AMBIT ENERGY AND THEIR DISGUSTING BUSINESS PRACTICE AND RATES I had a lengthy discussion today with a person that Ive done other business with in the past that is also consultant for Ambit Energy. The question I called to ask was how much do they make from a referral where someone switches. I got a complicated answer that I wont go into to save your brain power for what I am saying below. The way I understood it, the premise of the company is that you A) find people that are willing to switch their electricity to Ambit or B) find people that will find other people willing to switch their electricity to Ambit. Their rates are published on a website run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, powertochoose.org, along with rates from all other companies offering rates in my particular zip code. At all levels: month to month, 6 month, 12 month, and 24 month their rates are beaten by a HUGE margin. On top of this, Ambit makes their consultants PAY $429 to start referring this crap to their friends and family. When I was not in an electric co-op as I am now, I would shop for a new plan every 6 or 12 months to make sure I was getting the best rate since electricity is one of our biggest expenses. My rates over the last 13 months in my electric co-op, we average 2431 kwh per month and since I am in a co-op, I have no power to choose. We have paid 11.43 cents per KWH on average for a total of $3612. My co-op varies the rate to whatever they want. With Ambit’s current rate, by bills would have been: $3697 per the month to month agreement $2939 per the 6 month agreement $2970 per the 12 month agreement $3002 per the 24 month agreement This seems great compared to my co-op’s rates, but being a co-op, they get to charge whatever they want because everyone needs electricity and they own the lines coming to my house. I have no power to switch. If we lived in an area where we weren’t cornered by a co-op and we could pick the cheapest electric provider, my bill would have been like this: $2022 per a month to month agreement (Everything Energy) $1769 per a 6 month agreement (Gexa Energy) $2275 per a 12 month agreement (V247 Power) $2654 per a 24 month agreement (Amigo Energy) Now I’m not going to debate that some companies may have started “yesterday” and it may be risky that you pick one that goes under if you just pick the cheapest, but the provider has NOTHING to do with the generation, transmission, or the quality of the electricity coming to your house. They only handle the billing. If the one you pick goes under, you just pick another one, since any agreement you’d have with them would then be void. So, how could I, and how could you if you are one of Ambit’s consultants, in good conscience, refer to me, your friend, an electric plan that is, at best $348 more, at worst $1675 more, over 13 months, more than the cheapest available, on the premise of “saving” me money just so you can make some money or save on your bill? I have and I will continue to refer people to powertochoose.org when I get an opportunity to stick it in a conversation, even though I won’t ever make a dime off of my friends. I looked into this because I was looking for something to do to earn extra money in addition to my full time job. Needless to say, I will not be giving any of my money to Ambit to become a “consultant” for them and my suggestion for you if you are paying this company for their electric service, that you go NOW to the Public Utility Commission of Texas website right NOW and change it. If anybody is still reading this, you may care that I’ve had personal experience in prior residences with the following providers and NEVER had an issue: Gexa Energy, Direct Energy, Reliant, Startex Power, TXU, but you’d be best off to consider the cheapest 1) rate which represents your usage level and 2) the term which you want to lock in your rate (and the charge to switch early) and 3) the amount of any deposit (which may vary widely, especially if your credit is challenged). I hope this helps someone to save some money on their own electricity and helps to correct the injustice that Ambit is doing to its customers and consultants.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 06:58:09 +0000
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