ATCO Energy

[JamMan23]

http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/atco-launches-retail-gas-and-power-company-vows-no-door-to-door-sales

Thoughts? Seems like a pretty good deal to me, I'm tempted to do Market pricing for electricity and natural gas.

http://www.atcoenergy.com/

[schocker]

Prices seem to be the same as enmax but the admin fees are $3.50 for each of gas and electricity while enmax is $7.10. I am guessing that the riders/fees are the same for every company?

You get a new user incentive also of $25 per service for 1 yr and $50 per service for 3 or 5 year then $25 per service on the anniversary every year as a bill credit.

[Disoblige]

I do admit I like the idea of CC payments for utilities.
I only need electricity, so the admin fee is $7.00.
Also I would be stuck on a 3 year or 5 year term w/ATCO. Wonder what penalties there are if I decide to switch.

[JamMan23]

Originally posted by Disoblige
I do admit I like the idea of CC payments for utilities.
I only need electricity, so the admin fee is $7.00.
Also I would be stuck on a 3 year or 5 year term w/ATCO. Wonder what penalties there are if I decide to switch.

Ya CC payment is nice (points). They say there is no penalty for switching, same as Enmax (you can be on a 3 year plan but leave at any time).

[cet]

I called ATCO last week to compare them with what I have from ENMAX. For my situation, Electricity was very slightly cheaper (6.59 cents and 6.99 cents), however, gas was quite a bit more expensive (over $3/GJ compared to $2.35/GJ). ATCO's admin fees, as mentioned were cheaper but she couldn't tell me what all the other fees would be so I have to assume they would be close to the same. ATCO was also offering a $100 sign up bonus and a $50 anniversary bonus.

In the end it came out pretty evenly so decided to stay where I am. It would be nice to be able to pay with my CC to get points though.

[Mibz]

I might just switch for the points. The difference likely isn't going to be more than $10 or $15 a year in either direction so it's pretty low risk. Hell, maybe Enmax will throw some loyalty my way (hahaha, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

[schocker]

Yeah, might switch also. Probably 3 year fixed electricity and floating gas I think looks good.

[spike98]

What is everyones reasoning for going fixed electric?

I have a buddy that works at AESO and he laughed when i told him fixed at any rate. The daily price for power is generally less than $0.03/kwh. Current price per ATCOenergy right now is $0.0314/kwh (and thats including the +$0.01) for variable.

Looking back through the last year, it has only gone over $0.04/kwh a handfull of times. Is fixed really better?

[JamMan23]

Originally posted by spike98
What is everyones reasoning for going fixed electric?

I have a buddy that works at AESO and he laughed when i told him fixed at any rate. The daily price for power is generally less than $0.03/kwh. Current price per ATCOenergy right now is $0.0314/kwh (and thats including the +$0.01) for variable.

Looking back through the last year, it has only gone over $0.04/kwh a handfull of times. Is fixed really better?

A lot of people don't like the potential for a spike. The variable/market rate must be lower than the fixed rate (on average, over time), or these companies would be losing money.

The regulated rate must also be higher than the market rate (over time), or no one would be making money (they would be regulating that companies sell electricity for less than it costs to buy).

[spike98]

Originally posted by JamMan23


A lot of people don't like the potential for a spike. The variable/market rate must be lower than the fixed rate (on average, over time), or these companies would be losing money.

The regulated rate must also be higher than the market rate (over time), or no one would be making money (they would be regulating that companies sell electricity for less than it costs to buy).

I suppose its the premium for uncertainty.

Over the last year i do know that my buddy has paid half for power than i have at a fixed $0.0599

[JamMan23]

Originally posted by spike98


I suppose its the premium for uncertainty.

Over the last year i do know that my buddy has paid half for power than i have at a fixed $0.0599

Spot Power is a retailer in Alberta that does market + 1c for electricity, they have historical prices here:

https://www.spotpower.net/floatingrate.html

They say that the average floating price in 2015 was 4.9c/kWh. So that is definitely cheaper than any fixed rate plan that was available in Alberta in 2015.

However, that doesn't tell the whole story, if there was a spike in July to like 15c/kWh and that happens to be the month you use the most electricity (AC for example), then even though the average might technically have been 4.9c/kWh, the "real" average would be different, because your usage changes throughout the year.

[Mibz]

Fuck it. YOLO. Float all the things.

[Cos]

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[kaput]

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[pheoxs]

I switched over to Atco for both services. Fixed elec + float gas still though. Admin fees were less, gas was marginally less, electricity was marginally less as well, so it seemed like a no brainer.

Being able to bill CC and get some reward points off it is nice as well, it also offers the protection if they ever screw up and over-withdraw too much you have the CC company to fight back rather than the bank just shrugging their shoulders. The less places that have access to direct banking the better.


Originally posted by kaput
I didn't appreciate how cheap power is in Alberta until I left. I'm currently paying 23c/kWh plus a $1.20/day supply charge. Oh and an extra few percent for credit card payments on top of that :eek:

This is what you have to look forward to when the coal plants get decommissioned.

Is that your total cost of electricity? Here we have the 'usage' charge of 5-6 cents but there is also the regulated transmission and distribution charges on top of that. The real amount you pay by the end of it is closer to ~15 cents/kwh plus some other fixed fees too.

IIRC my last bill was around 900kwh and 150$ (give or take) which = 16 cents/kwh 'overall'

[suntan]

ATCO's struggled with billing before, I'd give them some time to work out the kinks, if they ever do.

[kaput]

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[Cos]

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[kaput]

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