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About electricity rates

Published on Sunday, Jul 05, 2009

 

Here's more information about new electricity rates:

• Customers in Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) communities: This includes mostly northern Summit County and a large number of Portage County communities.

Starting this week, you should get an ''opt-out'' letter detailing the NOPEC offer. If you want to be included, don't do anything. If you want to opt out and choose another provider or stay with Ohio Edison, you need to return the form.

There are two new things with regards to the NOPEC offer since I wrote about it two weeks ago. Because of some questions brought up by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio regarding rules on electricity offers, which require at least a 12-month contract, NOPEC Executive Director Leigh Herington earlier this week locked in a rate for another six months to the contract. It was originally to start in August and go through June of next year.

NOPEC's offer with supplier Gexa is a 22-month offer, but the group had only locked in a rate for the first 11 months. Now the contract lasts through 2010. The contract offers an estimated savings of 12 percent off the generation portion of your bill from August through the end of this year, 8 percent for the first six months of 2010 and 2 percent for the remainder of 2010.

Herington said the rate for the last six months of 2010 was not as good as he'd hoped to get, but he needed to lock in another six months. Herington said there might be other offers ''that are very comparable'' to NOPEC's offer. ''We're happy with all of them. It's an opportunity for the residents of Northeast Ohio.''

A bit of good news, as supplier Gexa has reduced the cancellation fee for leaving NOPEC from $100 to $25.

For those comparing the NOPEC offer to the public offer mailed to many of you by First-Energy Solutions (FES), a subsidiary of Ohio Edison's parent company, there is a new difference between the two.

They are now essentially for the same period of time — FES' offer starts in July with a guaranteed 10 percent savings through December instead of August and 5 percent off for 2010. The overall difference between the two plans is 5 cents in savings over the course of the contract for an average residential customer using 750 kilowatt hours (kWh) monthly.

The total savings for the FES offer is $58.86 with a $25 cancellation fee and the total savings for NOPEC is $58.91 with a $25 cancellation fee.

The FES offer was available to the first 10,000 customers who signed up, but the company has expanded it to take another 10,000 customers.

Officials from both companies are saying they believe their offer saves people the most money and that the competitor's offer might not be as good. FES officials say NOPEC's offer is fixed and not a guaranteed savings (NOPEC's numbers are estimated savings) and FES believes some customers might pay more. NOPEC officials say the FES offer would allow the company to pass along some transmission-related increases, if they were to occur, and their offer does not include that.

Customers will have to make up their own minds about this one. Since everyone's usage and bills are different, the savings could vary between the two offers. The bottom line is the offers are not hundreds of dollars in savings apart.

• Wadsworth municipal electric customers: Last week, I reported on average residential customer bills for municipal electric customers compared to Ohio Edison. For the most part, municipal customers have paid lower rates than Ohio Edison customers. But with Ohio Edison's recent rate reductions, the gap has gotten a little smaller.

The original number I reported for Wadsworth, which was $74.03 a month for an average customer using 750 kWh, should actually be $86.

Wadsworth Service Director Chris Easton said an employee erroneously left out a portion of the bill.

So that puts Wadsworth slightly above Ohio Edison's average bill of $84.87. Cuyahoga Falls' bill is $63.22; Hudson's is $82.56.

• If you missed my recent columns about electricity rates: You'll want to read columns from June 21 and June 28 or you can find all of my energy-related stories at http://www.ohio.com/energy.
 /> — Betty Lin-Fisher

 

Here's more information about new electricity rates:

• Customers in Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) communities: This includes mostly northern Summit County and a large number of Portage County communities.

Starting this week, you should get an ''opt-out'' letter detailing the NOPEC offer. If you want to be included, don't do anything. If you want to opt out and choose another provider or stay with Ohio Edison, you need to return the form.

There are two new things with regards to the NOPEC offer since I wrote about it two weeks ago. Because of some questions brought up by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio regarding rules on electricity offers, which require at least a 12-month contract, NOPEC Executive Director Leigh Herington earlier this week locked in a rate for another six months to the contract. It was originally to start in August and go through June of next year.

NOPEC's offer with supplier Gexa is a 22-month offer, but the group had only locked in a rate for the first 11 months. Now the contract lasts through 2010. The contract offers an estimated savings of 12 percent off the generation portion of your bill from August through the end of this year, 8 percent for the first six months of 2010 and 2 percent for the remainder of 2010.

Herington said the rate for the last six months of 2010 was not as good as he'd hoped to get, but he needed to lock in another six months. Herington said there might be other offers ''that are very comparable'' to NOPEC's offer. ''We're happy with all of them. It's an opportunity for the residents of Northeast Ohio.''

A bit of good news, as supplier Gexa has reduced the cancellation fee for leaving NOPEC from $100 to $25.

For those comparing the NOPEC offer to the public offer mailed to many of you by First-Energy Solutions (FES), a subsidiary of Ohio Edison's parent company, there is a new difference between the two.

They are now essentially for the same period of time — FES' offer starts in July with a guaranteed 10 percent savings through December instead of August and 5 percent off for 2010. The overall difference between the two plans is 5 cents in savings over the course of the contract for an average residential customer using 750 kilowatt hours (kWh) monthly.

The total savings for the FES offer is $58.86 with a $25 cancellation fee and the total savings for NOPEC is $58.91 with a $25 cancellation fee.

The FES offer was available to the first 10,000 customers who signed up, but the company has expanded it to take another 10,000 customers.

Officials from both companies are saying they believe their offer saves people the most money and that the competitor's offer might not be as good. FES officials say NOPEC's offer is fixed and not a guaranteed savings (NOPEC's numbers are estimated savings) and FES believes some customers might pay more. NOPEC officials say the FES offer would allow the company to pass along some transmission-related increases, if they were to occur, and their offer does not include that.

Customers will have to make up their own minds about this one. Since everyone's usage and bills are different, the savings could vary between the two offers. The bottom line is the offers are not hundreds of dollars in savings apart.

• Wadsworth municipal electric customers: Last week, I reported on average residential customer bills for municipal electric customers compared to Ohio Edison. For the most part, municipal customers have paid lower rates than Ohio Edison customers. But with Ohio Edison's recent rate reductions, the gap has gotten a little smaller.

The original number I reported for Wadsworth, which was $74.03 a month for an average customer using 750 kWh, should actually be $86.

Wadsworth Service Director Chris Easton said an employee erroneously left out a portion of the bill.

So that puts Wadsworth slightly above Ohio Edison's average bill of $84.87. Cuyahoga Falls' bill is $63.22; Hudson's is $82.56.

• If you missed my recent columns about electricity rates: You'll want to read columns from June 21 and June 28 or you can find all of my energy-related stories at http://www.ohio.com/energy.
 /> — Betty Lin-Fisher



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Carolyn

Posted 10:18 AM, 07/21/2009

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