melev

It's that time of year again when many of us are going to be powering up our A/C systems to keep our homes and tanks cool. With that usually comes higher bills, so if you've not done anything about energy savings, now's the time.

Go to PowerToChoose.org and type in your zipcode. You can go through all the energy providers and find a good deal. For me, I prefer 12 months fixed, and limited the list to show just that. I've been with StarTex for the past 12 months, and was paying 10.3 cents per kWh. My contract ends in May, so I checked their rates against their competitors, and discovered they offered 9.4 cents. The lowest rate available was 9.2 cents, but I decided I could live with that tiny bit since I know I'll still be saving money and StarTex has been good customer service-wise.

I don't have my monthly usage in front of me, and it varies throughout the year because I don't do average billing. But for some real numbers, if I used 2100 kWh for a month, my current rate would be $217, but with the better rate I just agreed to, it would be $198. Saving $19 for the month. My home is all-electric, so I've seen months using around 1600+ to 3100+ kWh.

Btw, years ago TXU was eating us alive, but I noticed today that their rates have dropped significantly. Now 12 months with their company is 12.4 cents, which is down at least by a nickel.

I hope this helps some of you.