Shopping Electricity Rate Plans - Energy Facts Label and Fees

While shopping for a new electricity plan, I wanted to point out a few "gotchas" that I've run across lately, especially when going for the lowest rates. When comparing rates, it's important to approach the experience with a "too-good-to-be-true" mentality and make sure to read the Energy Facts Label (or "EFL") thoroughly.

I recently covered the "Electricity Price" section of the EFL document, which is used primarily to estimate your electricity rate, but I'd also like to give a quick overview of one other important section called the "Disclosure Chart". In the Disclosure Chart, there is a row item that explains other fees that may be charged, specifically those that are not included in the Electricity Price section.

For example, in the first screenshot provided, it shows a "Service Processing Fee: up to $5.95". What does this mean exactly?

According to the Disclosure Chart, further explanation can be found in the "pricing" section of a document (part of the rate list that we saw in the first post) called the "Terms of Service".

There, we see (in the second screenshot) that the $5.95 fee is charged for, essentially, any call to customer service. This is due to the verbiage stipulating that anything which can done through online self-service (i.e. bill payment, paper vs paperless billing, etc.) or web chat (same deal) cannot be done through a phone call, unless one would rather pay the $5.95 fee each time.

Other fees are expected, like "returned payment"-type of stuff, so as long as we are aware of these "other" fees, shopping for an electricity rate plan, especially here in Texas, is fairly easy to do, quick and worthwhile. Saving money by comparing rates is a definite must.