Ultimately, analysts said, this means that the vast majority of customers are not reaping the benefits of electricity deregulation, which promised that more competition would mean healthy savings. One analyst estimates that consumers are leaving about $2 billion a year on the table, which is likely flowing to the bottom lines of retail electricity companies.
Keeping on top: With deregulation, a whole host of electric resellers jumped into the market because there’s a whole lot of electricity to sell: if Texas were a country, it’d be the 11th largest electricity consumer in the world! Just by itself, it uses as much electricity as Spain or Great Britain! That means there’s a whole lot of information you have to find, absorb, and process to make sure you’re getting the best rate for your needs.
Geek Your Rate: This website finds you the lowest-priced electric provider and plan in your area based on your last 12 months of usage (You have to type it in from your bills). You pay a one-time fee of $9.95 to access the rates and the website's algorithms to find your best plan for a 48-hour time period. You can also try it for free to see how it works, but the data Geek Your Rate gives in the free trial are 6 months old. More info
Prices on longer term plans of a year or more have also risen significantly. Retail electricity providers are reluctant to discuss their prices — especially rising ones — but the Association of Electric Companies of Texas, a trade group, estimated that the rate on a one-year fixed price offer on the Power to Choose website has climbed more than 20 percent over the past year to an average of 11.1 cents per kilowatt hour.
*Qualifying purchases. 1 membership per 12 months. Meerkat Meals – 2 for 1 on equivalent starters, mains and desserts. Cheapest free. Sunday to Thursday. Participating restaurants. Booking required, max 6 people. Excl Kids meals, drinks and certain days. App only. Meerkat Movies – 2 for 1 on Tuesday or Wednesday. Participating cinemas. Standard tickets only. Cheapest ticket free. Please note your claim may take up to 48 hours to validate. Rewards T&Cs apply
Since 2002, Amigo Energy has been one of the best electric companies in Texas. Not only that, but more recently we’ve received far fewer Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUC) complaints than most other large residential electricity providers across the state.2 In fact, our customer service gets even better over the phone because our call-in customers have yet to file a PUC complaint this year.3 This ain’t our first rodeo—with over 15 years of experience and a track record of reliable service, you can trust Amigo Energy as your retail electricity provider.
We carefully screen Texas electricity providers in your area. Then, we list electricity rates and plans from top providers in a user-friendly format on our website, so you can compare the information. We handle the complex concerns and considerations, so you don’t have to. With our assistance, you no longer need to track down different electricity companies, rates, and plans, because we provide all the information you need to choose the best provider.
Electric companies buy longer-term contracts so they can hedge their risks when they’re selling long-term electricity plans. Just a week ago, it looked as if wholesale prices would be as high as Texas has seen in the past 15 years, said Ned Ross, director of governmental affairs for Direct Energy, the third biggest seller of electricity in Texas, behind No. 1 NRG and No. 2 TXU. Future prices have retreated recently, but companies buying power for August are still paying at least double what they paid a year ago, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which oversees the state’s power markets.
Take a few minutes to sit down and do some digging. Not only do you want to find out exactly which Houston power companies operate in your neighborhood and what it is they have to offer, but you want to find out which are the cheap power companies in Houston. You’ve just bought a home! You need to save as much as possible everywhere you can until you can get at least some of the move-in expenses paid down. Now, while it’s true that most Retail Electric Providers require a deposit if your credit is poor or you haven’t had a utility in your name, not all of them do. Even with those that do, some will accept a letter of guarantee, where someone else guarantees in writing that they’ll pay the bill if you don’t, in place of a cash deposit. This can be even more useful once you consider that the typical deposit is 1/5th to 1/6th of an annual bill – if it’s a brand-new home, it might be that the only record of use is that of the construction company and that would be a seriously large deposit, indeed!
The more cool air you lose, the harder your air conditioning unit works and the higher your electricity bill will be. Install blinds, hang curtains or get storm windows made to keep cool air from seeping out. Even mesh screens, on the outside of your home, will help deflect solar radiation. You might even consider replacing old windows that leak cold air and let in heat.
Your most effective weapon, however, is a site like ComparePower (Power to Choose) to locate and compare details from various Houston electricity resellers. In one fell swoop, you will efficiently and quickly locate and classify cheap electricity resellers all on one page, instead of wasting your valuable time searching out available companies and visiting their websites one by one (who even does that any more?).
You may have noticed a lot of electric companies offering a ton of plans and services. But not all light companies in Texas are created equal. So which one is right for you? At Amigo Energy, we want you to trust that you’re getting a custom energy plan at a good price—not just a quick fix that’ll cost you more down the road. In fact, JD Power gave us four out of five stars for pricing, beating out a ton of other large retail electricity providers.4
If you live in the greater Houston area, there are over 60 different energy suppliers competing for your business. Many of these providers have websites that are confusing and difficult to navigate, their rates buried in misleading advertising and dense jargon. Who has the time to sort through and keep track of options across all these different sites?
