It is SHOCKING. The more I explored the PUCO Supplier Apples to Apples chart for electric and natural gas rate offers for residents, the more shocked I was. These offers are being aggressively solicited to homeowners via phone or door to door.
Some suppliers show pricing on the Apples to Apples chart artificially low to start for 1-3 months. Once they have the customer snared, they start billing an excessively high fixed rate after the introductory rate is over. Other suppliers show very high rates so that If customers are auto renewed at the end of their contracted period, they can check Apples to Apples to see if the supplier has a lower rate offer. There won’t be one. Many of the offers have early termination fees up to $150 and a few have monthly fees in addition to the rate shown.
RD Energy electric and natural gas community Aggregation rates to residents are much, much, lower with no early termination fees.
What I recently saw on the Apples to Apples chart is shocking. I’ve been in the natural gas and electric business for nearly 40 years. What I hear from business associates, friends and neighbors about aggressive calls and door to door sales is embarrassing for those of us who have made the energy industry a career. What I saw on the Apples to Apples chart reaffirms that resident and small business consumers need help. Aggregation programs can help lower energy costs and save residents from horrible Apples to Apples offers, the aggressive phone calls and door to door solicitors.
Electric rate offers to AEP residents shown on the Apples to Apples chart ranged from $.0499/kwh for 24 months with a $100 cancellation fee to the worst $.0653/kwh for one month and then $.0925/kwh for 36 months with a $7.5/month Cancellation fee for each month early the customer leaves before the end of the 36 months. All other rate offers fall in between these two extremes. For those shopping for natural gas rates behind Columbia Gas of Ohio things aren’t any better. The best fixed rate was $.44/ccf with no cancellation fee to the worst at $.6681/ccf with no cancellation fee. Many offers were in the $.50/ccf – $.55/ccf price range with up to $150 cancellation fees. One supplier offers free gas supply for the first three months followed by 24 months at a fixed rate to be determined later with a $100 cancellation fee. Can you imagine how high the 24 month fixed rate will be? Guess what happens when all these fixed rates end? Billed prices go even higher. Suppliers assume and statistics prove that the majority of residents never think about their electric and natural gas bill rates again once they have agreed to a deal, so the high auto renewal rates go up even more.
What can county commissioners, city officials and village councils do to protect their residents? How can they get prices at closer to wholesale prices with no early termination fees? The answer is electric and natural gas Governmental Aggregation. RD Energy makes sure the programs provide pricing well below anything found on the Apples to Apples charts. RD Energy makes sure Aggregation customers are never auto renewed into a high variable or fixed rates. RD Energy makes sure the those in the Aggregation program never pays an early termination fee. RD Energy makes sure the renewal rates are negotiated well before the end of the initial term, so the best rates are secured ahead of time and passed on to the residents at the start of the next term. Plus, RD Energy will work with community leaders to get questions and concerns handled quickly and when necessary handle consumer questions one on one. RD Energy makes Governmental Aggregation work!