Choosing an Electric Generation Supplier

I never understood how Toledo, equal distance between two nuclear power plants, doesn't have cheaper electricity.

Yeah, The Spouse looked at the same offer. I guess it only makes (business) sense to assume that First En. has done the math and they don't see any way that prices will exceed 6.9 cents/kw for the next seven years ... they sure wouldn't extend this offer if they expected to lose large amounts of money across their whole customer base.

I think for a shorter period of time you can get a price of 6.49 cents/kw. I'm going to wait and see what happens before I commit to anything.

^"I never understood how Toledo, equal distance between two nuclear power plants, doesn't have cheaper electricity."...same reason re: gasoline prices when Toledo has refineries in/around - we're not supposed to

We sit next to lake erie. Explain the extremely high water price.
Oh yeah, government incompetence and corruption, I forgot for a minute.

I have a buddy who lives in Phoenix who pays less for water than I do.

I just checked the PUCO website for electric rates. Toledo Edison is not even close to lowest rates. I have made a choice to go to AEP at 5.69 cent/kw for 24 months.

Our water bill is slowly but surely becoming the highest utility bill in our household. Crazy.

Glad I put this topic up there. Thank you for the responses. I called First Energy Solutions and found out my present contract was for 6% off the price to compare which is located on my bill and fluctuates. After talking with the lady at First Energy Solutions for a bit they offered a fixed rate of 5.69 cents per KWH (I was presently paying a fluctuating rate which is 6.37 cents presently)

My new fixed rate will be good through December 31st, 2015, basically a little over 3 year term. My average monthly usage which is located on my bill is 339 KWH.

For anyone who is contemplating going through this process in the future my advice would be to first look at your Toledo Edison Bill. Then go to Toledo Edison's website and from there it is all pretty self explanatory. Pretty easy process actually.

Phoenix still owes almost a billion dollars in loans for it's water system, it's rates won't stay low for long.

Because the owners of said nuke plants love profits so much that they can't be bothered to shut the fucking nukes down to do proper maintenance, just like one of them couldn't bother to do routine tree trimming and caused a huge blackout. Then they get socked with enormous fines, bitch about how regulation is responsible for their absurd rates, bitch some more about how they can't build a new nuke plant because of the regulations and liability, and finally jack rates up on us even more while throwing all sorts of wrenches into renewable energy, particularly when individuals or companies want to set up wind or solar or whatever to feed back into the grid and cause the meter to run backwards so the utility has to pay them.

I personally hope to win the lottery and be able to afford turbines and solar panels enough that I completely cover my peak demand so I can make WorstEnergy buy off of me 24/7. I'd take perverse pleasure in the idea of them having to suck it and send me a check every month. :)

Going off grid is a noble pursuit, wait until the EPA shuts down more coal plants if you want to see electric rates shoot out your eyeballs though.

Because the owners of said nuke plants love profits so much that they can't be bothered to shut the fucking nukes down to do proper maintenance, just like one of them couldn't bother to do routine tree trimming and caused a huge blackout.

Not so. The owner of any nuclear plant is not in love with profit as much as they are trying to remain competitive. At its very best, nuclear power is just slightly less expensive than coal, but the maintenance on a nuclear plant is incredibly expensive. In the case of Davis-Besse the design is badly flawed; the plant should have never been built using that design.

The tree trimming excuse is pure stable dressing. First Energy is trying to make us believe that their power grid is so fragile that cutting a single power line with a fallen tree limb will deny power to 50 million people. I didn't buy that story then and I don't buy it now. That problem started with incompetent employees at First Energy and it finished at the same place.

Fining a utility company is incredibly stupid. The people responsible for incurring the fine aren't injured or inconvenienced in the slightest, and the fine is passed along to the consumers. If the government were really serious about nuclear safety and regulation, the violations would be criminal and the vice president nuclear would be served with an arrest warrant at 3:00 AM by a SWAT team. Let the cops terrorize his family and take the no good SOB out in handcuffs doing the high step perp walk in front of a bunch of TV cameras and you'll see results. Until then, good luck.

As for alternate energy - wasn't there something recently about government loans and a solar panel company? Memory fails me. So far solar and wind generation have only been economically feasible when they are subsidized by the government. I don't feel like subsidizing either one, thanks.

Nevermind the lotto.
That plan is so fiscally sound that you may be able to get stimulus dollars for it.

Danneskjold, I looked back at my bills and the rate has gone down over the last year almost a full penny per kwh. Right now, I pay 6.76 and the lock-in for 7 years is 6.99. I don't mind having a contract for that long and I don't like worrying about it every year or every time I get a letter in the mail from some new supplier with their introductory rate. I signed up.

Nana, I'm a spreadsheet junkie. I told my wife I think I'll spreadsheet this for the next three years to see what savings or expense the three year contract we just set up incurred. She just rolled her eyes. I hope it works out well so we both make out reasonably. I'll be interested in that rates I'll see at the end of 2015.

Here is a short term forecast of US retail electricity prices, with the pertinent information selected.

http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/report/electricity.cfm

"U.S. Electricity Retail Prices. EIA expects the average U.S. residential electricity price will rise by
1.6 percent during 2012 to an average of 11.99 cents per kilowatthour. The forecast cost of
natural gas delivered to the electric power sector is about 28 percent lower in 2012 compared
with the previous year, which should slow the growth in retail electricity rates. EIA projects U.S.
residential retail electricity prices to rise by 0.9 percent in 2013. When measured in real terms,
the average 2013 residential electricity price is 2.9 percent less than the price in 2009."

There are organizations that make long term predictions, however I haven't found one yet. Still looking.

Its in here, somewhere. I've got to toddle off to work.

http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/chapter_market_trends.cfm

Danne, let us know how that works out for ya, lol. Personally, I think the price of everything always mostly goes up, so it WILL be interesting to check my bills now and then against current prices, but maybe only once a year. and even if it goes down, it's not going down by much, the difference is infinitesimal for the amount of electricity we use.

Hi, I checked and you can't be on the budget with those fixed rate plans.