Electric Choice in MD

[jazz4cash]

I saw some threads about option to choose your electric utility supplier in TX, so thought I would start one for us Marylanders

We got this option about two years ago supposedly, but there was never enough info on the website to make an informed choice. The legislation was passed based on compromise of several years with no price increases. When the price freeze ended last summer, our cost leaped up by 62% This was real motivation for me to shop around, but again.......there was very little choice. The options available were barely cheaper than the local utility....some were higher.

In the course of shopping around, I got 'slammed' into switching to Consolidated Edison of New Jersey. They have a reseller in MD, and I had gone to thier website, put in my info for a quote, and downloaded the authorization agreement to review...........next thing I knew, local utility sent me notice of change of electric vendor. Local utility vendor (BGE) has lousy customer service, so I never got through to a live body to complain. When my first bill arrived with the new supplier, I figured it saved me about $20/month.........not bad. I still called the vendor, ConEd to complain about being slammed, but thier customer service rep was excellent, and explained that one of thier resellers had been warned to knock it off. She offered me a lock-in which increased my avg savings to ~$25/mo, so I was happy. They even adjusted the unit cost DOWN from the lock-in price. The reseller is OHMS Energy. What prompted me to write is that I just got the Jan bill. We have a heat pump that apparently mal-functioned, so it runs all the time. Thanks to the .03 reduction in price, I saved $80 on the Jan bill...........suddenly I LOVE Electric choice! Anybody in MD thinking of switching from BGE should check out OHMs Energy.

 

[ats5g]

Thanks, we live in MD. Are there some appropriate websites that have the info?

- Alec

 

[jazz4cash]

Here's one:
http://www.md-electric-info.com/info-center/shopping.html

try also http://www.ohmsenergy.com/

FWIW our price is currently .089

 

[AlmostDone]

Wow! I didn't even know we had another option. Thanks, we'll certainly check this out.

 

[jazz4cash]

Well..I knew it was too good to last....BGE sent me a letter saying my provider "no longer met specifications and will be terminated from the program". My savings with this provider have been running $40/mo. I am so ticked I can hardly type and the thought of writing angry letters is raising my BP. At this point the Electric Choice Program looks like another scam by big business in cahoots with local gov't. I am convinced that any vendor offering any meaningful savings will be terminated. ARRRRRGHHH!!!

 

[ats5g]

Well..I knew it was too good to last....BGE sent me a letter saying my provider "no longer met specifications and will be terminated from the program". My savings with this provider have been running $40/mo. I am so ticked I can hardly type and the thought of writing angry letters is raising my BP. At this point the Electric Choice Program looks like another scam by big business in cahoots with local gov't. I am convinced that any vendor offering any meaningful savings will be terminated. ARRRRRGHHH!!!

Have you been to the MD office of the People's Counsel site? They've got a price comparison of each supplier in the BGE area.

Also, it looks like OHMS had their license suspended by the PSC.

If you wouldn't mind, could you let us know how finding a new energy supplier goes? We may be looking into this soon.

thanks.

 

[jazz4cash]

Thanks, ats5g......that's a pretty decent site (the peoples council) that I never found on my own. One thing that really had me seeing red was the notice I received which blathered about the 'PJM Interconnect' without ever specifying what the hell that is. Your site spells it out simply:

The Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order indefintely suspending the electric supplier license of OHMS Electric Company, citing problems with the company's payments to PJM, the regional electric transmission company serving Maryland ..... The PSC left open the issue of reinstatement of the license once regulatory and financial requirements had been met by the company.


They have approved suppliers and 'aggegators'. Ohms Energy was the latter. I was paying 9.4 cents on a 2 yr contract. Ohms was a middle man and the generator was Con Ed in Jersey. (I read an article about the CEO of Ohms literally handing out flyers on the street corner for his service.)

BGE charges 11.04. Other suppliers have quoted 11.6-12.5 per kw-hr. There are all sorts of clean plans (5% wind power, 50% wind power, etc) and fixed or variable rates.......its a real mess, the info in the price chart is not the same as the individual utility websites. Everytime I mention Electric Choice to anyone around here they look at me like I have three heads

I am going to call Ohms and Con Ed to see if the problem will be worked out anytime soon.....I guess Ohms could undercut the competition if they neglect to pay the transmission fees!

Then there is the crazy 2-stage stabilization plan....when the 60% rate increase hit, consumers howled so loud they postponed billing (only) for a portion of the increase.........then stage 2 kicked in and there's an additional deferment of some sort that I don't understand neither does anyone else, except they offered to waive interest on part of the deferment only I bet nearly everyone defaulted into paying all the interest...alright gotta get out before I get myself worked up again

 

[ats5g]

When I was b/w jobs in 2004, I had an interview with the MD Public Service Commission (PSC). In the midst of our friendly banter, they brought up the energy deregulation in MD, to which I said "whaaaa??". I mentioned that no one I knew in MD knew about this, to which they were all dumbfounded.

Then we started talking about how real people made choices when they had inadequate information. Like when I got phone service at home. Verizon asked me what long distance carrier I wanted, to which I said, what are my choices, to which the Verizon person said there were over 50 choices but Verizon apparently didn't have any more info on the option/prices of each. Well then how the F am I supposed to make an informed decision??!!! Needless to say we didn't get long distance service.

Anyway, it doesn't look like BGE is screwing us compared to what the other companies are charging for electricity. If you see a good deal, please let us know.

- Alec

 

[brewer12345]

Looks like it would amount to pocket change to go with green power and kick the coal habit...

 

[jazz4cash]

Looks like it would amount to pocket change to go with green power and kick the coal habit...

The green power is a 10-15% premium. We use alot of juice and keep in mind these rates are 60% higher than what we paid in June'06.........its 30-40 bucks a month in the summer for us.

 

[jazz4cash]

"State Mulls Return to Regulated Utilities"
This would be comical if we weren't paying for it..........
washingtonpost.com