12% in November and 12% more in January. :confused: Has anyone abandoned TXU and gone with a different company already? Gexa would save me 11% according to the PUC.
http://www.powertochose.org/
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12% in November and 12% more in January. :confused: Has anyone abandoned TXU and gone with a different company already? Gexa would save me 11% according to the PUC.
http://www.powertochose.org/
I am using Reliant, I have seen a diffrence in my bill (not much) but every little bit helps, however if TXU goes up that much they most likely all will.
We have Reliant. They guarantee their rate for a year...
That's :bs:Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
S.
Have any of you who have switched from TXU had service issues? We're thinking about switching as well, but Melissa is concerned that our service - and possible response time if we have an outage - will suffer.
We switched and had no problems... except for the leper treatment we got after the switch while waiting on the final bill. But I blame that on crappy customer service.Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
The other companies merely "rent" the lines from TXU, TXU still services the power lines, etc etc. I went to a seminar on a company that saves ~12%, thinking about joining up with them. I'm using Direct Energy, we switched after just 3 or 4 months on our TXU account and haven't had any problems.
Anyone see the story on Channel 11 last night were the top executive for TXU got a 15 Million Dollar Bonus last fiscal year, plus his normal 1 Million dollar salary..... :shock:
Makes you wonder is this rate increase is just going to help TXU cover its bonus program!
Go to http://www.cbs11tv.com/ then click on TXU Rate Hike in CBS 11 Video section.........
A couple of "fun facts to know and tell":
Interesting business, eh?
- Power Companies -- like TXU -- are considered monopolies, and as such are regulated by the government. One of the things that the government tightly regulates is the rates they can charge their customers. So if TXU is going to charge 24% higher rates, it's because the government regulatory agency granted them that increase (due, I presume, to much higher oil prices).
- Co-ops -- like Reliant -- simply buy power from Power Companies and sell it to their customers. How can they be a middle-man, and still offer lower rates to their customers? Because the same government regulatory agencies force the Power Companies to sell power to the Co-ops at their lowest rate. Different forms of power generation cost (and are priced) differently. Nuclear Power is cheaper than Coal Power, which is cheaper than Oil Power. The regulatory agencies say the Power Companies have to sell their cheapest power to the Co-ops -- the thinking, I suppose, is that that is the only way Co-ops could be competitive with the mean 'ol Power Producer. Of course, if ths Co-ops (and their customers) are getting the cheaper power, that leaves the more expensive power for TXU's customers to pay for.
Well,
Maybe public backlash will make them recant the bonus... Like the AT&T folks when they laid off a large number of workers at Christmas time a few years back. Their CEO was slated to get a huge bonus for that nice and generous act.
Also, you have to figure into the rate hike equation the high cost of health insurance for ladder accidents. :D
RJ
If true, it's ridiculous... (not that I doubt you.)
Greedy bastards...
::Teacher: mode on:
Adam Payrot is correct about "renting" the wires and poles. I work for TXU Electric Delivery. TXU E.D. probably owns the wires and poles in your neighborhood and is regulated by the PUC. I don't see that ever changing. No matter who you choose for a provider, we deliver. Actually, all the providers are hooked to the grid and there is no way to know who's electrons are actually spinning the disk in your meter. It's like a community ice chest. You put your six pack in there and I put my six pack in too. We call them all equal, and if you drink more than you brought, you pay me for the difference. (Way too simplified, but you get the idea.)
24% sounds incredible, but before the hurricanes, I had already been hearing about the increases we were going to see in the price of natural gas this winter. Now, the gas can't be delivered as easily because of the hurricanes. The PUC only allows a provider to ask for an increase due to fuel costs twice a year. An energy provider makes their case, and the PUC alows all, none, or part of it. It was the same deal before deregulation. It is the same deal with pizza delivery. Fuel costs are making everything more expensive.
Your elected officials decided it was better to have a competitive market than a regulated industry. The good news is that you can change providers anytime you want. I don't understand a lot of it, but IIRC, deregulation hasn't come to TXU Energy yet. Becasue they were the only game in town, the PUC says TXU Energy has to have the "Price to beat" until the end of 2006. The PUC is artificially keeping TXU Energy's price up to give all the new kids on the block a chance to establish a customer base. At that time the PUC will make the playing field level again, and TXU can compete. If your new company has guaranteed to be cheaper, ask them what will happen after the PUC removes the restrictions on TXU Energy.
