BGE electric price to drop 6% this summer
I blogged this yesterday as an update but wanted to repeat because it's news. While neither Baltimore Gas & Electric nor the Public Service Commission have officially published BGE's standard electric price starting June 1, Public Service Commission Chairman Doug Nazarian posted it in the blog's comments section yesterday. The default BGE price for generation and transmission this summer will be 11.333 cents per kilowatt hour, Nazarian said. Add about 2.5 cents for BGE to deliver the power to your house and it's 13.833 cents.
That's about a 6 percent decrease from the 14.745-cent delivered price of electricity during the summer of 2009. (The price for just generation and transmission fell from 12.245 cents to 11.333 cents.) Not great but a little relief. It'll save a typical household $5 or $10 a month, depending on how hot it gets and how much you run your air conditioner.
You can save a little more than this by switching to one of several third-party offers of about 10.3 cents for generation and transmission. Add in the 2.5-cent delivery charge and you get an inclusive price of 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour. That's another penny cheaper than the price Nazarian disclosed yesterday and would save an additional $10 or $15 a month over the standard BGE price.
I recommend the offer from Dominion Retail of 10.37 cents for generation and transmission. It's a little more than other offers, and it goes only until the end of the year. But it give you instant savings and the cost-free option of switching to another deal if energy prices continue to drop. Other vendors charge you an arm and a leg for early termination.
Comments
Thanks for the input (especially the Dominion recommendation) as I just got my renewal for WGES at 10.2 cents for 1 year or 10.1 centers for 2 years.
One question though: What will BGE's non-summer rates be? Thanks for the help.
Posted by: Jason | February 23, 2010 8:54 AM
One other note....I just went to the Dominion site and the T's & C's state that the offer you mentioned is only good through 2-16-10. So, it may be interesting to see if they will still honor it since the website is accepting sign-ups still.
Posted by: Jason | February 23, 2010 9:00 AM
How generous of BGE considering it's parent, Constellation, just reported 4Q profits of 4.4 BILLION! Now I suppose O'Malley can take credit for this and say that he kept his campaign promise of getting BGE to lower its rates?
Posted by: Jeff | February 23, 2010 9:34 AM
The MD Office of the People's Counsel compiles the rates from the various retailers to help make a (relatively) quick comparison, both on rates and on applicable contract termination fees.
http://www.opc.state.md.us/c/225/Consumer-Electricity-Supplier-Comparisons-Information-Supplier-Prices-Contracting-for-Electricity-and-Gas-Supply-energy-telemarketing%20
Posted by: Pete | February 23, 2010 11:19 AM
Jeff,
Obviously you have no ability to read anything other than a headline. The article showed that this was a one time profit for selling half of the nuclear business. They are sacrificing long term profits for a short term cash injection. Without that they made 100 million, chump change for a company with high a lot of high capex projects. BTW: Pepco customers pay more than BGE customers and rate payers in California and New England pay way more.
Posted by: marybubbleland | February 23, 2010 11:27 AM
Looking at old dominion's site, it appears that gas costs the same as electric. If this is correct, it is more than 3 times what BGE charges. Can someone else confirm these numbers are correct? I'd like to save 10% on my electricity, but not if gas costs me 300% more.
Hi Corey: You don't have to buy both gas and electric from Dominion. Just switch to electric from Dominion and for gas keep buying BGE's standard product. JH
Posted by: Corey | February 23, 2010 11:39 AM
Pete, Thanks so much for providing the OPC link. It was really helpful.
Posted by: NotableM | February 23, 2010 5:10 PM
Does anyone have a promo code for Washington Gas?
Posted by: Jack | February 23, 2010 7:47 PM
marybubbleland -- Spin on. How about the profits that Constellation/BGE has been making over the past couple of years without their sale of half of their nuclear business?
Posted by: Jeff | February 23, 2010 10:05 PM
WGES offers the best residential electricity prices for electricity in BGE's service area.
BGE's "Price to Compare" for the typical residential user (rate class "R") is 11.97 cents per kWh. That is 18% higher than WGES's offer of 10.1 cents fixed price for 24 or 36 months.
You can access WGES' promotional offers at: http://bit.ly/9Wf0ew
WGES does not charge an early termination fee if you move, so that should resolve any concern that most people have.
Since Dominion Power charges more and they have no early termination penalty, Dominion Power customers may want to consider switching to WGES for the 10.1 cents per kWh price.
Michael Strotz
Electric Advisors, Inc.
7700 Old Georgetown Rd., Suite 550
Bethesda MD 20814
202 550-8357
michael@electricadvisors.co
m
Posted by: Michael Strotz | February 24, 2010 9:12 AM
I assume that this summer rate decline is unrelated to the news from yesterday that BGE is requesting a rate increase from the Maryland PSC, one which will be capped at 5 percent or 1 percent of total bills?
Posted by: Alexandra | February 24, 2010 9:20 AM
Jack asked for a promo code for Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES). Here it is: http://bit.ly/9Wf0ew
You will get lower pricing via this link than you will on their website. WGES is offering electricity supply at 10.1 cents per kWh.
Posted by: Michael Strotz | February 24, 2010 9:49 AM
Don't forget that you can get a competitive price and also support the environment with green energy.
Go to www.cleancurrents.com to find our prices for 50% or 100% wind power.
Join the more than 4,000 Marylanders that have made the switch to green power.
Gary Skulnik
Clean Currents
Posted by: Gary Skulnik | February 25, 2010 4:09 PM
Just to clarify...
WGES site lists under terms and conditions a penalty for customer cancellation - an early termination fee of the greater of $150 OR $20 per month for each month remaining in contract term will be charged to Customer.
Someone stated no penalty in above post.
Posted by: steve | March 1, 2010 12:22 PM
It's not much of a decrease, but it will definitely ease the burden this summer. Although I'm not sure if this will have an impact on business electricity. Clearly this is the effect of BGE selling half of their nuclear electric generating assets. Right now, I'm curious about what will be their prices after this summer.
http://www.chooseenergy.com/education-center-dallas-electricity-providers.aspx
Posted by: Eneru Voltaire | March 3, 2010 11:09 AM
Clean Currents is also offering a very competitive offer of 10.2 cents/KwH. In addition to being one of the cheapest rates, it's also a way to support clean energy - which in my opinion is as important as saving a few bucks.
Posted by: Stephen | May 11, 2010 2:08 PM
Another way to save is check and see if you have a choice in choosing a supplier. My company Amanation save you up too 22% off commercial and residential
Check out my website and see how much you can save.
www.georgedavis.ichoosesavings.com
If we are not in your state just email me and I will let you know when we will be their
georgedelectric@gmail.com
Posted by: George | August 16, 2010 7:41 PM