Do you compare before buying anything so that you can save money? Yes, most people do that because each penny holds equal importance. Everything is compared and so does energy rates. Many cities have deregulated their energy to the different private companies. Deregulation of energy means that now energy can be provided by any private company and customers can choose to buy from any company instead of one government organization selling energy at any rate of their choice. Deregulation of energy has led to a severe increase in competition in the energy market. Customers choose to buy the best energy at the best and reasonable rates with the best services. This persuades all the companies to keep their prices lowest and provide more than optimum services.
Texas deregulation –
In Texas, energy was deregulated in the year 2002 and since then people have always hard time comparing and choosing the best plans for them. It was a time-consuming process until the Power to Choose Texas was introduced.
Power to choose is a government-regulated platform on which all the energy providers quote their plans and prices for free and the residents can use that platform to compare all the plans in one place. They just need to put their zip code and all the plans are in their view at one click. This simplifies the process of comparing and choosing energy plans to a higher extent.
Is the power to choose a boon?
Power to choose was started with the motive to help people get the best plans and save money.
But with time, ultimately this site misled people and put them in harsh situations. Hearing about this plan seems exciting and a boon to people. But it is not the same in use. Many companies use tactics and tricks to make their prices low, attract customers and hide their actual prices. People are severely disappointed to find hidden charges, excess transmission, and maintenance costs which were not included initially but charged later.
The main cause of this issue is any company can quote its plan for free and no one keeps a check on the actual prices. Any company can simply hide their real prices, ratings, and complaints filed by users. If customers feel the need to change the plan or the energy provider, either they are not allowed due to contract or they need to pay a huge contract termination fee.
The solution to the problem–
This problem persists because people totally rely on the data provided by Power to choose and do not seem to engage in any research before buying any plan. The simple way is to find complete details about the plan, company, and ratings. They should try to ask for reviews from current or past customers on their own. The contract should be completely ready and understood before signing. A complete inquiry should be made and have a good conversation with the company representative. Although the company representative does not seem to tell the complete truth so you should double-check everything. If your current plan is suiting you the best except the prices and you feel to shift to other plans just because of lower prices then have deep research before taking any decision. Don’t fall for any bait.