Switching electric providers

[NowThis 931]

i've gone with 0.028 to 0.047 for the Energy Charge for the last 6 or 7 years . Add in TDU and taxes, it's a 0.065 - 0.091 per kwh final price (including the occasional monthly fee which never exceeded $5/month).  Right now Chariot Energy is givein 4.35c /kwh for a 36mth plan - for the Energy Charge and no monthly fee. The TDU Oncor charge is beyond the control of the customer. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by NowThis

[elfenix 34,759]

20 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Just be careful. This was mine a few weeks back. 

 

 

 

 

it was 900.0 cents a few weeks back (due to an error at ercot, which griddy covered).  if you screenshot during price spikes you can make it look terrible.  right now it's at 3.1 cents, or, after centerpoint charge, about 8.5 cents per kwh. 

in another month or two i'll probably shop it again, as i suspect the $10/month griddy fee will be close to 2 cents per kwh on my bill over the winter.

Edited July 30, 2019 by elfenix

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

it was 900.0 cents a few weeks back (due to an error at ercot).  if you screenshot during price spikes you can make it look terrible.  right now it's at 3.1 cents, or, after centerpoint charge, about 8.5 cents per kwh. 

in another month or two i'll probably shop it again, as i suspect the $10/month griddy fee will be close to 2 cents per kwh on my bill over the winter.

I know man. I was using it to illustrate the risks. As I said initially, if you can risk the occasional high bill it’s good. Probably not a risk lower incomes should do, however. 

[Zepol87 9,343]

Been using groddy since I moved in March. Smallish apartment and it works fine for me

[tokamak 6,687]

On 7/28/2019 at 10:24 AM, Dutchrudder said:

So far so good.

Isn't Griddy $10/mo? Do they give you the first month free or something?

 

Anyway, energy seems pretty cheap to me right now. Plenty of long-term fixed rate plans on powertochoose for <9 cents at the moment, even 100% renewable if that's your thing. If I were in the market, I'd sign one of those suckers and never look back. They also seem to have done away with a lot of the fuckery around making the plans look great on powertochoose and fucking you in the fine print.

[NowThis 931]

10 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Isn't Griddy $10/mo? Do they give you the first month free or something?

 

Anyway, energy seems pretty cheap to me right now. Plenty of long-term fixed rate plans on powertochoose for <9 cents at the moment, even 100% renewable if that's your thing. If I were in the market, I'd sign one of those suckers and never look back. They also seem to have done away with a lot of the fuckery around making the plans look great on powertochoose and fucking you in the fine print.

yes, powertochoose.org is a more stable and better deal than anything else. Rates drop in the cold months too, so best to time it for that with a long term plan. Even 36 mo plans are low, which didn't happen bfore iirc. I'm fixin to jump on a 3 yr plan this fall and not worry for a while. 

[mdmost 44,091]

If you're going to use powertochoose then check this site first as the guy who started it does a much better job of giving you the true costs behind the plans. 

https://www.texaspowerguide.com/

Edited July 30, 2019 by mdmost

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,741]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

If you're going to use powertochoose then check this site first as the guy who started it does a much better job of giving you the true costs behind the plans. 

https://www.texaspowerguide.com/

The site wants $10 now to discover the names of the plans which I don't blame him for wanting to get paid for his work. But its not difficult to figure out the plan name by comparing it to PowerToChoose.

This is really the best site to analyze and compare plans, especially if you have a years worth of usage history.

[mdmost 44,091]

He used to just have a suggested donation of $10 but then switched to the $10 to reveal the plan names. I mean it's a one time $10 donation to a guy who created the site that helps you save hundreds. Yet people are fine with paying Griddy $10 a month. 

[NowThis 931]

5 hours ago, mdmost said:

He used to just have a suggested donation of $10 but then switched to the $10 to reveal the plan names. I mean it's a one time $10 donation to a guy who created the site that helps you save hundreds. Yet people are fine with paying Griddy $10 a month. 

each month quoted by posters here for Griddy - my powertochoose has them beat every month.  Heck , i got a 3.1c Energy charge with Reliant over 12 months which expired, then went with a slightly higher rate and still beats Griddy. The $120 / year is like an extra mid level month for no reason. It's a scam IMO. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,741]

If you’re in a small house or apt, I don’t see how griddy can be saving you much money after their fees are taken into account. Same with energy ogre. You’re most likely not using enough electricity to offset the fee.  You’re subsidizing the other griddy customer who has the 4500 sq ft house, and has the same fee.

