If you live in the Lancaster County area, there is a good chance you have PP&L electric, like we do. As a PP&L customer, you have the option to choose your own service supplier for your electricity. What does this mean?
It means you don’t have to pay the price per kWh that PP&L is charging you!
There are many service suppliers under PP&L that you can choose to use for your electricity. You’ll still be getting your electricity from PP&L, there will be no changes in your wiring. No physical changes. It will just be on paper. You’ll contact a supplier like Inspire or AEP, and you’ll pay their rate.
How does this benefit you? Other suppliers rates are often less than PP&L’s rates by at least $.02 per kWh. For many homes (using an average of 1000 kWh) this is a savings of at least $20 per month.
How We Play the “Electric Supplier” Game
From October 2015 to March 2016 (a period of six months), we saved about $24 month, for a total of about $143. On the best month, we saved $32 over the PP&L regular pricing. On our worst month, we got caught up in life and forgot to change our supplier, we saved only $.50. That was a disappointing month, but it could have been a lot worse!
My husband is in charge of coordinating electricity suppliers for our family, so at the beginning of each month he . . .
- logs in to PAPowerSwitch.com to see what supplier has the best rate
- investigates the suppliers with the best rates
- makes sure there are no cancellation fees or term agreements
- chooses a supplier and calls that supplier
- asks to switch to them, and provides necessary details to do so
That’s it folks! It really is quite simple. And as a result, we save about $286/year. For us, that’s like getting over two months worth of electricity for FREE!
How To Find an Electric Supplier
On the PAPowerSwitch.com webpage, you can enter your zipcode, and it will show you a list of service suppliers and their price per kWh. The first price will always be PP&L so you can compare pricing.
How to Choose an Electric Supplier
Once you search for the suppliers in your zipcode, sort by kWh price (low to high).
Important fields to note are cancellation fee and introductory price. You will not want to choose a supplier with a cancellation fee, because you will be switching your supplier regularly if you choose to play the “electric supplier game”.
If it says there is no introductory price, then there is likely a term length agreement. If you want to find the best rate and want to switch every month, you will want the introductory price to say YES.
In some instances you will want to agree to a multi month agreement. These instances might include:
- you feel too busy to keep track of your supplier every month (if you don’t check the price of your supplier at the beginning of every month, they might raise their prices higher than PP&L)
- you will be away or on vacation
- there will be a life change in your family (like a birth of a new child, a new job, a planned surgery or moving to a new house—anything that might keep you from being able to stay on top of the “electric supplier game”)
It is OK to choose a higher price per kWh in these instances. It is better to lock in to a good price for 3 months, than to forget for one month and have it cost you a higher rate when you aren’t expecting it!
What You Need When You Call the New Supplier
The phone call to switch to your new electric supplier will only last about 10-15 minutes. They will need to know your name, address, contact information and PP&L account number.
When you call, state that you saw the PAPowerSwitch rate, and be sure to specify the rate you saw in order to confirm the pricing and terms of the agreement.
Ask for the term end date. Put this date in your calendar to notify you as the date you need to switch suppliers. Call your new supplier at least a week before, not after this date (which is your term end date). Please note, if you wait beyond this date to switch your supplier, you may be charged a higher electric rate than even PP&L!!
We prefer to call and talk to someone, just as a confirmation to guarantee the rate we saw, but you can also sign up for the offers online from the PAPowerSwitch.com page. Just click on the link that says “Sign Up For This Offer>>”.
Our Favorite (and most used) Electric Suppliers
We have been playing the “electric supplier game” for almost three years. In this time, we have found two suppliers that we use the most, and have been particularly drawn to.
Inspire Energy often has some of the best rates. We were also very impressed with their customer service. You always talked to someone kind and knowledgeable, and we often got personal handwritten notes in the mail from them. Inspire also has a reward program. If you tell your friends to sign up through your link, you get a $25 statement credit. But be careful, they did get us one time and raise their rates when we weren’t expecting it!
AEP Energy often has some of the best rates as well. We have locked into their 3 month rates when we knew we would be too busy to play the game for a few months.
Please let us know your thoughts on this article.
We would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have!
Kandra says
Wow, thank you so much for sharing these steps to save on electricity. I’d heard of people doing this, but had no idea how it worked. I figured it was too complicated and never looked into it. I am excited to give it a try and see how much we can save!
Kathy says
Glad it is helpful Kandra! Let us know if you have any questions. Most people we know that do this save an average of $30 per month!!!
kara says
Checking into this now! What if you sign up with Inspire and the next month it is still the lowest price online, do you have to do anything or do you automatically get the rate listed online?
Kathy says
We recommend you get into a habit of calling them once a month, whether it is to switch providers or just to confirm that you will be receiving the same price you see online. My husband says he always calls to confirm, just to be sure.