ESCO for Natural Gas?
Do any of you Brownstoner readers use an ESCO to supply natural gas? What rate do you pay per therm? Any problems?
Do any of you Brownstoner readers use an ESCO to supply natural gas?
What rate do you pay per therm? Any problems?
This may be a little late, but it will be here if someone searches for it. I just got done with my first and only month of natural gas supply from U.S. Gas and Electric. After I did some due diligence and went through the hassle of signing up I expected to see some savings as this was a guaranteed savings plan.
Problem is you can’t really crunch numbers beforehand because nobody will give you good data and it’s really hard to get an unbiased view of the deregulated market — the ESCOs are in sell mode and the utilities’ arms are tied…they can’t say anything bad about them. How on earth is anybody supposed to make an informed decision this way?
Ok, bottom line with this ESCO: more expensive. How you ask? Who exactly is going to tell you you are saving money? You need to research, get the them rate from National Grid, figure the taxes, and crunch the myriad fees (I did this for my first bill). My bill was almost 2% higher.
For March the ESCO’s price per them was $0.80 (although one guy I spoke to said it was $0.79…note: this price isn’t on the bill, I had to call!), National Grid was $0.83. After various transportation adjustments (National Grid couldn’t tell me what that fee was!) and taxes by the ESCO (they got all indignant and wanted me to fax them the bill but I found their ‘boiler room’ phone style insulting) I was paying more. I cancelled on the spot in what turned out to be a hilarious conversation. Imagine trying to convince a customer to stay because you want to overcharge them. I’d love to hear other owner’s experiences.
National Grid gave me the contact number (incorrectly btw) for the NYS Public Service Commission to file a complaint. The unconcerned rep there asked me to make copies, put things in writing, mail things off to Albany…I’m surprised he didn’t ask me to include a check.
Anyway, armed with more knowledge and info I’m going to give it another shot.
I’d like to know the answer to this too.
Your question reminded me that when NY first allowed other gas/elec companies, I went on-line to do a search for ESCO. It is the only time I’ve accessed porn: many options for “Escorts” was the result of the search!