My electricity contract is coming up for renewal and the current rate for my area with my company is .12875/kwh. This is down considerably over the last year. I know this is usually based on Nat Gas futures but as I don't personally trade these, I was wondering if now is a good time to lock in a new electric rate for 12mo or should I go month to month and see if the rates keep dropping? What do you futures traders see coming in the next month or two?
Depends where you're at in regards to power. What large city are you in/near? Btw, I can only answer from the wholesale perspective myself, but it might help you gain some insight.
It depends on the fuel mix that your supplier uses for generation. My electric utility is Entergy, and they just announced a 14% drop in rates in my area for the coming quarter because of the fall in NG prices. Obviously they have a significant portion of their generating assets fueled by NG. It is hard to imagine NG prices getting much lower in the next few months with winter coming, but it depends how cold the winter is and how slow things get in '09. There is plenty of NG in storage at the moment, so we shall see. It is a crap shoot on locking in a rate or riding the monthly/quarterly swings. Good luck.
I locked in rates in west houston in may/june this year for 14.1 per kw. My rational was that if I wanted to spec on natural gas prices, I would trade NG. Now that gas has come off so much the rates have only dropped to 12-13 ish for fixed price. You're looking at powertochoose.org right?
Yes I am looking at powertochoose.org and considering Spark Energy. They are the cheapest with a descent customer rating. Oh and I am specifically in the Village of Spring Oaks sub div in Spring...basically around Cypresswood and Treaschwig.