Direct Energy?

[Raymond and Paula Rosenstock]

There were a few people going house to house on the street from "Direct Energy". They did not have any literature to give out. The fellow was well spoken, not slick at all. Any opinions on this company or what it is about?

Paula Rosenstock

[Madelyn Rhenisch]

Beware!! I have been solicited twice at the door, once on the phone this morning--by SFE Energy, Starion and another company.  They sound convincing and "official", sometimes say they are working on behalf of Eversource (they're not) and want to see a utility bill so they can market they rates and get your account number to switch then and there. 
I was uncomfortable signing up for anything without some background and research and found that some of these companies are misleading and/or high pressure scam companies.  Some are legit, but perhaps not the best.

There are legitimate sub-suppliers to Eversource/NStar that may offer better rates and terms (fixed vs. variable, different length terms of contract, price per kWh, and monthly costs), and deregulation of energy suppliers to replace the monopoly by Eversource allows you to choose one. 

The best way to find one is to use the link that the Mass Dept of Energy gives to compare the differing products of legitimate companies:
     http://www.energyswitchma.gov/#/
For more background and explanation of the deregulation details and options for energy consumers see
     http://www.mass.gov/eea/energy-utilities-clean-tech/electric-power/electric-market-info/electric-industry-overview.html#competitive-electric-supply-products
I strongly recommend NOT responding to anyone going door to door. Hope this helps.  Some of the companies are predatory and preying on people's lack of information and confusion. 

On 11/28/16, Raymond and Paula Rosenstock<rayp...@earthlink.net> wrote:

 

There were a few people going house to house on the street from "Direct Energy". They did not have any literature to give out. The fellow was well spoken, not slick at all. Any opinions on this company or what it is about?

Paula Rosenstock

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[Eva Webster]

On 11/29/16, 10:10 PM, "Madelyn Rhenisch" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of rhen...@verizon.net> wrote:

Beware!! I have been solicited twice at the door, once on the phone this morning--by SFE Energy, Starion and another company.  They sound convincing and “official", sometimes say they are working on behalf of Eversource (they're not) and want to see a utility bill so they can market they rates and get your account number to switch then and there. (…) 

I strongly recommend NOT responding to anyone going door to door. Hope this helps.  Some of the companies are predatory and preying on people's lack of information and confusion. 

In the last month and a half, on three separate occasions, I also had a stranger come to my door and ask to come in to see and discuss our energy bills.  I say no.  But practically not a day goes by without a telemarketing call — sometimes several a day — urging us to accept some kind of offer with respect to energy. 

The truth of the matter is that it is the state legislature that has created conditions for the predatory practices that we are witnessing.

We are being bombarded with all this direct marketing by energy companies because this is what the industry lobbyists managed to get Beacon Hill to allow.  Deregulation is something that business-friendly Republicans usually favor.  It is almost always for the benefit of the deregulated industry — but it makes things much harder for the consumers.

So I wonder why the supposedly “blue” Massachusetts legislature thought it was the right thing to unleash this big headache on people of having to research, discuss, and make complex and difficult choices about energy sources?  Like life is not short enough.  

Most people — practically everyone, on every economic level — are simply too preoccupied with their lives to be able to educate themselves about complex offers, figure out differences between various deals that are hiding in the fine print, compare prices, and pick individual contracts that only last for a certain amount of time (the so-called “teasers”) before they revert to higher rates.

Also, the phone solicitations are infuriating — you drop whatever you’re doing to answer the phone, only to find out that someone is trying to sell you something (in this case energy) on your own phone line that you pay for, and these people hijack in order to finagle money from you.  It eventually forces you to stop answering the phone, meaning that your friends and family that you do want to hear from can’t get through to you on the first or second try.

Consumer protection activists in Massachusetts are probably overwhelmed, and may have been unable to prevent the legislation that made this whole energy deregulation thing possible (or to make sure that it would be structured better).  But forget consumer activists.  The legislators represent the people, and they should have known that most people would greatly prefer for the state regulators who oversee public utilities to strike the best deal for Massachusetts consumers — and spare millions of individuals the pain of having to study and choose different energy suppliers.

Or at least the choices should have been made very simple and straightforward (standardized forms that make comparing terms and rates easy; no different fine print from each company) — and be posted on a state-sponsored website, as the only place where people could sign up.  The tiresome direct marketing to individual households should have been prohibited/eliminated.

[Don Lubin]

Eva, and all, regarding telephone solicitation:

A large percentage of the phone calls I used to get, and would get now, are from recorded commercial messages.  Signing up for the Do Not Call Registry didn't seem to have any noticeable effect. What has been much more effective is a free service called NoMoRobo (no more robots). One forwards all calls to their number, and if it comes from a phone number of a known spammer, they answer. If not, they do nothing. I simply wait for a second ring. Some spam still gets through, but more often the phone rings once and then stops.  I have not had any complaints that real people couldn't get through to me. Setting up the account was a little tricky from a land line, but it has been no bother at all since then.     www.nomorobo.com

 - Don Lubin

[Dave]

Hi Don

Is there a cost for this? The No call list absolutely does not work. 

Dave 

Sent from my iPhone

[Don Lubin]

No cost at all.
I think it took a mobile phone to complete the setup process.

[David Strati]

OK.  I get those calls on my cell phone and my land line

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[Raymond and Paula Rosenstock]

Thank you all for your guidance regarding Direct Energy and other such companies.
Paula

> On Dec 4, 2016, at 4:14 PM, Micheal OLaoghaire <michealo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I accepted one of these alternate offers a few years ago. Initially the rate was about 15 pct lower than that of EverSource. I then basically forgot about it. Then after a few years, I happened to look at my bill and noticed that the rate was now about 40 pct HIGHER than that of EverSource. It then took me about three months to switch back. I then started to really look at the various competitive rates and found that EverSource was pretty competitive. You have to remember that the generation cost is only about 40 pct of the total electric cost. So even if you save 10 pct in generation cost, you are saving only about 4 pct of the whole bill.

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