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MacFlame · 01-07-2011, 04:57 PM

My wife pays all the bills in my household...and rightfully so, because I can barely remember to put socks on in the morning sometimes. So, recently while going through our yearly budget, I open up our Enmax bill to see what kind of gas consumption we are currently going through.

This is what I read: "EasyMax Fixed 5 Year rate........6.764 GJ @ $9.79 / GJ"

Looking at this, I immediately say" Holy Crap, that seems rather high, being that NG prices are at all time lows".

So, I phone Enmax and ask how long of this "5 year Fixed" rate I have remaining. She says," Oh, you can can cancel at anytime."

So, I ask, "What are my options?"

"Well", she says, "you can switch to the floating rate of $2.88 / GJ."

To which I replied, "Well, duh, sure I would like to switch over! I'll be saving more than 3 times what I'm paying now."

After some "discussion", she gave me a $100 credit for, I don't know, being an idiot for not noticing this sooner or something.

So all of this leads me to some questions that hopefully others can try and explain to me better than the Enmax employees.

1.) In any other industry, a "FIXED" rate, means a "FIXED" rate for a pre-determined period of time. In this case, it is not a fixed rate for any period of time, even though Enmax claims this is a 5 year "Fixed" Rate on their bill. Truthfully, I find this rather misleading in that people (including myself) are lead to believe that they are in some sort of contract, which sets the rate for a period of time, which we are not. Kind of false advertising no?

2.) Why is the variable price not posted on the bill? I asked Enmax this and they responded that I could have either phoned them or looked on their website. Does Enmax seriously want every customer phoning them to determine what the variable rate is once per month as she re-iterated to me? I don't know, not posting it on the bill seems rather slimy to me......

This is my analogy. Maybe it's not a very good analogy, because I simply don't understand this process..but here goes.

What if i went into a gas station and on the sign it says $3.00/L. However, lets say that gas prices were actually $1.00 / L. Does that give the store clerk the ability to put the blinders on and accept my money as if he was charging me $3.00 /L? Would the store clerk be able to say " Yes, I know that gas prices are $ 1.00 /L. but he gave me $3.00 / L. The $3.00 / L is a "deal" that we provide for all customers so that their gasoline bills don't fluctuate. I didn't steal his money, he gave it to me. He should have checked my website to see what gas prices really were!"?

I know, it's probably a pretty bad analogy, but the whole thing just seems slimy and misleading to me.

The Enmax employee tried to say that it's just like a mortgage. But it's not. A 5 year fixed motgage is fixed...there's no debate about it.

She also said that if gas prices were higher than the "fixed" rate I would'nt be calling to complain. Which is true. But, I responded that if Enmax truly felt that they were going to "help" customers by giving them a 5 year "fixed" rate lower than that of the variable, I'm pretty sure Enmax would not be very profitable.

Is the 'fixed" rate seriously as bad as I'm making it out to be, or is there something I'm just not understanding? Truthfully, I had no idea I was even in on this "fixed" rate.

01-07-2011, 04:57 PM	#1
MacFlame Scoring Winger Join Date: Jul 2005 Exp:	Enmax "Fixed" Rate My wife pays all the bills in my household...and rightfully so, because I can barely remember to put socks on in the morning sometimes. So, recently while going through our yearly budget, I open up our Enmax bill to see what kind of gas consumption we are currently going through. This is what I read: "EasyMax Fixed 5 Year rate........6.764 GJ @ $9.79 / GJ" Looking at this, I immediately say" Holy Crap, that seems rather high, being that NG prices are at all time lows". So, I phone Enmax and ask how long of this "5 year Fixed" rate I have remaining. She says," Oh, you can can cancel at anytime." So, I ask, "What are my options?" "Well", she says, "you can switch to the floating rate of $2.88 / GJ." To which I replied, "Well, duh, sure I would like to switch over! I'll be saving more than 3 times what I'm paying now." After some "discussion", she gave me a $100 credit for, I don't know, being an idiot for not noticing this sooner or something. So all of this leads me to some questions that hopefully others can try and explain to me better than the Enmax employees. 1.) In any other industry, a "FIXED" rate, means a "FIXED" rate for a pre-determined period of time. In this case, it is not a fixed rate for any period of time, even though Enmax claims this is a 5 year "Fixed" Rate on their bill. Truthfully, I find this rather misleading in that people (including myself) are lead to believe that they are in some sort of contract, which sets the rate for a period of time, which we are not. Kind of false advertising no? 2.) Why is the variable price not posted on the bill? I asked Enmax this and they responded that I could have either phoned them or looked on their website. Does Enmax seriously want every customer phoning them to determine what the variable rate is once per month as she re-iterated to me? I don't know, not posting it on the bill seems rather slimy to me...... This is my analogy. Maybe it's not a very good analogy, because I simply don't understand this process..but here goes. What if i went into a gas station and on the sign it says $3.00/L. However, lets say that gas prices were actually $1.00 / L. Does that give the store clerk the ability to put the blinders on and accept my money as if he was charging me $3.00 /L? Would the store clerk be able to say " Yes, I know that gas prices are $ 1.00 /L. but he gave me $3.00 / L. The $3.00 / L is a "deal" that we provide for all customers so that their gasoline bills don't fluctuate. I didn't steal his money, he gave it to me. He should have checked my website to see what gas prices really were!"? I know, it's probably a pretty bad analogy, but the whole thing just seems slimy and misleading to me. The Enmax employee tried to say that it's just like a mortgage. But it's not. A 5 year fixed motgage is fixed...there's no debate about it. She also said that if gas prices were higher than the "fixed" rate I would'nt be calling to complain. Which is true. But, I responded that if Enmax truly felt that they were going to "help" customers by giving them a 5 year "fixed" rate lower than that of the variable, I'm pretty sure Enmax would not be very profitable. Is the 'fixed" rate seriously as bad as I'm making it out to be, or is there something I'm just not understanding? Truthfully, I had no idea I was even in on this "fixed" rate.