ewrfox

http://www.energypluscompany.com/aad...&cc=02&pac=AAL

godlovesugly

Does anyone know if the miles offset the cost increase? Is there a cost increase? I've seen this offer before and am wary.

pawtim

My sister lives in NY and signed up for this, and her bill was three times higher than usual. These companies don't generate the electricity, they buy it from the utility, then they mark up the price. It's just adding a "middle man" to the process.

What made it much worse for my sister was that when she called the utility company to switch back, they were in no hurry to come read the meter...between the normal billing cycle and the extra time they took to switch her back, she was with the rip-off company for almost 3 months.
Strongly recommend against.

mahasamatman

I don't know about this particular company, but that's not true for many alternate energy suppliers, at least on the West Coast.

pawtim

I don't know, but I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, unless it was for a seasonal residence with no planned usage.

rbc100

I signed up for this offer at least 6 or 8 months ago and have been very welll pleased with the rates plus the perk of 2 miles per dollar. My electric bills have consistently been lower than with my prior providers over the last few years.I am located in Texas. rbc100

pgary

The company has many miles and points offers from United, American, Delta, and Continental Airlines, U.S. Airways, Jet Blue, Marriott Rewards, Priority Club, and Amtrak. It has expanded to New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas.

The standard offer seems to be 5,000 miles or points, but can go as low as 3,000 and as high as 10,000. Continental Airlines members and residents of Texas are particularly well treated.

All of the offers, updated today, can be found on the Other Programs I Like page of my website below, in the Energy section.

pgary

There are lots of reasons for the dollar amount of a bill going up, the main one being increased use of electricity, and another being increased rates from both the old and the new company. The key measure is not month to month dollar amounts on the bills, but instead the dollar amount charged per KwHr. This number should either be on the old and new bills, or should be easily computed from them. Better still would be that amount from the bill from the new company compared to the published rates from the old company for the same month.

I would be very interested in these numbers from people who have actually done the switch. Please post them here. Thanks.

jonnydoe1234

There's no contract, right? It seems to me that we can switch suppliers after the miles post, and the fine print indicates that happens after the second billing cycle.

Edit: Yikes! I just found these reviews: http://energy-plus-holdings.pissedconsumer.com/ Scroll past each of the three reviews and you'll get even more angry reviews. At this point, I'm not taking the risk on this.

pawtim

Yes, it should be obvious to anyone that using different amounts of electricity would result in different bill amounts.

Residential rates per KwH charged by regulated utilities are set by regulators, and are roughly based on the average cost of producing the electricity plus a "reasonable" profit. (I'm not going to go into all the details about that.)

When another company is buying electricity from the generator, then it is generally charged a variable rate based on demand, etc. at the time the electricity is needed, plus an unregulated markup.

The "middle man" essentially becomes a monopoly supplier, since it's not easy to switch back quickly.

At any rate, if I were living in an area, I'd want to at least know the experiences of other people within my area before switching to this scheme. Ideally, the area would be other customers served by the same utility, but at least the same state.

If you follow the OP's link and look at the **footnote, it struck me as a bit odd that the middle man was comparing it's rates (for this month, IIRC) to 4 specific and different dates for the regulated utilities in NJ. Maybe there's an innocent reason for that, or perhaps not.

abmad

I seem to recall schemes with long distance telephone providers a decade or more ago. They would get you to switch with special and short lived incentives and when you noticed your bill was much more higher it would be really difficult to switch back.

Does anyone else remember this? This certainly smacks of that!

Abagail

Carolinian

I wish North Carolina had competition in electric service. My house back in the states is under a city owned monopoly supplier. The public utilities that serve areas such outside town are significantly cheaper. Competition might also bring some mile offers! However, I would certainly check the rates before making a switch. Getting the best rate matters more than miles.

Adirondacker

I signed up for what was a competive rate, after the first month or so the rate went way above what was available from other providers in NY and I switched to another provider, no miles but significant savings. Look hard at the cost and what you get

glocklt4

Wish I could change!! Stupid CO-OP!!!

sam-i-am

Beware! I bit on this offer (for 10k UA), and paid about double my old rate for the short time I had this supplier (well over a $100. difference).

Switched back quick without even waiting the few weeks to get bonus.

Stay Away!