New tricks/traps of electricity providers

As of end of July, the "tricks" continue.

Here's a few observations for recent short term electricity contracts. In the past, if I wanted a short term contract, I could just go with the lowest rate, without having to dig too deep into the details. However, the lowest rate plans available these days come with extra clauses in the contracts that you need to review and fully understand before signing up.

Some don't enable you to sign-up online, (which is the preferred approach). For those, there is no link on the power-to-choose website to initiate a sign-up. (However, Southern Federal does now provide a link to sign-up online, in contrast to their early summer practice).

Some include a "one-time terrapass" fee included in the contract (and may be incorrectly calculated in the plan's published "Average price per kilowatt-hour"). (See JustEnergy EFLs)

Some include a "JustGreen" monthly fee. If the plan says it is optional, you may need to explicitly opt-out (and remember ... this may be during a verbal signup process via phone which can be prone to error). (See JustEnergy EFLs)

I typically ignore plans with a base monthly fee.  But in the current mix, the short term contracts with a base monthly fee may be less costly than those with terrapass or JustGreen clauses.

To verify the clauses that impact your costs, you need to read both the published EFL for the plan, as well as the TOS for the plan, to gain a full understanding (yet it can still be confusing). In the past, a simple review of the EFL would have been sufficient to analyze your monthly costs.