Lowest Electricity Rates - How to Find the Cheapest Electricity

Are you looking for the lowest electricity rates to save money on your monthly electricity bill?

Do you live in a state that allows you to choose your electricity provider?

So you want your electricity company to reward you for being their customer with free rewards like cruises, vacations, or sporting event tickets?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, there may be things you can do to save money by finding the lowest electricity rates. Before you start, it is important to understand that this process is not like going to the gas station and picking the one with the lowest price and filling up. There is a delay when you switch to the lowest electricity rate and it may not still be the lowest when you actually get switched. Don't be discouraged, if you do some research and pick wisely, you will come out ahead!

When you switch your service to the (hopefully) lowest electricity rate, there are a few things that happen. I have first hand knowledge of how this works in Texas, New York, and Illinois and will assume it is similar everywhere that you can switch for electricity as well as natural gas service.

First, you will have to verify that you really wanted to switch and somebody wasn't doing it without your consent. Most electricity companies hire an independent company to do this. It ensures that somebody is making sure companies don't switch you without your knowledge.

After you verify, there will be a period of time for you to change your mind. This is usually 10 days. After that, you have to finish the billing cycle with your current electricity provider. This can mean it is 45 days or more before you actually start with your new company and you can see how the lowest electricity rate may have changed by now.

The reason I told you about the switching process was not to discourage you. I just wanted to make sure you understood that there was a delay in the process.

As far as the savings, you can't worry about the ups and downs of the daily rates. Just like with the stock market, you have to pick a good company and know that in the long run you are going to be better off by looking for a lower electricity rate and switching to a company that will save you money. As you will see in the next section, you really don't want to stay with a big company and have to pay for all their overhead.

The large energy companies are usually large because they have been around a long time and are well established. They have a lot of employees, big corporate offices, multi-million dollar ad campaigns, sports stadiums, and a host of costs that have to be passed on to the customer. On top of that, they have so many customers that don't usually know that they can switch that they have no real incentive to be efficient and thus lower costs.

I don't know about you, but I know I don't want to pay for a professional football stadium or TV commercials with my monthly electricty bill. In fact, there is no way a big company with these expenses can provide the lowest electricity rate.

The first thing you will want to do is research your local area. If you are in an area where you have the power to choose your electricity provider, there are probably smaller companies that don't have all the costs of the big companies and really want your business so they have lower prices, good customer service, and maybe even rewards programs.

If you live in a deregulated area of Texas or around New York city, there is a great company called Ambit Energy that offers great prices, fantastic customer service, and free travel rewards. In fact, you get a free trip just for signing up with them. If you aren't in Texas or New York city, don't worry. Ambit may be coming to your area soon. In the meantime, do a little research and see if there are any companies out there that may save you some money.