Last spring, a neighbor approached me about changing electric providers. Two months later, she approached me again - but she was repping a new provider and blasting the first! To me, the new one appears to be a pyramid scheme. I've caught several solicitors in bald face lies about how things work, and when called out, they would back-track very quickly. I've seen many more saying things that were not true because they just did not understand. I'm not saying TXU Energy is the good guy or the bad guy. All I'm saying is let the buyer beware.
::Teacher: mode off
The bottom line for me is that as long as you keep buying electricity from someone hooked to the grid, you are helping pay my salary. Thank you.
Did you also receive a 15 Million dollar bonus last year, like your big TXU boss did? If so I would like to talk with you about some exciting timeshare opportunities for you and your wife! :clown:Quote:
Originally Posted by onething
So what you're saying is I have to build a small nuclear reactor in order to get cheap power. Perhaps solar panels... maybe some hamsters in a large wheel.
Whichever way, it seems we're staring down the wrong side of the gun.
Did they mention he took stock from $11 a share to over $116 to get that bonus? I'm not defending his salary or bonus, but that is what drove the bonus. Nobody is worth that much, but the world pays all kinds of folks more than they are worth. Don't get me started.Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
When he hired on, TXU was in a world of hurt. Stock had just gone from over $30 a share to under $11 in about two days.
Besides, that is old news that the media just pulled out because of the fuel adjustment request.
My portfolio could have used a nice boost like that! Where were you with this info for your friends??? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by onething
Yea no ship! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
From http://www.txucorp.com/investres/inv...nt/welcome.asp
350% increase in Dividends equals yet another request for a rate increase this time around a 24% rate increase. It just doesn't quite line up for me. :confused:Quote:
In light of the company's improved financial strength, TXU's board of directors increased the annual dividend 350%, with an expectation of 5% annual growth. We expect to return over $5.5 billion of value to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases over the 2004 to 2005 period. With generation of significant incremental free cash flow after capital expenditures, TXU's cash-producing power is at or near the top of the industry.
Uh, the Dept. of Homeland Security won't let you build your own reactor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
I think it's getting close to the time of doing a TCB style windmill for generating power :D Sell the excess back to the grid so you can bank up and have some to use when the wind dies down.
It would be funny to see someone try to build a reactor! I bet there'd be all kinds of G-Men swarming down on their house.
RJ
An interesting side note... I am not sure if this is related to Kalifornia power regulation or if it comes out of Washington, but in CA you can set up your own energy generation on your property (solar, wind, etc) and it can be set up to send your un-used electricity back into the power company grid. The electric company is required to by it from you at set rates weather they want to or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Oh yeah... by the way, for all the Fed eavesdroppers, it was sarcasm aimed at the cost of electrical power.Quote:
Originally Posted by channelmaniac
Zealous bastards...
That's it!! Home owners association be damned!! I'm putting in one of those mega-blade-fan-wind-powered generators you see in the Kalifornia countryside!Quote:
Originally Posted by Titus
By the way... the Google ad in the corner: Wholesale Wind Generators!!! Hehehehe...
onething, thanks for taking the time to explain a little bit about how the electricity business works. :thumleft:
Learning how not to move into Martha Stewart's recently vacated cell. Ever heard of insider trading? IF I had known, I couldn't tell, but I am a lowly mushroom.Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Hey - I had no idea what was going to happen. If I had, I would have sold the Miata and bought stock @ 11. I know several who did and sold when it hit $30. Boy are the steamed now. I dumped mine @ 96. It peaked at over 116 and is 103, down 4.54 today.
