syrasnow

http://www.energypluscompany.com/tru...ndex.php?at=EM

Earn points and save on your electric bill. Hmmmm. Sounds interesting.

Seat13c

It does sound interesting. Too bad I'm stuck with PSEG here in NJ.

sbm12

Check the price of the energy VERY closely. When a similar CO deal came up the price for the energy was too high to make it worthwhile for the points.

syrasnow

It just has to be better than National Greed's rates.

Eve6MediaHQ

This is nice in theory, but apparently you have to compare the rates every month. Some months it is cheaper than letting Con Ed supply the energy, but some months it is the opposite. It seems too good to be true to just be earning True Blue points for something that I wasn't before.

For example, even if this didn't save me one penny, it would obviously be worth the True Blue points alone (even though at 1 point per $100, you aren't getting a free trip anytime soon).

The real issue is deciding if it is worth it for you to possibly pay more for electricity, but constantly have this extending your True Blue points expiration date. It might be a good choice for someone who can't get the AMEX, but wants to extend their expiration.

It would be awesome if someone in NYC has the time and energy to do a cost analysis on this and see if it would be worth it to switch based on the last 6 months worth of rates, considering the Jet Blue points you will receive from this promo. I don't have the time to run the numbers, but perhaps someone does? I believe that if you call up Energy Plus they will give you the past few months rates and then you have to compare it to the rates on the supply portion of your most recent ConEd bill. Report back here if you take the time to do it. I am curious!

Seat13c

Just out of curiosity, is New York regulated to the point where it's just one service provider (i.e. National Grid) or does the consumer have a choice?

(here in NJ, Its PSEG (or whatever company depending on your area) or nothing when it comes to your power bill).

syrasnow

It's no longer regulated in NYS, but as someone said, it's not easy to follow rates as they always change.

I've gone ahead and signed up. We have the AmEx card through our business and just recently obtained a personal card. I love the award flights. SYR is notoriously expensive to fly out of, so a free flight is good thing.

Seat13c

Thanks for the info. I'm probably going to switch our Buffalo area property over. Getting to a few free flight won't be a problem with that property.

syrasnow

If the heat is electric, then you'll have a free flight in no time!

Seat13c

Heat is not electric but we do run about $10,000 to $13,000 per year in electric bills for that property (owned by the company I work for). Its a real estate holding that requires outdoor community lighting in addition to what is being consumed indoors.

BTW, aren't we running off on a tanget?

sbm12

How is this going to extend the expiration of the points? I see no indication anywhere that such a benefit is part of this service.

syrasnow

Oh. I was thinking it was a personal piece of real estate you were talking about. LOL.

And yes we are.

Seat13c

Now the trick would be to convince my boss to let me use the ticket for personal use instead of one of a business use.

somedude24

Not exactly...

PSE&G is the power DISTRIBUTOR for northern New Jersey, but your power SUPPLIER/GENERATOR can be chosen amongst several. You pay PSE&G the part of your bill dedicated to getting the energy supply to your home and to maintain the wires, but you can opt to pay someone else to generate it. My guess is that New York's deregulation works in a similar fashion--it would be virtually impossible to have some other set-up where neighbors could get their energy generated, distributed, and maintained by different companies.

At our home, for example, we participate in the NJ Clean Energy Power Choice program. For 2.0 cents extra per kWh, or about $10 extra in a typical month (when we started, it was an absurdly reasonable 0.9 cents per kWh, or about $4 extra per month), we buy all our energy from Green Mountain Energy, 50% small hydro and 50% wind. PSE&G still pipes the electricity to our house, and still responds to service calls, and technically still provides us with a mix of whatever energy's going onto the grid--but our energy purchase offsets our use by putting that much renewable energy onto the grid, which is shared by other NJ households. I can't imagine the NY program working much differently--the energy on the grid is shared, but an individual household or business can choose to purchase their share of electricity generation from a particular supplier.

Though, it would be nice if PSE&G customers could participate in this offer!

Off topic #1: Here is info for PSE&G customers about energy choice in NJ.

Off topic #2: If you live in New Jersey and want to do your small (and affordable) part to save the earth, check out CleanPower Choice. Frankly, it's a much more direct offset than flying and planting some trees on another continent, and it's a lot cheaper than buying a Prius.

Eve6MediaHQ

Earlier on I wrongly asserted that this would extend expiration for all miles. I forgot that Jet Blue points aren't expired simply by activity - they all have separate expiration dates.

My mistake.