EPCOR electricity rates have been 40% higher than Park Power’s and many consumers are losing out on savings that a deregulated utilities market has provided.
Over the last couple of years and particular over the last 6 months, wholesale electricity prices have fallen dramatically. Currently prices are at a 15 year low and as we enter 2015 the trend continues, today, the average Alberta Power Pool price is running at $32 per MW which equates to just over 4 ¢/kWh retail price.
60% of Alberta electricity consumers are not taking advantage of the benefit of the deregulated market as they remain on the government regulated Default Rate.
Even though some consumers paid as low as 3.7 cents per kWh last year, many of their next door neighbors, stuck on the government regulated Default Rate from EPCOR, paid more than 50% more for electricity.
If a consumer wants to cut save money on their monthly expenses, they should consider moving away from EPCOR, ENMAX, and Direct Energy and switching retailers to Park Power.
Over the last six months, consumers that moved away from the Regulated Default Rate and onto Park Power’s Floating Rate, have saved 40% on the cost of energy they consumed. The consumers who like stability in their costs chose long term guaranteed fixed rates, which are still lower than the historical EPCOR Default average.
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Consider the following: between August and October of 2014, the cost of energy declined (from $45 per MW to below $30) which is a 33% drop in cost of energy. Note that EPCOR’s Default Rate price did not decrease. During the same period, the Floating Rate retail prices dropped from 6.2 cents to under 4 cents per kWh.
The same problem and trend repeated itself a couple of months later. Between November and December, the wholesale cost of energy dropped by 28% but the Government Regulated Default Rate went up.
Learn More about the advantages of getting off of the goverment regulated Default Rate or RRO from this interview on Alberta Prime Time
While consumers who chose an independent retailer like Park Power are saving money, many are paying more for electricity than necessary to the large corporate utilities who are in turn outsourcing work and facing legal action. ENMAX is in court fighting a $375 million dispute; Direct Energy shipped customer care and billing jobs to India; ENMAX moved dozens of IT jobs to India; Atco sold its IT division to a firm in India; TransAlta is in court facing electricity market manipulation.
In the news:
- ENMAX appealed assessments totalling $375 Million. The issue is now in the courts. – More
- Direct Energy outsources residential customer care and from Alberta to India. – More
- ENMAX is outsourcing dozens of jobs related to its billing and customer care operations to India – More
- ATCO’s I-Tek IT services division sold to for $195 million and outsourced IT services offshore – More
- TransAlta faces hearing on electricity market manipulation – More
If you are still on the Utility Regulated Default Rate; ask yourself: why continue to pay more for your electricity to companies that have exported customer care, billing and IT services off-shore. Choose #LocalPower with Park Power and take advantage of lower rates, simple billing and payment, and friendlier Alberta based customer service.
Shop Local and Save Money with Park Power
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