According to some forums Respond Power is an active electricity company in Pennsylvania and has been doing the door to door sales thing in Philadelphia. Don’t knock door to door sales. Those guys have will power but still stay on your toes and ask questions as they need to work for that new electric customer.
In a newly deregulated electricity market a door to door electric service sales person can be a little confusing as some customers don’t yet realize they have a choice in Pennsylvania. PPL is all many people even know in places like Philadelphia.
It is up to an electric company sales person to explain what electric choice means and differentiate themselves and separate their company from the pole and wires company for that area.
For instance a customer at a home that is approached by a Respond Power electric company rep may think that because their electric company for the last several decades was PPL that this guy is with PPL electricity company.
You cannot fault Respond Power for the natural confusion that develops from an electricity market new to electric deregulation as is the case with Philadelphia.
Here are the facts folks, Respond Power is a retail electricity company and the reason you would want to switch to their electric company is if they offer a cheaper electric rate over PPL or whomever you may use.
When deciding to switch to a company like Respond Power you want to review their electricity agreement contract. Here are some typical questions you would want to ask listed below.
Questions to Ask in Order to Review Respond Power Rate Plans Being Offered Door to Door
- Is this “competitive” rate a fixed rate or a variable rate? Typically a variable rate is a teaser price that initially looks low in price but is raised on customers after the first month.
- Is this a fixed rate? A fixed rate normally should remain the same the entire length of the energy contract.
- Is this an “all-in” bundled electricity rate? A bundled rate includes all of Respond Power’s charges as well as PPL electric utility charges (PPL is the pole and wires company in Philadelphia not to be confused with PPL EnergyPlus)
- If this is a fixed electric rate does it include all charges including PPL pole and wires charges as well as any ancillary charges, fuel surcharges and misc charges averaged into the rate? Follow up with, are their fuel surcharges that will increase this rate during the term of the contract? The fuel surcharge question is useful as some Philadelphia retail electricity companies have been known to advertise a fixed rate and hide a fuel surcharge in the contract. Respond Power has not been accused of doing a tactic like this.
We assume Respond Power adheres to ethical and legal guidelines in their sales and marketing as well as how they have their energy contract written. These questions will help in verifying that you are getting a good electric rate without hidden fees and charges.
If you were confused as we have seen on some forums as thinking that the Respond Power door to door sales rep was PPL Electric Company we want to make it clear that these are two separate companies.
If you switched to Respond Power you will still get one bill but you will see the electric bill split into two separate sections. One section will show the retail electricity provider charges from Respond Power and the other section will show the PPL electricity transmission and poles and wires charges.
During the process of being told that you will still get an electric bill from PPL it could be that some customers simply misunderstood and thought that they were choosing PPL as their electric company at a cheaper rate.
In reality a customer who misunderstood in this way had switched away from PPL electricity company and chose a “competitive” rate with Respond Power at hopefully a cheaper price than they currently pay with PPL.