Energy companies

[eddy]

What's the deal with these door to door salesmen trying to sell you to switch energy companies? It does say on my penelec power bill about having a new service to compare and AEP stopped by my door saying I can save with them and they give me a quote for 24 billing cycles which I'm guessing goes up after that. I'm always weary of these things and had to stop the wife (for a 2nd time) to switching.

[NTP66]

We've had people try and get us to switch at the door, but I decline them and go about my day. That said, ever since PA residents were granted the ability to select our energy provider, I have jumped around from company to company, and away from PECO. Most of my contracts are 6-12 months in length, and it's always a fixed rate with no cancellation fees. I can't recall how much I save on average, but given that it literally takes 2 minutes to complete online, and they handle notifying your energy provider directly, it's a no-brainer. I did have AEP for about a year before switching to Frontier a few months ago.

[eddy]

We've had people try and get us to switch at the door, but I decline them and go about my day. That said, ever since PA residents were granted the ability to select our energy provider, I have jumped around from company to company, and away from PECO. Most of my contracts are 6-12 months in length, and it's always a fixed rate with no cancellation fees. I can't recall how much I save on average, but given that it literally takes 2 minutes to complete online, and they handle notifying your energy provider directly, it's a no-brainer. I did have AEP for about a year before switching to Frontier a few months ago.

So if I did switch it up, is there something I should be looking for besides cancelation fees?

[NTP66]

We've had people try and get us to switch at the door, but I decline them and go about my day. That said, ever since PA residents were granted the ability to select our energy provider, I have jumped around from company to company, and away from PECO. Most of my contracts are 6-12 months in length, and it's always a fixed rate with no cancellation fees. I can't recall how much I save on average, but given that it literally takes 2 minutes to complete online, and they handle notifying your energy provider directly, it's a no-brainer. I did have AEP for about a year before switching to Frontier a few months ago.

So if I did switch it up, is there something I should be looking for besides cancelation fees?

You're in PA, correct? If so, check out http://www.papowerswitch.org, which is the official/legit site to price check. If you're in another state, I'm sure there's an official site that does the same thing.

But yes, the cancellation fee and fixed rates are the two biggest things for me. I have switched to companies that did have low cancellation fees ($10-$20) knowing that I would still be saving money if I did cancel.

I've found that most places offer the best rates on 3- and 6-month contracts, and not so much 12-month rates anymore. That's probably a good thing given how frequently PECO changes rates.

The only issue I have come across is a situation where I try and switch back to a company I have left in the past, which has only happened once. Basically, I switched to AEP a long time ago, then moved on to somebody else. A few months ago, I tried to switch back to AEP because of their low rate, but wound up having to call them to complete the change, since they showed me as being a previous customer. Took 5 minutes of time and they got me the rate, so it was still worth it.

My wife would rather just stick with PECO and not worry about it, but I go out of my way to point out just how much money we actually save by switching.

[Factorial]

How much money?

[NTP66]

How much money?

Looking back through my e-mail, anywhere from $100 to $180 per year. This is going back to 2013.