Can I change electric companies? Where can I compare rates?

Question

I live in Carroll County Maryland and my BGE bill for a small duplex is $350.00/month. I rent so I am not able to upgrade the water heater or central air myself. Is BGE the only one or is there another electric company that supplies to my area that will be less expensive?

Answer 1

Unlink phone service, you have no choice of electric service. You are stuck with BGE.

Answer 2

Sad to say, but you're stuck with BGE -- for now.

Public utility companies (while under strict federal and state regulation) are basically regional monopolies.  They are allowed to operate outside of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act because their purpose is to provide a "functioning public service."

Utility companies can be owned privately, publicly and by a municipality.  Some mixes of all three even exist.

I am a little surprised to learn your utility bill is over $350 for a small duplex.  It might be that you have unknown energy drains occurring within the house.  I'd also look into insulating your water heater -- this a step short of shelling out the dough for a new one and not that expensive.

I'd also call the community relations department at BGE -- while I'm not a big fan of theirs, it might help.  Good luck!

Answer 3

Do you know if you have an electric hot water heater? If you do you can buy a water heater blanket. It is a fiberglass blanket that wraps around your hot water heater making it more efficent. Also if your landlord approves ask to have a timer put on your heater. You can set it to shut off when you are away at work or sleeping. Used with the blanket it will save you to $100 bucks a month. Blanket costs about $20 bucks and the timer about $40.

Answer 4

If you check around, there are companies that can offer you as much as 15% off on energy production.  Since production is roughly 3.5 cents/kwh, we are talking about a reduction of roughly 1/2 cent per kilowatt-hour.  The remaining roughly 11 cents/kwh is the line charge and that is not subject to competition.  The downside of splitting your source from your supplier is that if anything goes wrong, each will blame the other and you will get no satisfaction.