Trying Out Ambit Energy To Lower Electricity Cost

By Pinyo, on December 28, 2007

I got a strange call yesterday — yes, a cold call. Wait a minute…did my do not call status expired?!? Anyway, the guy claimed he works for Ambit Energy, and he wanted to put me on a savings plan that will shave 7% off my Con Edison electricity charges and eliminate the 4% sales tax.

At first I was tempted to hang up like I normally do when I get this type of calls. But he was persuasive enough that I continued to listen. I did a quick search on the web, and didn’t see anything bad from consumer perspective — I can’t say the same from their affiliate business program.

This is what the whole deal is all about. Several years back, New York deregulated its electricity and opens the industry to competition. These new energy suppliers — known as energy service companies (ESCO) — can use Con Edison’s pipeline to provide electricity to consumers at a more competitive cost. I learned about this when the industry first deregulated, but didn’t do anything. Well, now I am giving it a shot. This is what’s on Ambit Energy web site:

“Ambit Energy electricity, natural gas and bundled customers save approximately 7% off ConEd’s estimated energy supply charge for the first two months and enjoy a competitive monthly rate thereafter. Just for switching, customers save an additional 1-2% in taxes on the delivery charges each and every month. Ambit customers will also receive a free travel gift and earn rewards points every month, which can be redeemed for other travel packages.

New York Savings Guarantee. Ambit Energy customers in New York are guaranteed annual savings of at least one percent under what Con Edison would have charged them for service or they will receive a check for the difference.”

Right now, I am paying Con Edison $125 a month using their level payment plan. The last bill I paid was for 600 kWh at 10.345 cents/kWh (supply), 7.1 cents/kWh (delivery), $4.92 sales tax, and a whole slew of other charges and fees. If it works out according the web site, I should be saving $4.35 off the supply charge and $4.92 off the sales tax, for a total of $9.27. That’s not much, but I’ll take it — anything to help me meet my goal of shaving 10% off my utilities is good.

If this works well, I will also look into alternative for natural gas provided by KeySpan.

More on saving energy:

• How to Keep the Furnace Off Until November @ Rocket Finance
• Save Money by Insulating the Foundation Walls on Your Home @ Free Money Finance
• Love Light Displays? 6 Ways To Trim Your Energy Costs, Not The Cheer @ The Digerati Life
• The One Hour Project: Make Your Home More Energy Efficient @ The Simple Dollar
• Save Energy Costs by Cooking with a Hot Box @ Wise Bread

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Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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