The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Family Energy Cold Call: The Key Number

    A cold call from Family Energy, completely in violation of our presence on the FTC Do Not Call registry, produced an offer: “lock in” a rate of 8.9 ¢/kWh for two years. My experience has been that anybody cold calling me does not have my best interest in mind and a few minutes of search-fu showed that, while Family Energy may not be a scam, they certainly employ unique marketing methods for an “energy supply company”.

    For reference, the last two years of Central Hudson supply charges:

    Central Hudson Gas & Electric  
    Dollars per kWh  
    Date MFC Supply Ch Market Price Market Pr Adj Net Supply Ch
    2012-03-08 0.00190 0.05982 0.00635 0.06807
    2012-05-09 0.00190 0.05665 0.00524 0.06379
    2012-07-12 0.00191 0.06396 0.00532 0.07119
    2012-09-10 0.00196 0.07805 0.00260 0.08261
    2012-11-08 0.00196 0.05206 -0.00100 0.05302
    2013-01-12 0.00196 0.05027 0.00322 0.05545
    2013-03-12 0.00196 0.08340 0.00241 0.08777
    2013-05-09 0.00196 0.07359 0.00116 0.07671
    2013-07-10 0.00197 0.05458 0.00397 0.06052
    2013-09-09 0.00203 0.08143 0.00420 0.08766
    2013-11-05 0.00203 0.06634 -0.00368 0.06469
    2014-01-08 0.00203 0.05816 0.00061 0.06080
    2014-03-12 0.00203 0.14779 -0.00534 0.14448
     
    Average 0.07514

    That’s the only part of the bill Family Energy (and other suppliers) can replace; the remainder pays for delivering the energy to our meter.

    Family Energy’s marketing obviously plays off the staggering price spike in the most recent bill, but the CHG&E rate is lower than their “locked in” offer. In fact, if you exclude the last line, the CHG&E average is 6.9 ¢/kWh. The price spike came from the 2014 midwinter natural gas shortage and, assuming no simultaneous equipment failures, prices should return to the normal pattern.

    We may be building / upgrading pipelines, but expect the usual stalling, because environment.

    Family Energy does offer a $25 cash-back if your annual bill exceeds the CHG&E rate, up to a maximum of $75, but that’s chump change compared to the size of our bills…

    All I know is what I read on the Intertubes, but it seems the Family Energy door-to-door sales droids have even less interest in overall customer satisfaction.