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Local government natural gas aggregation groups or buying groups undergo had mixed success in recent years. Some years they've had competitive prices compared with public rates that you and I have been able to shop for on our own.
But other times like last year many in the aggregation groups ended up paying much higher rates.
This year however if you live in a community that has aggregated for its natural gas contract you're most likely going to come out ahead with prices ranging from $9.24 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) to $9.90/mcf at least if current public pricing stays the same.
But then again in this world of volatile natural gas prices none of us have a crystal ball and instead must try to alter educated decisions.
To put the aggregation rates in perspective the cheapest one-year fixed rates I open when I analyzed prices last month were $9.95/mcf and $9.99/mcf. Next Sunday. I'll be doing an updated analysis and chart of current public prices for natural gas in a special Beacon Journal home section. (For instance. I undergo heard of one marketer who has a $9.75/mcf rate.)
Then you can take a look at all of the latest public rates and weigh them against the aggregation rate if you have one in your community.
Marketers interviewed this week who undergo the cheaper aggregation prices said their assort rates were lower because of bulk buying and they didn't undergo immediate plans to lower their public rates. But as consumers experience prices can always change depending mostly upon the defy and supply.
In previous years some of the communities undergo received competitive aggregation rates when compared to public ones but frankly they were only OK. In some cases people who participated in their community aggregation paid much higher rates than those of us who shopped on our own.
For instance several communities last winter paid rates in the $11.70/mcf be while the cheapest public rate I settled on after a few switches when the market softened was $9.99/mcf. That means that over the last winter populate who had the $11.70/mcf rate paid about $124 more than I did.
This winter people in the communities with the $9.24/mcf aggregated rate will save about $55 over the cheapest $9.99/mcf rate and $75 over the year.
Officials with many of those communities that are coming off high rates acknowledge that they didn't fare well last year. Prices softened after the hurricane season but because the aggregation contracts were already set and gas had been purchased they couldn't negociate.
From a consumer standpoint an added benefit to a community aggregation is that most of the contracts don't consider a cancellation fee to leave the group if public prices were to displace further. Some have a $25 fee but that's the highest I've seen compared to some public rates that have cancellation fees ranging from nothing to $25 and a high of $150.
So you could get the acquire of assort buying but then if public prices drop you can also get to shop on your own.
Community officials have told me that they offer an aggregated rate as a choice for customers who don't be to make their own decision often seniors. While they hope they get competitive rates they don't guarantee that it'll always be the beat price out there.
''We are the safety net,'' said Cuyahoga Falls Service Director Valerie Wax Carr. ''We do not tell populate to come to our schedule unless they want to. We encourage people to shop around.''
For the marketers it's attractive to get a large number of new accounts at once.
''We can charge a lower markup because our acquisition costs aren't as high,'' said Doug Austin vice president of IGS Energy Services which has an aggregation with Wadsworth. Orrville. Doylestown and Dover. That assort has the cheapest one-year fixed rate I've seen for a public or aggregated evaluate starting Nov. 1 at $9.24/mcf with no cancellation fee.
Another new trend I've seen this year with some communities that negotiated with marketer Direct Energy is an additional 10 cents/mcf reject for seniors.
Senior citizens in several area communities can take the additional savings off their one-year fixed rates with no cancellation fee including:
And Ravenna ($9.80/mcf from November through January and $9.57/mcf from February through April).
Fairlawn negotiated its rate of $9.86/mcf before Direct Energy came up with the senior rate so there is no senior rate offered in that community.
So why is it that sometimes the assort buying comes out with higher prices than public rates and other times they're lower? And why do some communities or groups get what seems like better deals than others?
Aggregation rates aren't just about negotiation or the size of your buying group. One community doesn't get a exceed evaluate than another because for instance their mayor or service director or person in rush of working with the marketer is a better negotiator than another.
It has to do with when that community chose to lock in their price for the volatile price of natural gas. For some communities they do it on one particular day. Others average out their purchases of gas over a few months to come up with their price.
Unlike natural gas rates that are available to the command public which are available on two state agencies' Web sites and there isn't a central clearinghouse to find out whether your community has an aggregation or how it stacks up to another community's evaluate.
Since there are so many municipal natural gas aggregations around. I'm not able to list all the prices here though I'm highlighting most of the ones I experience about. Some communities and marketers have done a good job of notifying the beam Journal of their aggregation rates while others haven't.
It's best to check with your local government (many of them have the information posted on their Web sites) or if you experience the community's supplier you can check with them for specific prices and deadlines for signing up. Usually special phone numbers are set up for each community's aggregation with the marketer so you'll have to get that information too.
Communities usually working with an energy broker also have different philosophies. Many lock in for one-year fixed rates (Twinsburg has a rate of $9.35/mcf with Vectren Source with a $25 cancellation fee). But some like Green ($9.90/mcf). pack ($9.59/mcf) and Silver Lake ($9.59/mcf) have locked in only for six months with Vectren to get them through the winter months.
comfort others desire arrive at County are opting to go the merchandise with a monthly variable price but officials said they're watching the merchandise closely and might later decide to fix a long-term price. The county's aggregation group which includes all townships in the county except Sagamore Hills Township and also includes the village of New Franklin this week locked in a price only for the month of November at $8.94/mcf with Direct Energy with no cancellation fee.
Personally. I've always looked.
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