Heads up on What is Going on in the Market This Month

Right now the market is still close to a 3 year high. We saw electric rates in Texas go up the entire month of June and now in July we still see energy prices rising higher. Most people have noticed in the news of how oil has reached $148 setting an all time historical record. The energy sector is up across the board and Houston electric rates are the highest in the state of Texas. Houston must pipe in their energy from far off causing line losses. The power consumption and demand of Houstonians causes congestion and they just don’t turn on enough power plants in your town to meet peak demand periods. Because of these issues you pay ridiculously high prices. Last year rates were around 10 – 11 cents kWh. If you are now trying to renew an energy contract or lock in again you will be surprised to see Houston electricity rates about 5 – 10 cents higher then last year.

July 2008 Electric Rate Chart

We have Houston, Harris County, Brazoria County, and surrounding Centerpoint Energy utility areas electric rates listed here from best to worst. A 12 month fixed Houston electric rate is recommended as rates are expected to travel back down. Long term contracts are cheaper, however you would be locking in at the top of the market when the expectation is that electric rates will be coming back down before 24 and 36 months. Many of the electric rates in the chart below are discount 12 month fixed electric rates. By clicking on the links below and signing up online you will achieve a slightly better rate then what that company normally advertises.

Residential Electricity Close to a 3 Year Historical High

The market is way up right now and a question on a lot of peoples mind is if they should sign up on a 12 month fixed rate contract or a longer term such as a 24 or 36 month fixed rate contract. Right now a 24 month and 36 month fixed rate contract is cheaper then a 12 month fixed rate. The reason you get a cheaper rate as you go longer terms is due to a correlation with the natural gas market. Natural gas futures contracts are cheaper as you go out on a longer term. You can verify this by looking at futures contracts for natural gas on one of many commodity broker quote sites. The key to what you should do is in the contract. The reason they give you a cheaper rate is because they believe rates will come down between now and 24 months or 36 months from now. Because the commodities traders expect rates to come down they have a strategy to sell you on a longer term contract at a cheaper price. Many people fall for this but keep this in mind, you would be locking in at the top of the market.

We recommend signing a 12 month fixed electric rate agreement and trying again next year. We have a comparison chart listed below of multiple electric companies in North Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, McKinney and the rest of the Oncor Electric Utility area of Texas. Compare and pick a provider. Some of the links below are discount 12 month rates, cheaper then what the Texas electric companies generally offer. Simply click the provider you want to go with and sign up online. The Texas government will automatically take you off your current electric provider and put you with your new one. You will not need to call your current provider to be taken off as this happens automatically.

July 2008 Texas Electric Rates in North Texas

Find a rate you can be confident about for the next year and try again next year. The market is very high right now so these rates will be much higher then what they looked like last July. The rates are updated as of July 6 2008. Many times the market will go up or down within a few weeks. You may click on the links below and possibly find the company offering a slightly higher or lower electric rate as we move further into the month of July.

Missouri City Commercial Electric Rate Chart

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Comparing Electric Rates

Feel free to call us at 1-800-971-4020

To get started in finding a competitive electric rate you first need to find the most competitive electric providers and understand their electric rate plans. If you are a residential electricity customer we have done the research and have the best providers on the top left of this page. The rates on the top left are discount offers so they are a little cheaper then what is normally advertised with the same provider. For commercial electric rates it is a bit more involved as the price can be bid down through a reverse auction process. Each provider in Texas may offer a similar energy plan to another but they all have a plan or two that has the terms and conditions more in the favor of themselves then your company’s bottom line. We have gone out to all these providers multiple times and have negotiated the best possible terms and conditions through a reverse bidding process that works the energy rate down to its cheapest point. After the retail margin is as thin as we can get it we put a proposal together showing the top competitive Texas electric companies competing for your business. An energy consultant reads through the fine print in the contract and makes sure everything is legally in industry standards. At this point a company can safely pick among multiple monthly terms and be assurred that the winning providers terms and conditions in the contract will be fair and beneficially in the commercial business’ outlook.

The Need For A Building Permit Prior To Turning On Power

If you are opening a new commercial business in Missouri City Texas you want to make sure you have the building permit forms filled out so that construction plans happen on time. If you try and get the power turned on too soon before the proper building permit and inspection has happened you may find your building contractors waiting around for the power to be turned on. Make sure you get this done as soon as possible so you can proceed to the next step in the building process. You may proceed to Missouri City’s Buildng Permit Information site for more information.

Learn more about Texas Electricity

Learn which electric providers in Texas are offering the lowest residential electricity prices.

Not all counties have become deregulated in Texas

Although several counties in Texas have become deregulated there are many others that have a small population and have not chosen to go this route. These counties have their own municipal power and sometimes pay far less then the rest of the deregulated state but just as often pay the same or even more then the rest of the state. This problem of paying more then everyone else yet not having a choice to go elsewhere for energy is when people start to go up in arms.

What can a residential customer of electricity do to save money on electricity when they have no choice?

 Many residential power consumers have invested in large wind turbines at an investment of about $15,000 (including batteries, inverter and accessories) and have been able to sell excess energy they are not using back into the power grid. There is a Texas law in the books that requires the electric companies to buy back the energy a residential household or commercial business does not need. By supplementing your energy needs with a wind generator you could average down an electric rate of 9 cents\kwh to around 0-2 cents\kwh. Some energy users have even made money after calculating it out over the entire year.

Ellis County Texas has several cities that are deregulated to offer competitive electricity

Among these cities are:

Bardwell
Cedar Hill
Ennis
Ferris
Grand Prairie
Glenn Heights
Mansfield
Maypearl
Midlothian
Ovilla
Pecan Hill
Red Oak
Waxahachie
Alma
Garrett
Italy
Milford
Oak Leaf
Palmer
Venus

 When shopping for a competitive electricity product you will see a wide variation between residential electric power and commercial electricity rates. The commercial rates are significantly lower then residential. This likely will not change for quite awhile as there just is not an incentive for the Retail Electric Providers to become more competitive for residential electricity.

Commercial Electricity as of May 23 2007 has a lowest rate achieved at .0903 cents\kwh. This does not include the TDSP charges which range anywhere from .01 cents\kwh all the way up to .08 cents\kwh. Most people spend about 3-4 cents\kwh on TDSP charges. The only way to find out for sure what the utility charges are that you pay is to call your Transmission and Distribution Service Provider in your area. For Ellis county the TDSP would be TXU.