New Hampshire Electric Co-op

[Greene's Basin Girl]

I keep on receiving mailings that suggest I choose an electricity provider that will charge a less kWh than the co-op. Thus far I have heard from ENH Power and NA ( North American ) Power. I am not sure if I should do this and if so which one should I choose? Both companies are not accredited by the BBB. Has anyone used either of these companies?

[upthesaukee]

...they only did comparisons with PSNH. The figures they were giving me were higher than NHEC.

I think I actually went on a website to "sign up" and when I tried to put in my provider as NHEC, it was not available to select.

I have in the past compared our bill with PSNH bills of family, and we were quite a bit cheaper on almost every line.

[brk-lnt]

I keep on receiving mailings that suggest I choose an electricity provider that will charge a less kWh than the co-op. Thus far I have heard from ENH Power and NA ( North American ) Power. I am not sure if I should do this and if so which one should I choose? Both companies are not accredited by the BBB. Has anyone used either of these companies?

First off, the BBB is a total and complete scam. Their "accreditations" are bought and sold for the price of a lousy meal. I'd trust the opinion of a lunatic homeless person before I'd give any weight to a BBB rating.

Second, the alternate providers are just addressing the raw kWh supply cost. They don't/can't address all the related fees and taxes (well, taxes to a minor extent in that if your costs go down your taxes go down as well).

Saving 20% on your kWh costs will knock your bill down by about 3-4%. Our house uses a lot of electricity (it's big, there's lots of computers running, etc.) I save about $12/mo. on a $250/mo. electricity bill. These savings do not alter our standard of living...

From what I see, PSNH (or whatever their new name is) wants to get out of the supply business. So, help a small company out by picking an alternate supplier, but in the end you won't save a lot of money, and even if your supplier of choice goes bankrupt it's not like your power is going to be cut off.

[MAXUM]

Also be very careful with these offers which are usually cloaked with a cheap introductory rate then in a set period of time you are charged regular rates and get screwed. Kind of like the cable company they entice you with an attractive rate then it goes up 2Xs if not more to regular price and not only that lots of times they won't publish the regular price even in the fine print.

[ITD]

You have to be careful. Power generation rates usually vary by season. Make sure you understand the rates before you jump.

[Merrymeeting]

I tried North American Power last year. I don't think I'd do it again. It appears to be somewhat of a bait and switch.

They offer you a fixed rate lower than PSNH for the first year. But once the first year is over, the only rates offered are substantially higher than PSNH. If you switch back too early, you are hit with an early termination fee. Too late and you pay much higher rates. So you need to time your switch back carefully.

More trouble than it's worth.

[JasonG]

If you want to find out the truth behind a company, contact the attorney generals office or look it up online. There you can see the complaints filed.

[Rich]

I tried North American Power last year. I don't think I'd do it again. It appears to be somewhat of a bait and switch.

They offer you a fixed rate lower than PSNH for the first year. But once the first year is over, the only rates offered are substantially higher than PSNH. If you switch back too early, you are hit with an early termination fee. Too late and you pay much higher rates. So you need to time your switch back carefully.

More trouble than it's worth.

I keep getting these offers also, so I have to wonder. A friend of mine took them up on their offer and found out the same thing that Merrymeeting has said here.

So for me, I'm glad that my gut feeling was right and as they say: If something looks too good to be true . . . it probably is!

[dave603]

Has anyone else gotten a call from a Laconia phone number, saying they are from Eversource?
I answered it finally thinking it was from Irwin.
He said he was from Eversource and asked for me by name.
They asked if I wanted to "lower my rate", but had to have me read them my account number off my bill. ( got suspicion at that point)( knew my name but NOT my account??)
He said they are calling ALL PSNH/Eversource customers to offer this rate reduction, and when I said just lower the rates anyway if it's for all, got the I still need your account number.

Sounds really like a scam to me.

[AB_Monterey]

Their current offer is 8.99/kw through the end of the year vs PSNH at 10.xx.

The contract is through the end of the year. If you wanted out of the contract before the end of the year, it would be $10 for each remaining month. You still get one bill. Nothing changes in that respect.

I've used them before. I switched back after the fix period ended since PSNH was cheaper. I just switched back to NA.

I just put a reminder in my calendar for the end of the year to review rates.

(what's this have to do with boating?)

[Greene's Basin Girl]

I want to thank everyone that responded to this thread. The notices are going in the trash and I will plan on continue to pay NH Co-op directly.

[P-3 Guy]

I've used both North American Power and FairPoint Energy for fixed rate six month contracts in Maine (Central Maine Power), and there was a significant savings over the "standard offer." As others have mentioned, you must understand what you are signing up for and keep an eye on the calendar to make sure you don't get hit with higher than average rates after the fixed rate contract period ends. Under Maine law, you are supposed to receive a written reminder of the contract ending 30 to 60 days prior to give you a chance to switch to a different provider, but at least with North American Power that never happened (they claimed they sent it, though!).

Greene's Basin Girl's thread title says New Hampshire Electric Co-Op, but I don't think that Co-Op customers have the ability to choose an alternate supplier, because of the nature of the Co-Op/Member relationship. I wish we could, and perhaps reduce or eliminate the $27.82 monthly "Member Service Charge" that we have to pay even if we use zero electricity during the billing period, but that's just wishful thinking. If anyone with a NHEC meter has successfully used an alternate electricity supplier, please let me know.

[P-3 Guy]

I want to thank everyone that responded to this thread. The notices are going in the trash and I will plan on continue to pay NH Co-op directly.

Even if you could choose a different electricity supplier and did, you would still be paying just one bill directly to NHEC.