The issue is that while there are lots of information out there detailing the risks of variable rate supply plans, the majority of consumers are not equipped to properly understand that risk; these are complex markets in the best of times. Many of these companies are also borderline predatory in how they market their services. It's the standard model you see in many industries; highlight the savings, fine print or hide the risk, and then when the consumer gets screwed , point and say 'well they should have understood what they signed up for!'. That's complete trash when it comes to life critical utilities. On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 7:25 PM Yang Yu <yang.yu.list@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 10:46 AM John Sage <jsage@finchhaven.com> wrote:
This article is an interest description of Texas electricity pricing for one provider and for the market in general:
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2021/02/16/electricity-retailer-g...
That is far from the market in general.
Most people use a fixed rate plan (can easily find one without rebate for <10c/kwh after taxes & fees). The customer would have to make an explicit decision to pick a variable/market rate plan (excluded by default on http://powertochoose.org/) with higher risk and cheaper electricity when the wholesale price is low.
http://www.puc.texas.gov/consumer/facts/factsheets/elecfacts/Electricplans.p...
Changing Rate (Variable) Plans have rates per kWh that can vary according to a method determined solely by the provider and may be dependent on market changes and other exceptions beyond the provider's control Market Rate (Indexed) Plans have rates per kWh that can vary according to pre-defined publicly available indices or information and other exceptions beyond the provider's control
The highest the price can go to is $9/kWh (which has only ever happened 0.005% of the time.) Most of the time though, 96.9% to be exact, it is below the Texas Average of 6.8¢/kWh https://www.griddy.com/texas/learn-more#learn-pricing