Electricity mail incentive

[blondietink]

Did anybody here get in the mail last week an incentive to change electricity companies at your home to one that gives out starpoints based on your electricity usage? Well, we did and did some investigation. The initial starpoints incentive of 7500 points after your second month using their company sounded good. HOWEVER, upon further checking our electricity usage rate (what they give starpoints on) with the rate the company charges was more than 3 TIMES what we are paying now. So, my electricity usage is now just over $25.00/month, and if I switched to their program, the usage would cost me over $75.00/month. This plus my supplier costs would have driven my electricity bill up over $50.00/month. All for a few extra starpoints every month. What a rip-off! Buyer beward. Just MHO.

 

[bizaro86]

Did anybody here get in the mail last week an incentive to change electricity companies at your home to one that gives out starpoints based on your electricity usage? Well, we did and did some investigation. The initial starpoints incentive of 7500 points after your second month using their company sounded good. HOWEVER, upon further checking our electricity usage rate (what they give starpoints on) with the rate the company charges was more than 3 TIMES what we are paying now. So, my electricity usage is now just over $25.00/month, and if I switched to their program, the usage would cost me over $75.00/month. This plus my supplier costs would have driven my electricity bill up over $50.00/month. All for a few extra starpoints every month. What a rip-off! Buyer beward. Just MHO.

Did they require a long term contract? IE, could you get the 7500 starpoints, after the second month, and then switch back to your current provider in month 3?

 

[blondietink]

The information states that you can cancel the service at any time. 2 starpoints for every $1.00 spent. 7500 bonus points after two months.

So, I could get a free hotel room at many hotels with the bonus points or two nights at a lower end starwood hotel. Spending $75/month on my electric bill supply portion would net me 150 starpoints per month. So, to get enough starpoints to stay in a hotel that cost 10,000 points would take me more than 5 years. And I would be paying over those 5 years approximately $3,000 more on my electricity bill ($50.00 per month more than I am paying now) just to get enough points to stay one free night in a hotel worth about $200.00. Or, if I just stayed in the program long enough to add 2500 points to the bonus of 7500 they give me after 2 months, I would only have to pay the higher electric bill for a little over 16 months, or an additional $800.00 in increased electricity costs.

When speaking with them on the phone, they were quick to say that their rates per kwh were variable per month and could go down or up accordingly. So, I asked them for 3 previous month's rates and they were all 3 times or more the kwh rate I am currently paying.

The only other option would be to stay the 2 months and take the 7500 point bonus and run.

 

[bizaro86]

The only other option would be to stay the 2 months and take the 7500 point bonus and run.

That's the only option that makes any sense to me... $100/7500 spg= 1.33 cents per point, which is pretty good. But you have to weigh it against the hassle of calling to get switched again, and any potential risk of them not switching you in a timely fashion.