My senior Design Project dealt with designing and building a solar-powered residential pool heating system. We used direct thermal heating panels, instead of expensive photovoltaic cells, but we still needed a huge (around 500 square feet of panel) and relatively expensive array to provide the necessary energy to effectively heat the pool.Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Still, I have considered using something similar to augment my hot water heater at home. Heating 100 gallons to 120 degrees will require a whole lot less energy - and a much smaller array - than heating 20,000 gallons to 80 degrees. :wink:
Here you go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
http://www.realgoods.com/renew/images/pimages/16151.jpg
In Texas too. Not many individuals are doing it, but there are manufacturing plants that have built co-gen units to recycle the steam they are making. Already had the steam, they may as well spin a generator with it and save some money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Titus
Go get yourself a Honda generator and let me know how things work out.
As for wind; TXU Energy is a partner in the huge windmill farm on both sides of I20 in west Texas.
Nukes are a regulatory nightmare. Ask me sometime and I'll recount my many memoirs. :rolleyes:
Did you have to do an environmental impact study on what that 500 square feet of panel was doing to the little critters in your back yard? That's what happens when you try to do it on a larger scale.Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
The things that aren't cost effective today will be when fossil fuel goes away - or we get tired of the fringe benefits.
:scratch: What's that? Is that something you have up in southern Oklahoma?Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
And what the hell are these Google ads you guys keep talking about? Am I supposed to have those too? :confused:
S.
Only the guys with ::ssr::, ::bbs::, and ::kumho:: can see the ads!Quote:
Originally Posted by srivendel
Should be ads by google in the upper right hand corner of every page, it's a way to help subsidize this forum!
Tenaska III in Paris, TX, is like that... They generate electricity and pipe the steam over to Campbell's Soup to cook with. Nice way of doing business together.Quote:
Originally Posted by onething
RJ
Yep, that's what I said... only you said it better! My dad worked for Virginia Electric and Power Company (Vepco) for his entire career, so I heard a lot about the industry. A couple of clarifying/expanding points:Quote:
Originally Posted by onething
CEO's the world over get obscene amounts of money in bonus payments, mostly tied to stock price performance. I'm actually OK with that, except that I'd like to see these bonuses tied to real, long-term performance -- say, the stock price increases over a 5 year period -- instead of a 1 year stock price increase. There are lots of short-term (and short-sited) things a company can do to make things look great today... but that will destroy the company's profitablilty in the long-term.
- While onething is right about the "community ice chest" analogy -- everyone shares the same electrons -- the Power Producing company does know how many of those electrons were produced by which kind of generation source. They also know the cost per electron (well, cost per kilowatt) to produce each electron, and have to divulge this in detail to the regulators. That's how the regulators know the "cheap rates" from the "expensive rates", and can decide within that range what cost the Power Producer can recover from the co-ops.
- onething is also correct that the regulatory agencies typically force the Power Producer to sell to co-ops at a very low rate. This is suppose to encourage competition. What it really does is artificially lower the cost for co-ops and their customers, forcing the Power Producer's customer to pay more (hey, the cost is the cost... someone has to pay). The "saving grace" is suppose to be that these regulated price breaks for the co-ops is supposed to be short-term. Uh huh...
It would be nice if they would invest some of the profits back into the company to help control costs, as well as giving their employees some compensation for all the work they do to maximize performance as well as profits!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kestrel
Bwahahaha! :clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
That's a good one!
The day corporate America thinks about and rewards their employees will be a cold day in hell. :rolleyes:
We tend to do it in the world of small businesses but your correct the big corporate entities tend to focus on short term performance rather than long term existence.....Quote:
Originally Posted by black roadster
We have been around for 20 years! :cheers: And the future looks good! :cool:
Big business can't make long term plans and not piss off shareholders that want quick turn around on their investment. Frankly, I'm willing to wait as long as they can make a long term profit plan that works best for all involved.
Congrats!!Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
By the way, I have yet to PayPal you for the CNC turret press I picked up last week.
Ha Ha Sparky I did actually just get a pretty decent size tooling order and the customer did pay us using PayPal! :razz:Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
So do you have Vinnie and Guido ready to ::BigWhack non-payers?
I heard it on the radio earlier, and then I found the site. Your natural gas bill will increase as much as 90% in the coming months.
Atmos News Release
For the first time in over a decade, I own a home that is not Total Electric :(
As I mentioned earlier, the TXU increase was due to fuel costs.