And while $10/mo isn’t going to break anyone, throwing $10 away is still unnecessary.

(And if you want to find the best rate for free, just ask this group.  Someone will look it up for you.)

Edited July 31, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Telegraph_it 3,379]

7 hours ago, NowThis said:

each month quoted by posters here for Griddy - my powertochoose has them beat every month.  Heck , i got a 3.1c Energy charge with Reliant over 12 months which expired, then went with a slightly higher rate and still beats Griddy. The $120 / year is like an extra mid level month for no reason. It's a scam IMO. 

You are able to find an all in rate below 8.0c/kWH for an entire year? The lower rate plans I have seen are all gimmicks. Once you don’t meet the criteria for the bill credit have fun paying 12 to 15c/kWh. 

[NowThis 931]

39 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

You are able to find an all in rate below 8.0c/kWH for an entire year? The lower rate plans I have seen are all gimmicks. Once you don’t meet the criteria for the bill credit have fun paying 12 to 15c/kWh. 

from June 2017 to Aug 2018, paid $1697.11 (includes taxes) for 23,030 watts .  so 7.37c / kwh

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,741]

46 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

You are able to find an all in rate below 8.0c/kWH for an entire year? The lower rate plans I have seen are all gimmicks. Once you don’t meet the criteria for the bill credit have fun paying 12 to 15c/kWh. 

Anyone willing to post on this thread or crunch the numbers isn’t paying $.15.

[Telegraph_it 3,379]

22 minutes ago, NowThis said:

from June 2017 to Aug 2018, paid $1697.11 (includes taxes) for 23,030 watts .  so 7.37c / kwh

Haha. 10 4. Either you have a big house or built one without insulation or that’s a business. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

This site has overhauled how they do business. They show the rates at every 250 kWh instead of just 500/1000/2000 like industry standard. They also added a bill analyzer that will show you what you'll pay on a specific plan at each month when you input usage, and they'll compare it to a "flat" traditional plan that doesn't have any bill credits or confusing wrinkles (which usually ends up cheaper). Just shift the pointer on the colored line to look at usage and sort.

https://www.texaselectricityratings.com/electricity-rate

When you click analyze rate on a plan it will really, really break down rates in crazy detail. Here's an example page:

 

https://www.texaselectricityratings.com/analyze-your-plan/constellation/12-month-w-bill-credit

[NowThis 931]

1 hour ago, Telegraph_it said:

Haha. 10 4. Either you have a big house or built one without insulation or that’s a business. 

your math is whack.  If there's bad insulation, the payments would be double or triple; no it's not a business.  Seems you don't believe it, that's on you. 

So i was doing a spreadsheet; here are the raw #  -  pennies /kwh per  billing period

0.073257403
0.071571919
0.071921783
0.073130919
0.078568075
0.079562982
0.078308571
0.079835052
0.078906395
0.080475664
0.070929752
0.085694536
0.082230321
0.065742574
0.071343028
0.065363757
0.065762887
0.068544563

Edited July 31, 2019 by NowThis

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

This is what I’m talking about. That’s not s blip it’s going to be a high as fuck bill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mycox 587]

I'm shopping and it's hard to find a good rate under 1000 kWh. 6 - 7 months out of the year I'm under 1000 kWh , and I'm finding most companies jack up the rate very high when you are under.

No natural gas for me and 3 of those 1000 kWh months are in the winter (Dec - Feb), so maybe the low winter rates would work in my advantage with a company like Griddy. I imagine renewal rates will also be cheaper in the fall and winter? Is it almost impossible to find a flat fixed rate under .10 these days?

[elfenix 34,759]

This is what I’m talking about. That’s not s blip it’s going to be a high as fuck bill.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not far from you and mine doesn't look like that. Granted it's the next day but my electric charge is at ~2x the tdu vs yours which is 3x.  I'm guessing you're not as able to turn off the AC in the afternoon.

 

 

 

I'm shopping and it's hard to find a good rate under 1000 kWh. 6 - 7 months out of the year I'm under 1000 kWh , and I'm finding most companies jack up the rate very high when you are under. No natural gas for me and 3 of those 1000 kWh months are in the winter (Dec - Feb), so maybe the low winter rates would work in my advantage with a company like Griddy. I imagine renewal rates will also be cheaper in the fall and winter? Is it almost impossible to find a flat fixed rate under .10 these days?

