Clock Is Ticking to 'Voice Your Choice' for Electricity
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - Todd Grady - Staff Writer - Dec. 29, 2004
You have less than 38 hours to "Voice Your Choice."
And next year, you'll have to do it all over again.
The deadline for Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. customers to choose their electricity supplier for 2005 is 8:30 p.m. Thursday. As of Monday, the latest date for which information was available, 40 percent of RG&E's customers — about 136,000 — have decided to stick with the utility in 2005, with an overwhelming number picking a fixed-rate plan.
RG&E won't give even approximate figures for how many have chosen fixed over variable rates, saying it doesn't want to influence last-minute decision-makers.
And it won't be known until early January how many folks signed up with one of the utility's competitors, said RG&E spokeswoman Yvonne Selbig. Those providers won't say either, citing competitive reasons.
RG&E's 341,000 residential, industrial and commercial customers have been asked to pick a supplier as part of a statewide program to make energy prices more competitive.
RG&E will still be responsible for delivering sufficient electricity for the region and for maintaining lines and transmission equipment.
Ratepayers must also choose whether to lock into a one-year rate or take their chances on a market price that will fluctuate.
For those choosing RG&E, that fixed rate is 8.2 cents per kilowatt hour, up 11 percent over the current rate, including some fixed charges.
On Tuesday, the variable rate was 7.02 cents.
Charges will be based on the average wholesale price for the month, which if calculated Tuesday would be 6.76 cents per kilowatt hour, also including fixed charges.
RG&E is encouraging all its customers to make a choice.
"We're not going to be satisfied until we've heard from everyone," Selbig said. "We're not finished yet."
Those customers who don't choose will automatically be enrolled in RG&E's variable price option.
After Thursday, customers can still switch suppliers but cannot change between a fixed and variable rate.
All customers also have to pay a fixed delivery charge of 2.27 cents per kilowatt hour and a transition charge, which is currently a credit of 1.062 cents per kilowatt hour.
RG&E staged a campaign to educate consumers, making presentations to 189 community, church, business and government groups.
Since early October, the utility has taken calls from more than 125,000 customers and called about 150,000 customers to remind them to choose a supplier.
"When we started off this program we knew it was going to be the customers' first experience with this kind of program," Selbig said. "So our objective was really raising awareness, getting customers familiar with the whole concept of 'Voice Your Choice.'"
The state Public Service Commission also held 10 information sessions in the area and two daylong energy fairs that drew a total of about 2,000 people.
"The response from the Rochester community has been excellent, and we've done our best to help customers as much as possible," said David Flanagan, spokesman for the PSC.
He added people will be more familiar with the program "the next time we go through this."
RG&E customers will be asked to voice their choice for an electricity supplier each year through 2008.
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