It’s been a while since I updated this blog and a lot has happened since! New President, I have a new energy supplier, and a whole lot of other stuff. In this blog I want to dive into the difference in Westchester electricity rates since switching from the fixed rate Sustainable Westchester program to the variable supply rates of Constellation Energy.
On the surface it seems like switching from a high fixed rate supplier like Sustainable Westchester to a lower cost variable rate supplier would save me money. In reality, after semi-compulsive analysis, I found that the reality is quite different. Let’s take a look.
In October 2023, my fixed electricity with Sustainable Westchester was 15.281 cents/KwH. Changing to the variable rate of Constellation lowered my electricity supply rate to 11.003 cents/KwH. A savings of 37%! Let the savings roll in baby, who knows what I’ll do with all that extra money?!
Well imagine my surprise when I put my bill into my OCD bill analyzer and see that my total electricity rate reduced only 2 cents/KwH – a reduction of about 5% from 37 – 35 cents/KwH. I went from saving the planet with 100% green energy to being a mass polluter, all for a measly savings of 2 cents/KwH, or about 2,200 cents ☹
So what happened? I had to call Sustainable Westchester, wait on hold, fill out an online form and wait for a few months to switch. What effort!!? All for nothing? So what happened is the electric delivery charge went through the roof and the electricity supply sales tax doubled from 3% to 6%.
Diving into the electric delivery charges there were a few major changes. First off, comparing Oct 2023 to Oct 2024, the electricity delivery basic charge increased 12% from $17.40 to $19.66, the highest charge since 2021 when I started uselessly tracking this data. Furthermore, my electricity delivery rate increased nearly 11% from 16.719 cents/KwH to 18.53 cents/kw.
Another change that kicked in from October 2023 to October 2024 is the reappearance of the Electricity Supply Merchant Function Charge. This has been zero for the two years since I began with Sustainable Westchester, but the MFT increased to $5.10 from zero, while the Electricity Supply GRT charge went from 0 to 1.37.
So between delivery rate increases of about 11%, a 12% increase in the electricity basic delivery rate, and some extra fees that got tacked on to my variable rate Constellation supply fees, I end up realizing no noticeable difference changing from 15c/KwH of Sustainable Westchester to 11c/KwH electricity supply rate of Constellation Energy.
If you’re thinking of switching energy suppliers, my recommendation is to go with the supplier that matches your philosophy on renewable energy. Switching suppliers on rate alone will not yield the results you expect, so go with your gut.
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