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Simple Power hopes to offer simplicty in choosing electric provider

Since Texas deregulated its electric utility industry in 2000, consumers have faced a bewildering choice, and not only in what retail electric provider (REP) to join.

Fixed rate plan or variable plan? Or perhaps the plan that promises to use only electricity generated from renewable sources. Sign a contract for one or two years or go month-to-month?

The founders of Austin-based Simple Power think they have a solution to that confusion.

"Our chief executive officer has been in the marketplace many years and felt retail electric providers were missing an opportunity in serving communities from a product perspective," said Mike Elhaj, Simple Power's chief marketing officer during a visit to Midland-Odessa. "A lot of them have entered the marketplace on a price perspective. Our point of differentiation is customer service, is customer billing, is simplicity."

"We offer two plans and we bundle all our pricing. Companies will promote their rate per kilowatt hour and then bundle fees and taxes. The rate we advertise is the rate you pay."

Said David Luppino, chief executive officer of Simple Power, "There are a number of REPs in the market now. We're taking a different tack. There have been a number of confusing plans and a considerable amount of confusion from consumers trying to figure out if they're going to save any money. There is a way to make it simpler and the choices easier to understand while offering a good product."

To that end, he said, the company offers two electric plans: One a variable rate plan and the other a 12-month fixed rate plan.

"Customers' opinions are divided on whether a month-to-month variable rate plan is the best way or whether a fixed-rate plan is the best way," Luppino noted. "There are arguments for the variable rate plan; it's a good way to go for those who don't mind a variable price, or if you want advance knowledge of what the price is going to be, the fixed-rate plan is the way to go."

There is also confusion and uncertainty about deregulation as a whole, noted Elhaj, saying he's been asked by potential customers if the company would have to run new electric lines to their homes.

"There's still a part of the market that doesn't know they have a choice," he said. "Through our efforts and PowertoChoose.org (by the Texas Public Utility Commission), we're educating consumers."

He added that, with energy costs continuing to rise, the savings from seeking out the best electric deal could be significant, as much as hundreds of dollars a year.

The best way to find the best deal from an REP, Luppino said, is to "pull out your last electric bill and look at it. People don't want to be hassled, they just pull out the electric bill and pay it each month. But if you look at it and say 'This is what I thought I was paying, and here are the fees and taxes,' then compare them to our rates and what we offer" and what other REPs offer.

Elhaj said the company is focused on the residential market "because we feel consumers should benefit from deregulation as well. While the company can serve customers in deregulated markets throughout Texas and has customers from Dallas-Fort Worth to Midland-Odessa, it is focusing on two markets: Midland-Odessa and Round Rock outside of Austin.

"We're trying to do things that lend themselves to being community-focused, and these two communities lend themselves to that," he explained.

Agreed Luppino, "Midland-Odessa ties in nicely with what we're doing with our brand. They're good-sized cities but small enough they still have that community feel."

The company, said Elhaj, looks to established a presence in Midland-Odessa, hiring sales representatives and hopefully marketing representatives.

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