B. A. Computer Services regularly assists individuals who are getting taken by fraudulent offers through computer resources. Honest people are being socially engineered to get their money taken from them. Social engineering means entire organizations specialize in marketing scams and making offers on the phone and in print to you that sound like they are benefiting you but in fact they are slyly taking your money.
BANG! Nearly every Electric Provider and nearly every Internet provider is using marketing schemes to socially engineer your over-payment of their services.
Now, the only difference (not much of one) between the outright criminal fraudster and these companies is that the fraudster is technically outright stealing your money with no return of real services. The power companies on the other hand are offering a real service, they are simply doing so at rates that are higher than they need to be, and getting people into contracts they think is at rate X, when it fact the final bill is often much higher. You get your bill, gasp, and cannot figure out why you are paying so much more than you thought had agreed. That is, quite frankly, little different than these outright criminal groups. Deception is deception in any form it comes.
I will ground this firmly in the Scripture of the Lord God Yahweh: Proverbs 11:1 Balances of deceit are detestable to Yahweh, but a perfect stone weight is His delight.
While we are not able to do an exhaustive report on every company, this particular subject hits us in our shin hard because like every other company, we must choose an electric plan. We shop the recommended Powertochoose.org website that is supposedly unbiased. Here is their exact statement pulled from their website:
“Welcome to Power to Choose, the official and unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas. This website is available to all electric providers to list their offers for free. Compare offers and choose the electric plan that’s right for you.”
With all the sincerity they might be intending, their website format is difficult to navigate and almost impossible to evaluate against one’s actual needs. We spent hours, yes, precious HOURS, of our time to sort out exactly what they were try to communicate. Our object here is a simple consolidation of what data one must collect to make a good decision, and what deception this supposed unbiased site is propagating from the actual Retail Electric Providers (REP).
- REPs rate their electricity prices based on how much typical usage a meter records at any particular site. You will see these rate scales as 500 Kwh, 1000Kwh, or 2000 Kwh. What this means is the first rates listed will apply if you use from 500Kwh up to 999Kwh. At 1000Kwh, the rate tier changes and for that tier you pay the 1000Kwh to 1999Kwh rate. If you regularly use more than 2000Kwh, a plan with a low 2000Kwh rate may be cost effective. Thus, the first thing you need to find out is, how much electricity does your home or building use–check peak summer, peak winter, and then your lower spring and autumn usages. A full year’s average may not be the most useful.
- In addition to the REP charges, the company that owns the telephone poles and wires (Transmission and Distribution Utility TDU, or Service Provider TDSP), also charges their own rates and fees. Now here is one deception: Some REPs list their prices without the TDU fees included, and other list them with them included. As a consumer, one would obviously want to see the fully disclosed final price of electricity paid, not merely the half the retail electric provider is charging. The TDU charges some 7-8 cents per Kwh delivered, and the REP charges above that. In addition, both TDU and REPs often charge a base fee, something around $10 to $20 to cover instances when no electricity is being used at the site at all. Even if your main breaker switch is completely off and meter is not running, these fees are still charged monthly.
- The oversell is a key strategy electric and electronic service providers are using to scam people today. In simple analogy, one needs a car to get to work and instead they sell you a whole passenger bus that you cannot afford to drive daily. B. A. Computer Services can help accurately in this area when it comes to Internet connectivity. A home does not generally need a gigabit of bandwidth in a 1-2 person home for example. That kind of bandwidth is a passenger bus capable of supplying dozens of employees at a business.
Your Consumer Strategy
- As listed above, find out what your site’s actual electricity needs will be, and decide which of the tiers most closely fits your yearly average. A small dip above 2000 Kwh does not mean a 2000 Kwh plan is best for you. For most homes this falls around the 1000 Kwh up to 1999 Kwh tier. For those who may average below 1000 Kwh, use the 500 Kwh rates.
- Before finalizing the plan you think is best rates, check the actual Electricity Facts Label (EFL) to find out whether what is being listed INCLUDES the TDU charges, or if you will pay additionally for the TDU charges. If the EFL says something subtle like, “TDU will be passed through” then YOU WILL PAY MUCH HIGHER than what the rate plan is currently listed. Be very watchful of this subtlety, a mismatched weight deception the powertochoose.org website may propagate. If you are not sure what your electric usage will be, choose a plan in which all three tiers have an equal price.
- Avoid signing up over the phone for a rate plan. The EFL is too complicated for any meaningful understanding to be reached verbally between you and the customer service sales person. Have them send all the information to your email or postal address. Thoroughly review the documents, especially the EFL. !! The marketing literature may contradict the EFL, but the EFL is the legal contract which will be binding. !!
- Finally, after you sign up and get your first bill, check it against what the EFL said you would be paying to hold the REP accountable. It is much harder at this point to fix a signed (or verbally agreed and recorded) contract, but it can be done if you can prove their EFL was deceptive (not marketing literature, only the EFL!)
Legal Disclaimer: All statements are the opinions of the website author and do not necessarily reflect those of the company. They are pegged to the date and time of publication and are subject to change the further from that historical date time continues.