Residential Electricity Consumer Watchlist

Residential Electricity is usually a mystery as far as what a consumer is actually paying for or even agreeing to before signing a contract. The beginning decision on who to switch to can be such a nightmare many consumers stay on a higher electric rate simply because the information available to determine what to look for when choosing electricity companies is not available. The Texas market happens to be the biggest market in terms of choosing a competitive retail electricity provider. Because of this it's important to see how they have done things in Texas in order to know what to do in the newly deregulated markets throughout the United States.

Illinois has just begun to deregulate their electricity market and there will be millions of residential customers wondering what they should do when deciding on who to switch to. To begin lets take a look at an electric bill. There are three components to an electric bill. There is the "Energy only" portion of the bill. This is the portion of the bill that has become deregulated and is available to be competitively priced. You then have the "Wires charges", these also go by the name "TDSP charges", "Transmission and Distribution charges" and "Pass thru charges". These charges are regulated by the government and will always be regulated. There will never be more then one electric pole and wire coming to a residential house. The final charges on the bill are the "Taxes".