Two weeks in and Griddy has turned me into the dad I've always wanted to be. The kind that follows everyone around the house complaining about all the wasted electricity.

"if you want power that's real shiddy"
"Just call us at 866-4-Griddy"

This board is nothing but threads about electricity rates.

abacavir said:

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This board is nothing but threads about electricity rates.

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shocking, isn't it?

Didn't affect anything.

My rates have been 6-8 cents all-in each week this summer with Griddy.

If smart thermostats could access the live data you could really make a difference. Someday...

KwH usage x 6-8 cents = bill

I have been following this thread for awhile. I admit I work for Energy Ogre. These high spikes are not done yet. We have a week at least of record temps.

Unless I am missing something, Energy Ogre has custom rates around 8 cents with no risk. And you can still turn off things in your home if you want to reduce cost.

They are passing the risk on to you the consumer. There is not enough gain to offset the risk. They have done a great job marketing their product. They haven't told you the full story.

If you need help you can inbox me. I hate to see this happen.

Griddy could have saved me $35 over the past 12 months versus Discount Power.

Then I read this thread, and you guys are talking about juggling appliances, being hot for stretches, etc.

On top op that, the griddy website doesn't seem to explain why that's the case.

Sound like power for DINKS who just need to make sure the dog doesn't expire during the day.

I love these hot takes that Griddy is "passing on their risk" and "isn't telling you the whole story". Can you identify for me any energy retailer who doesn't pass along their risk? Most just do it by charging you 4x-10x the market rate from 6pm-noon during the summer months, and 24/7 the rest of the year.

Griddy is very upfront that they are selling electricity at the spot market rate + TDU charges, without markup, for better or for worse. They pass along both the risk and reward of the spot market. They make a flat rate of $10/mo, like Energy Ogre.

I have enjoyed following this thread as someone that worked in ERCOT for several years. I also know a couple folks using Griddy right now. A few things.

In the long run will the wholesale price be lower than the retail price you could get under a fixed rate contract? Yes. That's why the retail companies exist and offer fixed price contracts. Will you be better off with wholesale plus the $10 monthly fee versus shopping for the lowest available fixed retail rate? Maybe. Of course the likelihood goes up if you can manage your usage to a greater degree.

Yes Griddy is passing the risk of the wholesale market to you. The comment that the other retailers are passing that risk to you under a fixed price contract via their mark up is wrong. They are keeping the risk and charging you for it. Of course they are charging you more than what they think the true risk premium is. That is how they make money. But don't kid yourself, they are not passing the risk to you. They are wearing it.

I also don't think everyone really understands ERCOT "price spikes". Unless you have been in the market a long time, you have not seen the true worst case in ERCOT. The ERCOT market is tremendously skewed. You probably have to go back to 2011 to see a true example (there were two, one in winter and one in summer) where prices stayed at the max not for 5 or 15 minutes, but for hours over several days in multiple months.

During these events, many retailers went belly up. They kept the wholesale risk, and it far exceeded what they had charged their customers for it. Griddy doesn't have to worry about this of course (not 100% true), but their customers do. The price caps in ERCOT are much higher now than they were 2011 by the way.

The likelihood of an event like this in a given month, summer or even year are low, but it will happen again. The folks on this thread are probably financially positioned to weather an event like this, and if they stayed with Griddy for a long time, they might still come out ahead even if an event like this occurred while they were a customer. The alternative fixed retail rates will jump significantly in the short term when this happens again. Retail energy customers in general are not financially prepared for an event like this. Most people have basically zero emergency savings. I think Griddy requires auto payment, but I think the balance in the account required is quite low.

When it happens again, many retailers will die again. Griddy customers will take a huge (for them on average, probably not folks on this thread) financial hit. I will give Griddy the benefit of the doubt that they will have reserves required to weather a bunch of their customers failing to pay their bills while they have to pay ERCOT for the wholesale energy their customers consumed. Meaning they won't go bust immediately. I'm more interested to see if their customers in general flee after this happens and whether or not they'll be able to get customers to replace them in the aftermath.

It will be interesting to watch, and it's cool to see a new offering in the market. Maybe Griddy is just a different flavor of the ERCOT retail players that will get wiped out when the **** hits the fan. For their sake, hopefully it's still several years before it happens again. The longer it is between events, the more people forget, and the more people are willing to wear the risk they don't understand.