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Have you heard of Texas\u2019 Public Utility Commission\u2019s PowerToChoose.org?<\/p>\nHave you heard of Texas\u2019 Public Utility Commission\u2019s PowerToChoose.org?<\/p>\n
The website allows you to search for electricity providers in your zip code – and to see all the offers they have available.<\/p>\n
However, some of the state\u2019s largest REPs were put on notice to make their offers to consumers less confusing – or the Public Utility Commission would step in and do it for them.<\/p>\n
What Spurred This Action?<\/strong><\/p>\n DeAnn Walker, chairman of the Public Utility Commission, said she felt moved to act because she had received lots of complaints about multi-tiered pricing systems some companies offer.<\/p>\n If you use up to 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month, some providers charge you an astonishingly small 2.3 cents per kWh. However, some plans then spike the rate to more than 20 cents per kWh – even if you exceed the 1,000-kilowatt usage rate by just a single kilowatt.<\/p>\n Apparently, the charge for all usage, not just the one kilowatt over 1,000, skyrockets to the more than 20 cents per hour rate.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, and the Public Utility Commission did not address this, the search engine they created for PowerToChoose.org defaults to sorting by the cheapest price based on usage of 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s exactly where these spikes in rates happen.<\/p>\n We won\u2019t name the company\u2019s name, but one charges $26 per month for 1,000 kWh (about 2.6 cents per kWh) – which is what the average Texas home uses when you average their total usage each month of the year. Some months are more, while others are less.<\/p>\n However, that company charges you a $226 extra monthly fee when your usage crawls to 1,001 kWh. And at that point, you pay 25.2 cents per kWh.<\/p>\n Some plans on that website even charge you a fee for using too little power!<\/p>\n So despite our state\u2019s energy deregulation, we still have quite a mess on our hands.<\/p>\n