Yesterday, I received an ad in the mail from my power company. They were guaranteeing my bill be will the same for the next year. I knew something was up when I saw how much they wanted to charge me on a monthly basis for the next 12 months. They said, “Your [Product name of supposed saving plan] allows you to enjoy the same energy bill for 12 months and more of life’s precious moments.”
I thought about this and had several issues with it. First, the price was about $8 a month more than I averaged in the last year. I have a general idea of what my power is gonna be each month. I pay more in the winter because my house is meant to be cooled, so heating costs more. Summer doesn’t cost me much. Compared to most people’s bills, mine are almost non-existent when it comes to the utilities.
The second thing that bothered me was the fact that I’m using an autopay system with them. It is the only one I use. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go through my credit card, which means there are little protection and no rewards. Either way, they are saying I will be able to spend more time on “life’s precious moments.” So currently, with my auto pay, I’m wasting time? Honestly, I logged in today for the first time in well over a year. I never spend time on their site.
The third thing that bothered me is how detached they think people are when it comes to their bills. This seems like a lousy business practice charging people more than they are already paying for a service they do not have much of choice using.
So, I’m wondering the following:
- By paying extra, will they give me more time in my life to make that saved time precious?
- Is there an added value of some sort to justify the extra charge?
- Most importantly, are they warning me that prices are going to increase enough to justify an annual increase of almost 100 dollars?
These plans are usually set up so that your bill is the same every month.
It gives some people comfort and the ability to budget more effectively if they know their bill will be x amount every month- no surprises.
I imagine they look at your previous usage/billing data over the past few years and calculate an average.
They could even put in some energy management equipment on things like A/C to control at peak demand times.
Otherwise, sign up and crank that A/C to 60 degrees!!!
The numbers didn’t add. I did the average and it was not the price they said… Until I got this months bill which was oddly almost twice what it normally is this time of year. Guess I should have done it.