity, an created the ESCO system to sell electricity to consumers. Coned just handles local distribution.
If you've gone to an ESCO, you can switch to another one, but I don't know if you could go back to buying directly from Coned. Even if you could, there's no reason they'd be any cheaper.
Actually, the ESCOs were mandated by law. The state wanted the break the Coned''s monopoly on both the production and retain ends of the electricity market. So the made it sell off all of its generating capacity, an created the ESCO system to sell electricity to consumers. Coned just handles local distribution.
If you've gone to an ESCO, you can switch to another one, but I don't know if you could go back to buying directly from Coned. Even if you could, there's no reason they'd be any cheaper.
Yes classic neoliberalism.
And like I said ESCOs are usually more expensive. I got tricked into signing up for one too years ago and they jacked up my rates because they are trying to make a profit. When I went back to conedison which is a publicly owned non-profit utility, my rates were much lower you want to know why? Because non-profit always beats for-profit.
These guys called via phone with clever wording that made it seem like they were ConEd and got our account info to change service. Not exactly what was said.
But with that said, what other options are there or that are reliable?
I'm not even sure how to tell what is a good rate. Anyone have a baseline?
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