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  • Almost Fall – Texas Power Grid Update

    How about this fall and winter?

    Texas lawmakers say changes should provide protection for our Power Grid this winter, but other critical changes will be harder to execute.

    A hearing this week in the State House Energy and State Affairs committees began with an optimistic report that the reliability reforms that were passed in Texas and implemented at the PUC & ERCOT are working. The state continues to switch from the old extra-electricity-when-needed (crisis-based) structure to a reliability-based model that focuses on keeping the lights, heat, and AC running.

    Rules are in place to fine energy producers for non-compliance is up to $1,000,000 per day.

    Nonetheless, the costs for winterization, inflation, and higher energy prices thanks to Russia are driving up delivery charges by some 50%. That doesn’t include the upcharges coming from REPs (Retail Electricity Providers) either!

    It will be a burden on both commercial and residential electricity customers throughout Texas.

    There is concern about additional changes to restructure how energy producers are compensated.

    It could become a turf battle to determine if more power plants are built. But if the state doesn’t get companies to build new power plants, it doesn’t matter what is done in the legislature.

    If additional generation capacity is not added to the grid, we’re going to be in great trouble.


    Ways to Lower Your Electricity Bill

  • The Real Power To Choose

    In 1999, Texas passed a law that changed the marketplace so residents and businesses could choose their electricity provider with various types of customer service levels, plans, rates, etc. The free market was supposed to encourage competition and lower prices.

    In conjunction with the new law, the Power to Choose (www.powertochoose.org) was intended to be the fact-based, unbiased website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to compare electricity rates for your home (residential), but big electricity companies are sneaky!

    Sure you have the power to choose and shop around to hunt down the lowest electricity rate but electric companies have the power to deceive too. They have learned how to skirt the system and present devious terms into their offers/contracts to dup residential electricity customers into paying a high rate.

    Save on Your Electric Bill

    GET THE BEST ELECTRICTY RATE

    Everything Wizard Energy does is rooted in honesty and Impartiality in dealing with big electricity companies. Today, we partner with Chariot Energy because they offer a clear and low fixed-rate.

    Please note that you will leave this website and connect to Chariot Energy.

    Here’s what to look for and how to get the lowest electric rate in Houston and throughout Texas in 2022.

    Minimum Usage

    This is a sneaky tactic that is a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The electricity provider adds a “minimum usage” term in the agreement like 2000 kWh. If you use that much energy you get a rebate. If not, no rebate. This allows them to advertise a really low rate when a residential customer uses exactly 2000 kilowatt hours.

    If you are conservative with your energy usage at home and don’t reach the minimum usage, then you do not receive the rebate, and your effective price on electricity essentially doubles going from $.14/kWh to $.28/kWh or higher. And once you go above 2000 kWh, the rate steadily goes up to a very high rate steadily trending up from $.14/kWh up $.05 every few hundred kilowatt hours you use over 2000. It is a awful tactic and unfortunately the PUCT allows it.

    Avoid “minimum usage” at all costs!

    Market Rate (Indexed) Electricity Price

    The rate you pay in an indexed rate plan (also called market rate plan) can go up or down each month. The difference is that the rate is tied to a pricing formula connected to a publicly available index. If the index rises, your monthly rate will also, but if the index falls, your rates will be lower. With an indexed plan, the price per kWh can change substantially each month, which is a HUGE RISK.

    Any rate tied to a formula for residential electricity should be avoided. It’s an unnecessary complication. Why can’t they just present a simple price? Avoid “Market Rate” electricity plans!

    Changing Rate (Variable) Electricity Price

    Variable rate plans have no monthly contract or cancellation fee, but the rate you pay per kilowatt hour can vary from month to month. The rate can go up or down based on the discretion of a big electricity company.

    You can gamble on free market prices falling in the future, but you increase the risk of it going up due to natural disasters, cold winters, or adverse market conditions.

    This is not worth the risk. The electricity company has zero risk and you take it all. Avoid “Variable Rate” electricity plans!

    A fixed-rate plan has a set rate that doesn’t change throughout the contract. It is as simple as that! It gives you peace of mind and allows you to budget your household.

    Texas

    Ready to Simply Get The Lowest FIXED (BEST) Electricity Rate?

    Please note that you will leave this website and connect to Chariot Energy.

    Other Ways to Lower Your Electricity Bill

  • Concerned About Electricity Prices? Here’s an Annual Electric Rate Comparison

    If you are not sure if electricity prices have been going up, have a look at this!

    The data has been compiled by the PUCT (Public Utility Commission of Texas) from REPs (Retail Electric Providers) and PUC approved price to beat rates using representative usage levels. The rates are calculated using the Commission Approved Residential Load Profile for each service area. This is not intended to make any kind of a recommendation for our clients to utilize a particular electricity provider.

    Although the Public Utility Commission of Texas works hard to make sure the prices are accurate, Wizard Energy Savings and the PUC makes no warranty that the prices in these archives are currently being offered.

    The average prices shown in these documents represent average annual prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Because Some REPs charge rates that vary by season or usage level, the actual average price listed on a your bill for any given month will probably differ from that listed here.

    Electricity Prices in 2019

    Electricity Prices in 2020

    Electricity Prices in 2021

    Save on Your Electric Bill

    GET THE BEST ELECTRICTY RATE

    We love to hustle in order to lower your electric bill and save you money…

    …so you make your business better without worrying about overhead!

    If you want to go back further, the archive goes all the way back to 2002… click here.