Have you registered with an ESCO? Has it successfully lowered your bills?

In My Humble Opinion
1

A couple of weeks ago, I began a new job, working for an ESCO (Energy Supply COmpany) in New York. I was really thrust into something totally new, because my resume mostly consists of office and technology jobs, and this job is an Energy Consultant…or in other words, I register people’s utility bills with my company, which will lower the cost of the supply portion of their bill, and depending on their county laws, also eliminate some taxes or added fees. This thread is not a sales pitch (which is why I’m not mentioning any company names here), but rather I am trying to get some feedback from other dopers who have been through the ESCO registration process.

#1 - how did you find out about the ESCO savings program? (information IS written at the bottom of every gas bill that a New York resident receives in the IMPORTANT MESSAGES section, but 90% of people don’t even read their bill aside from the amount due line, which is why my job is necessary).

#2 - if you have registered, has it worked out for you? Have you noticed your bills going down?

#3 - which company did you register with?

#4 - if for some reason you had problems with your registration, or decided to cancel, can you share the story? Unfortunately, there ARE a couple of ESCO companies who are out to screw over customers, and both of them are in the middle of a class action lawsuit and are essentially out of business. This news makes it much harder for the legit companies to conduct business, out of confusion and fear of customers that all ESCOs are bad deals.

and for all of the rest of you, do you have any idea what I’m talking about?

2

Sorry- no idea what you are talking about. Good luck with your study however.

3

Basically, there was a deregulation law passed in 1996 in some states which allows utility customers to change their energy supplier while still keeping their same utility company as the deliverer. Choosing a third party ESCO SHOULD lower the supply portion of your utility bill (which accounts for about half of it) since third party ESCOS offer better rates per CCF or KW in order to get and keep customers. The utility companies are required to inform customers of their eligibility, but its usually done in the fine print on their bill, which is why most people don’t know how this works either. I wanted to know how many DOPERS were aware, and what their experience was like.