 

 

Griddy is worse when you have low usage b/c the membership fee is flat $10/month and they pass all other costs through.

 

 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

18 minutes ago, elfenix said:

I'm not far from you and mine doesn't look like that. Granted it's the next day but my electric charge is at ~2x the tdu vs yours which is 3x.  I'm guessing you're not as able to turn off the AC in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

Griddy is worse when you have low usage b/c the membership fee is flat $10/month and they pass all other costs through.

 

 

Well, the next day matters. A lot. Its spot pricing. All you’ve shown is that in back to back days there’s been huge stretches of 3x and 2x prices. And turning off the a/c wouldn’t effect your rate, just the usage. The troubling rate is that for the week of August 1-7, my rate was 17 cents. There’s no spinning that. This is more than 2x market rates from some traditional plans right now, AND the added risk. 

Its not getting any better soon, Bloomberg said that the grid is expected to have it’s highest output of all time this week. Count the # of times you’re charged this month. 

Edited August 8, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[elfenix 34,759]

Well, the next day matters. A lot. Its spot pricing. And turning off the a/c wouldn’t effect your rate, just the usage. The troubling rate is that for the week of August 1-7, my rate was 17 cents. There’s no spinning that. This is more than 2x market rates from some traditional plans right now, AND the added risk. 

I'm not talking about the spot pricing. I'm talking about your total electric charge for the month.

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

15 minutes ago, elfenix said:

I'm not talking about the spot pricing. I'm talking about your total electric charge for the month.

Ah, I see what you mean now. That’s still off to me, the ratio should be the same so I’d think the rate would be the same. There’s something in the math there I’m not understanding. 

Either way, this is still what I was trying to say about griddy. It’s risky. I’ve got s buddy who’s already been charged 4 times this month. And they don’t explain the risks to laymen. 

[elfenix 34,759]

1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

Ah, I see what you mean now. That’s still off to me, the ratio should be the same so I’d think the rate would be the same. There’s something in the math there I’m not understanding. 

 

i think you're just using a larger % of your electricity during higher rate periods than i am.  that'll cause your electric charge (variable) to be a bigger multiplier of the TDU charge (flat). 

[luke duke 6,452]

I pre-chill the house before the worst rates hit. 2000 sqft built in the ‘50s.

[elfenix 34,759]

^^ if you want to get the most from griddy you can do some pretty serious home automation stuff.  a/c is obviously the first one, prechill and take advantage of any negative rates by running it colder (or warmer in winter) than you otherwise would.  you can put the water heater on a wemo, there's smart fridges, etc. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

And if you haven’t you get this

 

 

[elfenix 34,759]

well, you always get that.  you just have your smarthome thing programmed to not have the ac/fridge/water heater come on when the rate is $1.21 unless your food is about to rot and your dog is about to expire of heat stroke. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

57 minutes ago, elfenix said:

well, you always get that.  you just have your smarthome thing programmed to not have the ac/fridge/water heater come on when the rate is $1.21 unless your food is about to rot and your dog is about to expire of heat stroke. 

Ha. I meant No Way To Mitigate that. My buddy thinks his bill will be 800 this month

[elfenix 34,759]

of course there's a way to mitigate that.  don't use electricity at that time.  the big spikes are usually over in 5 minutes.  that's where the smart home shit comes in. 

if you work from home or you're a senior or have a baby or something, then maybe griddy isn't for you.  though, i think everyone should be on it rather than having the price of electricity hidden from them, maybe you'd get more people actually programming their thermostats.  you're not home?  no need for your ac to be set to 68°. 

[luke duke 6,452]

Get on http://www.ifttt.com and link your smart thermostat to Griddy.

 

[mycox 587]

This sums up Griddy pretty well.
https://www.energychoiceexperts.com/ece-blog/2018/11/25/griddy-review

Is Griddy right for anyone? Well, if you meet all of the criteria below, they might be right for you. If you don’t meet these criteria, don’t waste your money on Griddy’s service.

• use a lot of electricity. If you use only 500 kWh/month of electricity, the $10/month fee is effectively an increase of 2 cents/kWh, which significantly increases your annual cost of electricity. However, if you use a lot more electricity than that per month, the effective increase has less impact. For example, if you use 5,000 kWh/month, the effective increase is only 0.2 cents/kWh.

