Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Do I have a choice of who I can select my energy from?
Question: How can you be able to offer me a lower rate than my utility bill?

Question: How are you able to get the energy to me?
Question: What if I have an emergency?

Question: What are the risks involved with switching?
Question: How will you bill me for the energy we purchase from your supplier?
Question: Is there a chance that your supplier would cost me more overall than my utility?
Question: Can I purchase natural gas and electricity from you?
Question: What about the transportation cost of my natural gas service?
Question: Can I be your customer and participate in this program while receiving rebates and other savings program incentives through my utility?
Question: How is my index rate price actually determined each month?

Question: Do I have a choice of who I can select my energy from?

Answer: You certainly do have a choice. The energy (natural gas and/or electricity) industry in your area has been deregulated. The easiest way to understand it is to think of it like the telecommunications deregulation, but instead of using phone lines we are using energy lines. We are able to sell you energy at a discount and you continue to use the utilities existing pipelines to transport the energy to your facility or residence. There are no setup fees or connection fees and your utility will not charge you additional transportation costs. So we are able to pass on the savings from the actual energy you use.
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Question: How can you be able to offer me a lower rate than my utility?

Answer: The utility is allowed to build in cost of their infrastructure, bad debts and anything else the Public Utilities Commission will allow them, into their actual cost of energy. Our suppliers have minimal overhead and are much more flexible and able to go out and get the best price for your energy. We then pass those savings on to our customers.
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Question: How are you able to get the energy to me?

Answer: We will give the energy you buy from us directly to your utility company and then you will still pay them to transport the natural gas through their existing pipelines to your residence or facility. You will still be a customer of your local utility, but you will get your energy from our suppliers.
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Question: What if I have an emergency?

Answer: If you have an emergency like a gas leak or a fire you will still call you local utility company and they will come out and service your pipelines and meters, you will still be their customer because you will pay them for transporting your energy to your residence or facility. They will not charge you more in a maintenance or emergency situation because you are purchasing your energy from another company. However, if you have a billing or customer service issue you can quickly contact your representative and be taken care of much quicker and effectively.
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Question: What are the risks involved with switching?

Answer: There is essentially no additional risk. Our personally "hand-picked" suppliers have been in business for many years and have thousands of residential and commercial accounts nationwide and have never received a better business bureau complaint. That is not the case with other energy marketers. Our suppliers are truly devoted to customer satisfaction. They have survived and outlasted many others in our industry even when most had only been in business a fraction of the time. They will be here for a long time to come and in the event they cannot supply you with gas or electricity, your local utility company would begin to supply you again automatically.
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Question: How will you bill me for the energy we purchase from your supplier?

Answer: If you are a residential customer you will continue to receive your single PG&E bill. The only difference is that instead of having PG&E’s cost for your natural gas and/or electricity on your bill you will have our suppliers cost. Nothing will change from your prospective and you just pay once using any current method available to you from PG&E. There is a $.05 per day customer fee included as well.  

If you are a commercial customer in the PG&E area you be eligible to receive your charges on your single PG&E bill or you will also have the option to receive a separate bill from your energy supplier at no additional cost.  

If you are a commercial customer in the SoCal or SDG&E area you will receive a separate bill from your supplier at no additional cost.
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Question: Is there a chance that your supplier would cost me more overall than my utility.

Answer: In some months there is a chance that our energy suppliers could cost you more, but that does not happen often. We have never cost our customers more annually than your local utility would have on a per Therm basis. The suppliers price can sometimes be more than your local utilities price because of lags between your local utility price and actual current market price. Historically the prices on a monthly level are most always less than the utilities but when energy prices rise unexpectedly and quickly in a matter of a few months it can result in the price for a month being more than the utilities. This is because when we were purchasing our energy at the markets current rates, the utility was still selling energy at rates below where the current market was. This is because they must set their monthly prices well in advance of when they do and the market was not forecasted to rise so much or so quickly. This results in their prices continuing to rise as ours level off or drop from their highs. That is why we like for our customers to look at the savings on an annual basis. Essentially, if their prices are less than ours in one month then that difference is likely to be made up in subsequent months.
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Question: Can I purchase natural gas and electricity from you?

 

Answer: The deregulation of natural gas and electricity varies from state to state.  In California, natural gas is deregulated.  Governor Schwartzennegger recently signed CA Bill 695 which will deregulate electricity in coming months which will allow you to have a choice of who you wish to purchase electricity from.
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Question: What about the transportation cost of my energy service?

  

Answer: Your local utility will still charge you for the transportation of the energy to your facility or residence. You are already paying them for the transportation of the energy right now and when you become our customer your utility will not charge you anything additional for the transportation. So you can take the transportation out of the equation and whatever we can save you on the energy supplied is what you can expect to save overall. Generally, the more energy you use the more we can save you.
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Question: Can I be your customer and participate in this program while receiving rebates and other savings program incentives through my utility?

  

Answer: Yes, you can purchase your energy at a discount from us and still be eligible for all the savings and rebate programs your local utility company offers. This even includes California’s Care customers. Even if you signed a contract for a rebate you will remain a customer of your utility and still be eligible for the rebate and be able to participate in our program.
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Question: How is my index rate price actually determined each month?

  

Answer: In California the index’s we use to determine your price each month is either the Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) or Inside FERC (IF) index. These indexes are third party organizations that look at all the transactions happening at a particular geographical delivery point and assign an index value for that delivery point each month. Both of these indexes are independent third party organizations, are highly respected and industry standards in the areas we use them. Essentially, they are determining the market based rate for your area each month.
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