Evergreen Power Solutions or Similar Concierge Services

[Katsmeow]

We have recently moved to the DFW area and are considering electricity options. In our old locations we were in a co-op so had no choice. Our real estate has contracted with a company that helps us pick utility options. One options is just to sign an electricity contract for a year or two and then evaluate on our own when that is up.

The other option was Evergreen Power Solutions. You pay $20 a month to a company which switches you to the best plan as needed. Normally they switch you every 6 months to year although it can be faster or slower.

The argument made to me by the service suggesting them is that it is hard in Texas to pick the lowest cost service. First, the website that compares them isn't necessarily apples to apples. Different plans have lots of little fees and provisions that can make a big difference. Just now the price per kwh is sometimes misleading due to the other fees. Evergreen Power Solutions though will take all of that stuff into account.

Also, lots of people sign up for a low rate plan and then when it expires they just pay month to month and end up paying a high rate. Evergreen would keep us under contract all the time.

The thing I wonder, of course, is whether this is worth $20 a month. At our old house (about 3000 SF) we used about 2200 kwh a month. New house is 2300 SF so electric should be less. We currently have gas heat at the new house but when the HVAC dies (it is old so could be within a year or two) we may switch to all electric (note the house does have a pool) so our usage could go up.

Anyway - I wonder if anyone has used Evergreen or other similar services like Energy Ogre and if you felt it was worth it or not.

[Texas Proud]

I would not pay $20 a month to so something that IMO is not that hard...


Sure, there are plenty of scam type plans... the newest being 'flat rate' which is not flat at all... what they have is tiered rates... use up to 500 KWH and you pay say $30... so if you use 0 to 500 you pay the same amount... but if you go to 501 you pay like $90 which goes to say 1000 KWH... then another tier and another.... after 2000 you then start paying for each KWH at a high rate... do NOT choose any of these.... big ripoffs even though the structure them to look very cheap when looking at the website....




I have been changing every year for many years... I have been back to a few of the same companies but have never renewed with the same as they do not offer the new customer rate.... and I have asked....


I will be changing next month and probably will be going back to Green Mtn as they seem to have the lowest rate where I pay per KWH....


BTW, I also help one of my sisters and mom choose... sis was on a two year plan that was pretty cheap... will likely be going up 20% when she renews soon... same as me...

[Telly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow .... We currently have gas heat at the new house but when the HVAC dies (it is old so could be within a year or two) we may switch to all electric (note the house does have a pool) so our usage could go up.......

No way in DFW would I give up gas for furnace and water heater and go all-electric for heating of air and water! There is an area near me that does not have gas available, and many wish that it did! On colder days when I walk by, I hear all the Heat Pumps running... $$$$! And then there are the electric water heaters, so silent, quietly guzzling $$, and poorer recovery rates than gas WH, so often electrics need to be upsized gallonage-wise to avoid running out of HW.

Back on topic, I agree with Texas Proud. DW takes it as a challenge to compare companies, and spread-sheets the most likely picks with our historical usage to watch out for gotcha's. A common one is trip points over/under 1,000 KWHr/month where rates change, with historical info we could choose and not get burned if we went over the trip point occasionally. Balanced the penalty increase KWHr cost versus plan cost. And sometimes its not worth worrying about going over, get a plan that doesn't get into that granularity.
The unregulated power market in TX IS pretty snakey!
Oh yeah, we have a pool pump, too.

We are on a Cirro plan now. We had them some years ago, then switched to somebody else, then that company was eventually bought out by somebody else.

[W2R]

Katsmeow, I don't know the information you asked about.

BUT - - I just wanted to say that IMO you already made a brilliant decision for lowering energy bills when you moved from a 3000 sq ft home to a 2300 sq ft home.