While the disaster in the Gulf gushes on, there are some reasons to be hopeful.

First, while it is the beginning of the Hurricane season for the Gulf of Mexico, there seems little reason to think a hurricane is on the way any time soon.

Second, BP workers are working to put the new containment cap on the out of control well. Already they have the old misfitting cap off. The oil is flowing at the moment unimpeded, but that will change as soon as the new cap is fitted tightly on the well.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal official in charge of responding to the worst environmental catastrophe in the nation's history, said today "a new containment cap and the deployment of another ship to collect oil could effectively contain the spill by Monday July 12th 2010."

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Save Big Money on Heating and Cooling Bills

Looking for a way to cut costs for heating and cooling? Want answers appropriate for your area?Want a detailed report of exactly what to change and how much it will cost? Want to know your savings for upgrading your house and appliances in it?

Click Here to Go to the Home Energy Calculator

Here is a detailed Example of a report for a house built in the 60's in West Texas:

Detailed Upgrade Report
This is a printable report of the upgrades you selected for your home. These upgrades have the potential to save $977 each year on your utility bill.

You selected the following upgrades:

• When replacing your electric clothes dryer, switch to natural gas model
• Install a programmable thermostat
• Replace high use incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps
• When replacing your dishwasher, choose an ENERGY STAR-labeled model
• When replacing your electric water heater, choose an energy efficient model
• Have your ducts professionally sealed to reduce leakage
• When replacing your clothes washer, choose an ENERGY STAR-labeled model
• When replacing your windows, choose a double-pane solar-control low-E argon gas wood frame window
• Have a professional seal your home's air leaks
• Insulate exterior walls to at least R-11
• When replacing your main refrigerator, choose an ENERGY STAR-labeled model
• Increase attic floor insulation to R-38

To get your own energy evaluation report  just Click Here and fill in your zip code, then fill in the information about your living quarters.

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Who needs an Energy Consultant?

Just because a person is a businesses man or woman, doesn't automatically mean they know anything at all about how to get the right electricity rates from the right companies at the right time and the right way. This may sound confusing at first, but I can tell you from the experience of an Energy Consultant that most people are just bad at electricity shopping. Or even worse, they don't know they should. So, if someone does not know what is going on in the electricity world, what should they do?

Well one answer is to do nothing. And believe it or not many people fall in to this area. They figure they can't make too bad a mistake if they do nothing. And to top it off they think that electricity prices is like everything else, very similar in price. Well, it is exactly similar in what it is, but as far as price, well, there is a large range of prices. And the buyer should be aware of this.

What about Residential Electricity?

There is much to know in Electricity buying. for residential. The main questions are do you want a rate plan? How long do you want your plan to last? Do you want month to month, 3 month, 6 month, 12 month, 24 month, 36 month or more? Do such plans fit in to your budget? Is the extra premium being charged worth the additional cost of longer and longer rate plans?

Is one company any better than the next? What about deposits? Do you know what to do if you are asked for a big deposit by a company? In general, people should strive to have good utilities credit. That is if for no other reason the deposit. You might get it back at the end of the year and then again you might not. But, all electric companies want to know if you are a risk. There are lots of people that pick up and go when summer bills get too large, and the electric company has to foot the bill.

If you think you were unjustly asked for a deposit what you do is ask your last company for your pay record. Sometimes this is referred to as an LOA, or a letter of authorization. You may have to actually fax this in to the company, or let your Energy Consultant do that. what you want to know is do you have a perfect pay record for the last 12 months? If so, most companies will lower or do away with a need for a deposit. If the current company won't the chances are good that another company will.

In most cases a 1 year rate is sufficient to combat the yearly price swings of both summer and winter extremes. If you are worried about energy prices in general getting out of line like they seemed to have in 2008, then you can get a longer rate guarantee. But, if the cost is too high for the extra degree of confidence, maybe you should rethink that 3 year contract.

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What to Know about Comparing Electric Rate Plans
 

Residential Electric Companies
 

There are a few things that residential electricity buyers should be aware of before deciding on a company. In Texas for instance, which is the largest de-regulated state in the USA, also has plenty of electric companies. They are sometimes known as power companies. Most of them have different prices for the amount of time you want the price fixed. Fixed rate electric plans vary widely. I have seen people paying on a 5 year plan, and I have see people pay month to month. If rates will be flat to heading south, you don't need much of a rate plan. But some companies are known to jump your rate up significantly when you go off the electric rate plan, so know when yours ends.
 

Customer Loyalty
 

There are many things to say about residential customers and the companies they buy from, but lets start with point of view. That is the mindset of the buyer. Now, as a residential and commercial electricity consultant I can tell you that I am quite surprised by some of the things I hear when I am talking to residential electric customers. One thing that I hear is, "I have been with company XYZ for 22 years, and I ain't about to change it now!" Now the person who said this could probably have saved at the time, about 25-30% on their bill. But that didn't matter at all! What mettered to them was the relationship he felt he had with this electric company. So, sometimes the company that you may have may be there for other reasons than cost.
 

Price per kWh
 

Some people are very interested in cost. Especially when the economy is not doing so well. These people need to keep in mind that rate per kWh is important, but some companies will not give you this quoted price unless you use at least a certain amount of electricity. For instance, you may need to use 1,000 kWh's of electricity, otherwise you pay a higher rate.For other compainies, you may pay one price for the first 1,000 kWh's and after that, you pay another price. In addition to this, some companies will charge you a monthly fee as well. Some companies may not have this monthly fee. And some can drop it if you pay slightly more. I am not here to tell you which type of payment arrangement is best for you, but I can let you know this is available, and may even be in your fine print. Electric companies will explain it if you ask them to. It is best to ask what your total cost per kWh will be when considering all costs. This is usually found on your bill, but you will have to look for it. ?This is really the number that matters
 

What about deposits?
 

Why are there deposits? I don't know why it is, but there are a lot of companies that treat their electric utilty poorly. They want to pay them the very last second possible. But electric companies have to usually buy electricity up front, or pay interest if it is on time. When a customer pays a bill nearly a month late, this is causing extra cost to the electric company. So in the end, they are not really happy to have such customers. There are even people that seem to go from electric company to electric company leaving large bills unpaid. Ergo, a deposit! And rightly so really. These same people do the most crying over being forced to pay any and every electric utility company a deposit, just because 1 bill wasn't paid, etc. Some companies have incorporated no deposit or low deposit into their cost structure. Some companies have pay as you go. This is where you prepay for x amount of energy. In this scenario you do not need a deposit. Be careful not to let such companies charge too much.

Don't want a deposit?
 

Join the group! The thing to remember is that if you have to pay a $300 deposit, it is very much like pre-paying your bill. That is a big outlay initially for many customers. Why not instead work to get a 0 deposit the next time? This is easy to do really. Just do a little planning, and PLAN to pay your electric bill on time every month for a year. Then, the next time you get new service, or look for a cheaper rate, and are denied no deposit you have something you can do. You can ask your last company for a LOA. This is a letter of authorization to be sent to you, or your new potential electric provider. This will show among other things like usage, how well you paid on time. ALso you can bring your bill statements down, they often show whether you have paid the electric bills on time. YOu show these to the new company and many of them will waive your deposit fee. Then just keep a good track record, so that they don't make negative remarks in your credit file.
 

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If you are a business, commercial or industrial user of electricity contact us for assistance getting good electricity rates send an email with contact to: consultant (@)cheaptexaselectricrates.com