Direct energy natural gas price protection?

[Alcetic]

Hey Guys, need some input. I get some telemarketer from DE basically asking me if I am interested in signing up for their fixed rate contract...he made it sound really appealing because apparently gas rates can be really high during the winter? so it the contract wold guarantee a rate of 29.9cents/m3? anyways just wondering if this is a good idea, I have never really encountered this issue before...I just assume Enbridge is billing me or w/e...thanks for the inputs!

[sonic]

Of course he made it SOUND appealing, he will get a commision for the sale...whatever you do DONT show him your bill...
this happend to a friend (the salesman was pushy) & she was intinidated, he wrote down her account #...later he forged her siggy on a 5 yr contract, she JUST found out a yr later.
I dont trust any of these guys..ive had ALOT of bad experiences..but you may be different...just do some reserch on the rates, & see what is cheap.
good luck~~~

[gman]

Hey Guys, need some input. I get some telemarketer from DE basically asking me if I am interested in signing up for their fixed rate contract...he made it sound really appealing because apparently gas rates can be really high during the winter? so it the contract wold guarantee a rate of 29.9cents/m3? anyways just wondering if this is a good idea, I have never really encountered this issue before...I just assume Enbridge is billing me or w/e...thanks for the inputs!

I signed with DE online (not a door to door guy) in a promotion for around 25.xx cents/m3 for 1 year. The contract kicks in in November. Right now, Enbridge is charging around 26 cents.

I would not sign a 29.9 cents contract since the current price is lower than that with a significant margin (~10%). DE is pretty competitive in pricing these days (for 1 year contract). It keeps on beating Riterate.

If you want to do it, do it online. Check out http://www.energyshop.com .

[Alcetic]

thanks for the input guys...I'll check out that online site as well.

[torontoboyz20]

whatever you do DONT show him your bill...
this happend to a friend (the salesman was pushy) & she was intinidated, he wrote down her account #...later he forged her siggy on a 5 yr contract, she JUST found out a yr later.


There was a salesman came to my house yesterday said he works for the supplier of enbridge and is here to sign some paper to protect the rate from going up, and guarantee my account will still be with Enbridge not another different company. I made a mistake by showing him my bill. He was writting some info down and ask me to sign the paper. However, when I saw the paper, it said "ActiveEnergyULC" so I didn't it. Should I contact Enbridge to prevent forged sig?

[chickeni]

Today one DE rep came into my home and got a contract signed for the 5-year flat price protection plan from my wife. My wife, obviously, not aware of this scam. Fortunately, the rep had left her phone number with my wife. Should I give her call to cancel or wait for DE to call up 2 weeks later and then I refuse to accept.. Should I call enbridge? Hope I'm not stuck with this scam for 5 years.

[Q-Ball]

Yeah you can cancel, its not a scam. I had the samething with Ontario Energy Savings. I looked at my bill and I'm paying 39.9 cents m3. Which is pretty high. But my next month bill will be a lot less. I have a boiler and I have stopped the heat running in my basement and main floor. Only the top floor is getting heat (since its rented out to my horrible tennant)

[plymouthhater]

Be very careful - I got slammed by an unscrupulous door to door sales person. The fellow came to my door and did his sales pitch about cheaper natural gas rates etc. I told him I was not interested. He persisted and I finally told him "what don't you understand - No thank you". At no time did I show him a gas bill or sign anything.

A week later I received a letter from the reseller welcoming me as a customer for 5 yrs at a rate higher than the current floating rate from Enbridge.

I had to contact the Ontario Energy Board to file a formal complaint. It took almost a month to get things put back.

At no time was I offered an apology by the reseller for their employee's fraudulent actions. I asked for a copy of the paper I allegedly signed and they refused to provide it.

What's interesting is that it seems our gas account numbers are being made readily available to resellers by Enbridge & that if you get slammed - you will have to pay the reseller's rate until the contract cancellation is processed/forced by the Ontario Energy Board and then the reseller has up to 6 months to process the rebate.

[Neovingian]

I would also recommened checking that www.energyshop.com site as well. It outlines all the ways you can cencel a price protection contract as well as outlines laws around the solicitation.

Even if you signed up or suspect they may have forged a sig.

You can cancel within 10 days. Also they need to contact you to re-confirm before setting you up on the price plan which at that time you can also cancel.

I agree with the previous posters and don't sign a 3 or 5 yr contact. A 1 yr contract at a price lower than th ecurrent price might save you a bit over the year. But 1 yr promos are rare.

[Tjalfe]

funny thing.. when I first met a gas marketeer, back in 2003, his graph showed how I would save as by now the price would be $0.60/m^3, but he offered around $0.35/M^3 for 5 years.
They would not offer these prices, if they did not think they would make a profit from it. Them making a profit == you loose out.

[gman]

funny thing.. when I first met a gas marketeer, back in 2003, his graph showed how I would save as by now the price would be $0.60/m^3, but he offered around $0.35/M^3 for 5 years.
They would not offer these prices, if they did not think they would make a profit from it. Them making a profit == you loose out.

Well, I guess you don't know how that works. Regardless the future price, the marketer always earn money. They buy future contract from the gas company with a fixed price. They add their commission on top of it. The gas price is variable (the contract is fix). Hence, it is possible the future variable price is higher than the fixed price.

The lower the future contract they get, the more money they can make (because they can sell more).

So far, for all the gas contract I have (2 contracts), I win. The current contract as I said months ago is $0.25xx/m3

You can consider this is like a relationship of a fixed rate or variable rate mortgage. Bank always earn money from your mortgage. The lower the bank rate, the more mortgage they can sell and more money they can earn. Of course, if you don't do your homework, you can get burn in mortgage too.