National Energy Shopping Day encourages consumers and businesses located in deregulated states to check their energy contracts and shop around for a fixed rate energy supplier. Annually on the first Monday of Summer.

Energy Supply Shopping 101

Most people do not have a choice in which company delivers their electric or gas to their homes or businesses. Utilities are essentially monopolies.

However, on that gas and electric bill, you're actually paying three different entities...at the minimum: the service provider (your electric or gas company); the government (taxes and fees); and the supplier, the actually gas or electricity you use. You can't do anything about the service provider (except go off grid). The only way to change anything about the taxes is to lobby your government. You can do something about the supply though, and that is where Energy Shopping Day comes in.

Gas and electric are commodities. That means they are traded on the commodities market every day, and the actual price fluctuates every day. Most businesses of any size, if they're in one of the 37 states with energy deregulation, tend to apply fixed-rate contracts to their gas and electric supply in an effort to protect against price volatility. It is like signing a lease for rent or a fixed rate mortgage. You know what you'll pay for a set period of time and even if the landlord raises everyone else's rent, your rent doesn't go up until you lease ends.

For example, after the 2008 economic crisis, electric and natural gas supply prices increased nearly 100% over the next three years. By 2014, they were at all-time highs. Companies and residents that locked in their fixed rates with suppliers, didn't experience the wild price increases. They paid whatever they had agreed to pay on their 12-60 month contracts.

What about businesses that signed fixed rate contracts at the height of the market in 2014 and 2015? The market tanked in 2016 and 2017 again. If a company signed up with a broker, rather than an individual supplier, they're usually covered. Reputable brokers watch the market and re-negotiate with all their suppliers when the market drops dramatically for an extended period of time. They then redo their clients at the lower rates, choosing from whichever supplier has the best rate for that client's usage. Brokers aren't locked into a specific supplier. Basically, the business or residence is protected against large fluctuations in the market, whilst given a 'get out clause' if everything goes south.

Over 3-5 years, Canadian government and US government reporting agencies, in addition to several news organizations, show quantifiably that companies opting for fixed rate energy contracts pay less over the full term. There may be a month, quarter or even a year in that contract that they pay a little more than the variable rate. However, over a long period of time, choosing a supplier not only increases your accuracy at budgeting (you know what your usage was last year, so you can accurately calculate total cost this year now that you know what the energy will cost), it also protects you from the unknown: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, political instability in energy supplying nations, extended cold weather, pandemics and anything else that might affect supply and demand that is beyond your control.

What's the caveat? If you're not working with a broker, (brokers prevent this from happening) you need to keep a very close eye on when your contract expires and renew before then. People and businesses that sign up for 'introductory offers' or that fail to renew their contracts before they expire will start to see their rates skyrocket once out of contract. The go back to variable rates, whatever variable rate that supplier wants to charge. Again, going back to the lease versus month-to-month rent. On a lease, your rent cannot go up. Once the lease expires, if you haven't signed a new one, the landlord can raise your rent every month if they want. It's the same principle with energy supply contracts.

Where do you find supplier information?

Search on your own:

Your state utilities commission will have a list of suppliers.

Your utility should have a list of supplier offers

Use a broker:

You can go through brokers, including the sponsor of this event, Retail Energy Supply Association, which is in 16 states; another option is the largest in the United States, United Energy Services, which is in 37 states and 5 countries.