Market price for electricity in Southeast Texas is about 14.5 per kilowatt-hour.
We were able to lock in a 3-year rate contract yesterday for 10.6 per kwh. The rate can't increase even if electricity prices double in the next 2-3 years, which they will.
My advice is to call your energy providers now, and see about extending your current contracts or get on a plan with fixed, low rate for at least the next 2-years if possible. Winter is coming.
If SHTF, you don't want to be paying "market rates". During the Texas Ice Storm earlier this year, some people (without set rates) were being surprised by $4,000 electricity bills. We got the same service, but our entire bill that month was $380. Lock in now.
I'm not sure if I have that option?
It's worth a few phone calls or simple internet search to check for your area.
We stayed with a major company (Centerpoint Energy). Texas has a competitive electricity market, so there are a lot of companies competing for customers.
I'm some states, you only have one or two providers and no competition. However, companies may still offer set-rate plans.
Search for "Alternate Energy Suppliers" for your state. Also the website for your utility should list some, deregulation laws require them to do so (not sure if in every state.)
Smart.
Holy shit and I thought the $0.077/kWh in Illinois was bad! I'm coming off a previous 1 year contract at $0.064.
Do the same thing for your gas supply if you have that utility, I was paying $0.28/therm in October 2020 and it was already up to $0.53 September 2021 and rose to $0.63 this month. Many of the alternate providers want business so bad they've dropped the early termination fee to $0 so I grabbed a 3 year contract fixed at $0.50/therm knowing I can drop it if prices do eventually go down before then.
I continue to pay one bill to the utility, it's just a line item showing the price they then pay to the alternate provider.
We did find lower rates, but decided to stay with a major company, even if the rate is a bit higher. Fly by night companies tend to do exactly that. After the ice storm, a lot of independent providers were wiped out of the electricity market.
In uncertain times, I'd stay with a more reliable provider, even at slightly higher cost.
Hmm. Thanks anon. Hadn't even crossed my mind.
I was distracted by everything and didn't think of it last spring (the best time to lock in rates), looking back on the charts the natural gas price doubled a month after Buyden closed down Keystone XL, I should have done this the day they announced that EO.
There is only one electricity provider where I am, and it's the government. There are no "contracts" for electricity. You have to pay what they charge. Period. Anyway, what you're paying seems like a lot. My bill this winter will be less than $100 a month.
How would you buy electricity from someone else anyway? There's only one set of lines going by my house. It's like there's only one cable TV line going by here and only one set of phone lines going by here. They are all monopolies.
It's complicated to explain but the utility doesn't own all of the power plants just like how those who own the oil pipelines don't own the refineries putting their liquids into them.
It's still a monopoly here. There's one electric company, and it's the government. That's who I have to pay, and always have. And they're the ones who fix the lines, unless there's a disaster and out-of-town people come to help.
I don't have any say over who the electric company here gets the electricity from. There are only two suppliers, and I don't see much difference between them.