Gexa is also terrible. Again, my expertise is focused more on large institutional users and NOT households. Also, markets are different, and most households have pretty bad options to begin with.
Lastly, it depends on your house size. If you don't use much energy and have a smaller place, getting a bad deal for 2 months to get a few extra starwood points might make sense all things considered.
In any case, Starwood made a major blunder and there are people within the organization who would smell the scam involved since they would know that a variable rate must be tied to something specific, i.e. LMP, PJM, MISO, MCPE rates, etc... to do otherwise is as ridiculous as signing a variable mortgage that is tied to nothing rather than to LIBOR, Prime, etc...
Originally Posted by
swag
Here's my experience.
I live in TX, and signed up with Energy Plus for AA miles. I had them for a bit over a year, until yesterday, when I switched. My initial rate was within a half cent per kwh compared to other variable rate plans. Over the year, the rate crept up a little, while other plans dropped. It got to be about 3 cents/kwh above the average, and I finally switched.
I'll compare that to another mileage-earning electric company I used to have, Gexa. When I finally noticed what they had done to my rate, I was paying about double the average kwh rate of other companies.
My point is, I don't believe that Energy Plus is the worst out there. And it's unlikely that your rate will skyrocket after the first month. I do agree that you have to keep an eye on rates, and that the miles you'll earn for monthly spend probably won't be worth the extra that you pay over time. But if you plan enroll to get the signup bonus, then switch away once that's posted, you'll probably be fine.