Your choices
To shop for electricity, you need to know what your choices are. Basically, you need to consider price, options and terms.
Price
Electricity is priced on a per-kilowatt-hour basis. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts of electricity, so a kilowatt-hour is the amount of electricity a 100-watt light bulb uses in 10 hours. You might pay eight or nine cents to use that light bulb for those ten hours, including the cost of both generating the electricity and delivering it to you.
Electric generation suppliers should be able to quote you their price per kilowatt-hour so you can compare prices. You can look at your latest Pennsylvania Power Company (Penn Power) bill to see how many kilowatt-hours you used during the last billing period. Simply multiply the electric generation supplier’s price times the kilowatt-hours to see how much the generation portion of your bill would be.
Options
Electric generation suppliers might offer a number of options for you to consider. For example, they might offer one price for daytime use and another price for evening use. Therefore, it's important to know when you use your electricity most. Additional options might be offered, like free electricity for a month or other giveaways.
Terms
It is important to understand the terms of your agreement when you sign up with a supplier. You might be required to buy service for a specified number of months. There might be a fee or penalty for breaking the contract.
Other factors to consider include the source of energy used, whether the supplier offers other services like appliance repairs, and how easy it is to get help with billing problems. When shopping for an electric generation supplier, be sure to ask questions that can help you make an informed decision.
Should you decide not to choose another electric generation supplier, Penn Power will continue to supply electric generation to you. If you don't select another supplier right away, you can always select an electric generation supplier at a later time, when you're ready.
(09/19/07)
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