Quote:
Originally Posted by timun
The only things you can shop around for are the energy and admin charges. These should appear on your bill under "energy charges". Everything else—fixed and variable delivery charges, rate riders, municipal franchise fee, carbon tax—is exactly the same no matter who you go with, and whether you pay a fixed energy rate or floating energy rate.
So you ask, "what am I missing by not locking in prices?" What you're missing is that the floating gas rate has been remarkably steady this year, with no big swings. This time last year it was about $5.60/GJ. Last spring it was over $7.
For Enmax customers, if you go with the floating rate you also pay an additional $1.23/GJ "transaction fee" on top of your floating energy rate. Right now the fixed price on offer is $4.89/GJ, so in effect if the floating rate is above $3.76/GJ you're paying more overall. Right now it's working out in your favour, so lucky you. Last year you probably didn't even realize you were paying more than other people.
I for one am locked in at $4.09/GJ. As such, if I was on a floating rate of $2.55/GJ +$1.23/GJ transaction fee, I'd be saving 31¢/GJ, or... a buck-fifty on my $87 gas bill. Oh well.
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Well when I first looked into locking in last March, the locking rates were higher than today. Whereas with Electricity I was able to lock in at 8 cents per kwH at the time. It's like variable vs fixed Mortgage...hard to predict when the right time is to move. As best as I can tell it looks like the price of Natural Gas is forecast to be pretty stable for the next 12 months. But one unexpected geopolitical event can upset that in an instant.
Although it does look like I might have some options to stay Natural Gas floating rate and get away from Direct Energy which is what I'd like to do...sadly live in St.Albert so my life sucks being this close to Edmonton.