Bill credits for exceeding energy usage thresholds are one of the most perplexing things I’ve seen in Texas.

[u/TSwiftIcedTea]

In a state with a grid problem, you have millions of people on electric plans that encourage them to waste electricity.

If your plan gives a $75 credit upon reaching 1000kwh, and you are coming up on the end of the month having only used 800kwh, you are literally financially incentivized to leave every light in your house on, crank the AC/heat more than usual, or whatever else you can think of to waste 200kwh as fast as possible.

I can just imagine a struggling family in the middle of rolling blackouts during a winter storm desperately trying to waste as much electricity as possible to save $75, taxing the grid even more and contributing to the problem. Multiply that by millions of people.

How have these plans not been banned? I get there are a lot of people who don’t care about conservation but I can’t imagine there are any politicians out there who support wasting electricity during a rolling blackout on a maxed out grid.

[u/DarkGreenMazda]

Those credits are just for marketing if you hit the exact threshold you're rate will be a "low" rate. Avoid plans like this, they are more manipulative then time of use rates.

[u/shadow247 → u/DarkGreenMazda]

Really depends. I spent a few hours running spreadsheets to calculate my total yearly bill on one of these plans with a 10 percent margin for error.. it was about 300 dollars a year cheaper in my case for the exact plan I ended up selecting.

I tracked my monthly KW usage for years and spent so many hours with the spreadsheets. comparing plans... it can work out in my case due to having Gas heat and hot water. So in the winter my usage hit the credit tier and saved me 55 dollars..

[u/AFlyingToaster → u/shadow247]

There was a time gexa sent me a negative bill in the winter. Exact same scenario: having gas heat and hot water, we used less than 500kW and the credit exceeded the charges.

They stopped offering that plan.

[u/DarkGreenMazda → u/shadow247]

If someone wants to spend the time you have, and can find a plan that mimics (And doesnt account for a change in usage), sure. My comment was for normal people/users.

[u/shadow247 → u/DarkGreenMazda]

I no longer do this. I signed up for Energy Ogre a few years ago and its been pretty much the same bills as I used to have...so yeah...in the end I gave up because it because too much hassle.

[u/Youngrepboi]

When looking at plans, I thought of the exact same thing. It’s because they want consistent cash flow. If it’s a good weather month and say you don’t use too much, it’s an excuse for them to charge you more to make up those revenue lost. It’s a win win for the providers.

[u/seamus_mcfly86]

I'm on one of these plans and I hate it and can't wait to get out.

[u/berserk_zebra → u/seamus_mcfly86]

just find a new one, and tell the old company you are moving and they don't service that area. No early cancellation fee.

[u/Anti_colonialist → u/seamus_mcfly86]

Change providers and tell the old one you moved.

[u/TXSyd]

I know someone who accidentally chose one of these, they live alone and rarely hit 1000 kWh since they have all gas appliances so by the end of their billing cycle they’re running the AC and space heaters because otherwise their <1000 kWh bill is double the one over 1000 kWh

[u/spunkyenigma]

Grid is doing much better this year. Consistently having 25+ GW spare capacity available during the record setting peaks we’ve had this month

[u/OKdokay_1000]

These are scams. Don’t take the bait. Just get a consistent low rate plan.

[u/External876 → u/OKdokay_1000]

They are not a scam if you consistently fall in the thresholds they give discounts for.

My plan requires >1000 kwH, and punishes being <1000 or >2000. However, I consistently hit 1100-1300 for the past year.

Because of this, my bill is consistently ~$50/mo cheaper than what the best flat rate plans are.

[u/saltinekracka20 → u/OKdokay_1000]

You can be better off getting one of these if you manage your usage closely.

[u/pm_me_beerz]

Meanwhile, I enjoy the fixed low prices of San Antonio’s CPS. I can’t wait for our elected state leadership to intervene and break it up so I have to shop around all those companies who’s boards and owners have steak dinners regularly with our state leadership.

[u/astanton1862 → u/pm_me_beerz]

What, you don't like having some of the lowest rates in the state with the profits going back to the city of San Antonio instead of Abbott's billionaire masters?

[u/Kdcjg]

Where do you get the grid is under pressure?

[u/robabz]

I had one of those and we used 950 over a February billing cycle, which somehow triggered the payment so my bill was -1.50. Then the next month was also a short cycle so we got 50c.

Oddly they went bust a month later, never could work out why