The other day I let it out of the bag that electricity is not something really think a lot about….
Instead, I think about clean dishes, clean clothes, clean ME (showering), drying my hair, ironing my clothes and having a cup of hot coffee. (maybe I should think about writing poetry). I am wondering about the cold leftovers in the fridge and who will reheat and eat them before the they go bad, or I make plans to whip up some homemade cookies before the kids come home from school. I’m on top of dinner today and I’m defrosting the chicken I scored for for $1.47 a pound (true story). And how about charging my cell phone that has run out of juice after a day of important texting and coordinating the lives of my children? I think about all these things and more just like them.
It takes a storm to blow in and blow the power out before I think about actual electricity and how none of those other things would be possible without it. Or some other act of God, like our revised (read reduced) paycheck.
Have you had one of those recently? They make life tricky. Not like fun tricky. Like nervous tricky.…. And so, Mr. Greene and I keep strategizing about on how we can stretch each dollar.
I must have assumed that if you need electricity, you automatically know how to buy it. Let it be known: this is patently untrue.
Someone asked me what our electricity rates are. Because that makes riveting conversation. Or else I was unbearably boring. I didn’t have the slightest idea so I did a little digging. I was torn between regretting this little exercise – because to say they are confusing and convoluted is an understatement – and feeling relieved to know there were things I didn’t even know my money was paying for. I had found 45 different electricity rate options for my zip code alone. The power to choose is great but I suddenly felt helpless because there were too many power options! One company alone listed 11 different rates. That’s right, there is not only competition between company providers but competition within each company for your business!
Even though companies claim to have rock bottom rates, no company is in the business of losing money so they will make it up somewhere else and that is where you need to be savvy. It’s a lot like the lowfat craze. The food industry took out the fat which we thought was going to make us skinny except they replaced it with sugar which created a different health deficit that really became the same thing: excess fat! I still feel like a sucker for buying into that one. And between you and me, I’m still wearing that excess fat! This is why I am sharing this! There is stuff to know and we need to know our stuff!
Here are the potential charges, any or all of which, can show up on your bill to go along with that “low, low rate:”
- Charge for the delivery of your electricity – note: this could be in the form of a flat rate or a blended rate with a flat rate base plus a per-kWh charge
- Charge for dropping below a minimum usage – the nerve! Prepaid electricity makes this moot.
- Charge for using certain methods of payment
- Charge for accessing telephone customer service (worry about this if aren’t tech savvy and require help)
- Charge for not having autopay set up
- Charge for paper billing
- Charge for using renewable energy sources (how much green are you willing to trade for being green?)
And if you signed up for a discounted rate, confirm with the company that it’s not an “introductory rate” and will soon go away.
Know your home and know your habits and know if you are moving before you sign up with a multi-year contract. You will need to take time to read facts labels and terms of service and when you recoil at such laborious reading, remind yourself that doing the unthinkable will mean more money to think about spending elsewhere. Prepaid electricity is sounding better and better!