In July, when the first part of the Baltimore Gas and Electric rate increase kicked in, I suggested that electricity prices would drop and counseled households to wait until fall before switching electric-generation suppliers.
Fall is here. While consumer kilowatt prices haven't declined as far as wholesale prices, savings can be had. The time to shop is now.
For the first time since electricity deregulation kicked in six years ago, it makes economic sense for Baltimore-area households to ditch BGE's standard product and buy kilowatts from a third-party supplier.
Families in the BGE service area might cut their bills by about $200 over the next year by switching. They may do even better by changing now and then changing again if kilowatt rates keep going down.
The plunge in 2007 electricity prices since late August - between 10 percent and 25 percent, depending on the month of delivery - has to do with a slowing economy and lower overall energy prices, especially natural gas, which fuels many critical generation plants.
BGE, which was required to buy juice for its standard product when wholesale prices were sky high, can't immediately dip into the cheaper market. It's completely committed through May, and substantially committed after that. But you're not. Alternative suppliers, who can dart in and out of the market when the omens look right, are buying the less-expensive kilowatts and passing the savings to households and businesses.
To be sure, switching electricity suppliers won't erase all of the 72 percent rate increase hitting the average BGE household after six-year price caps expired in July. And it won't cure numerous problems with the regulation, production and transmission of Maryland electricity that policymakers need to address.
But it's one way households can help themselves. Annual savings of $200 would wipe out about one-fourth of the 72 percent pop. And if you're still mad about soaring rates, you may receive emotional satisfaction by taking business away from Constellation Energy, BGE's parent.
Constellation is the main power supplier for BGE's standard residential electricity product between now and next summer. (BGE will always pipe the energy to your house, no matter whom you purchase it from.)
Rate relief