• You have the ability to change your usage based upon the current wholesale price. In order to reduce your electricity usage when you get a price spike, you need to invest in smart home features such as thermostats and lights that you can control from your smartphone no matter where you are. For a cheaper, but less effective option, you can program timers for your pool pump and appliances to run during hours the rates are typically cheaper.

• You are willing to adjust your lifestyle around current energy prices. Once you’ve made the investment in smart home features, you must also be willing to change your lifestyle to get the savings. Melissa K. turned off her heat on a cold morning when the rate was over $1/kWh, over 25 times the usual rate. Many people would probably do the same for such a high spike (though some might choose a warm house over saving money). But what if the rate is $0.20/kWh? What if it’s $0.15/kWh? At what point would you be willing to be hot in the summer or cold in the winter? Further, can everyone living in the house agree to the same breaking point, or will Griddy ultimately lead to family arguments? Is monitoring energy prices and changing your lifestyle accordingly a hassle you are willing to endure?

 

 

[swraith 348]

If you are on Griddy in ERCOT, tomorrow could be very....interesting.

 

ERCOT Load Forecast

ERCOT load forecast for 8/12/19....LF is >1000 mw higher than scheduled generation. Maybe more wind shows up or maybe more thermal generation shows up....or maybe the Load Forecast disappoints and load comes in lower. If none of those happens...real time pricing should see some real fireworks.

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

On 8/9/2019 at 9:59 PM, luke duke said:

Get on http://www.ifttt.com and link your smart thermostat to Griddy.

 

Actually, if your thermostat is a Nest I don't think that's an option anymore, or won't be soon.

 

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3075335/work-with-nest-closing-ifttt

[luke duke 6,452]

Good thing I have an Ecobee

[Horns99 172]

Ercot Same day printing $625 right now, tomorrow is $800


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[luke duke 6,452]

Turn off the A/C

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

11 minutes ago, luke duke said:

Turn off the A/C

I literally just came here to post this screenshot. It's fucking unbelievable. 

 

[luke duke 6,452]

Don’t worry, it can only go up to $9/kWh.

[TxTower 686]

Turn off the A/C

Just went back down to $0.50.

[TxTower 686]

I’m looking at a $400 Bill this month if this keeps up. WTF is up with these prices spikes?

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

1 minute ago, TxTower said:

Just went back down to $0.50.

Mine is at $7.50 currently. 

[Telegraph_it 3,379]

1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

Mine is at $7.50 currently. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

1 minute ago, TxTower said:

I’m looking at a $400 Bill this month if this keeps up. WTF is up with these prices spikes?

It was expected, man. Super hot summer. These kind of spikes happen all the time. You just never heard nor needed to pay attention to them before because a locked in rate isn't an issue. 

Got at least another few days of these kinds of rates, and if it doesn't start raining regularly, they're just going to roll together just like 2012. 

[elfenix 34,759]

turned off the a/c and brought the dog to the office. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

2 minutes ago, TxTower said:

I’m looking at a $400 Bill this month if this keeps up. WTF is up with these prices spikes?

I'm going to use about 1700 kWh this month at the current pace, and the bill is going to be about $500 at this rate, maybe $550.

The problem is that every kid who's on griddy, who lives in apartment with shitty A/C units is probably totally and completely fucked this month. 

[SydneyCarton 49,520]

1 minute ago, elfenix said:

turned off the a/c and brought the dog to the office. 

Yeah, we have 2 cats and a dog and those aren't options. 

Reddit users looooooove Griddy, and you see it on Nextdoor all the time. I wonder if we'll start to see actual backlash from people who didn't really understand the risks involved, or if cognitive dissonance will rule the day. 

[Telegraph_it 3,379]

Just now, SydneyCarton said:

Yeah, we have 2 cats and a dog and those aren't options. 

Reddit users looooooove Griddy, and you see it on Nextdoor all the time. I wonder if we'll start to see actual backlash from people who didn't really understand the risks involved, or if cognitive dissonance will rule the day. 

You definitely will. Griddy has been quick with the emails as of late explaining the price spikes. It won't work. 

[elfenix 34,759]

now down to 7.5 cents

[Damor 1,246]

Thanks to you assholes I pre-cooled the casa this morning and turned everything off when it started to spike.  I'll still get slammed, but hopefully that will help.  This will be an expensive, shitty month, but June and July were cheap enough for me that I'm OK riding it out. 

Thanks to my camera, I can see that my 14yo is too distracted playing Fortnite to notice that it's 78 degrees.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Damor