As reported by the Dallas Morning News, “All [participants] agreed that prices were key, but they took different sides on whether that should come from a premium on electricity bills for spare capacity or from conservation tied to higher prices during peak usage.” For you, the commercial electricity consumer, there’s only one way to read that: higher prices appear to be inevitable.

In many ways, this is the same song, new verse. We’ve known for some time now that Texas desperately needs to increase its generation capacity. The increase in the cap of the wholesale electricity price last August (from 3,000 per megawatt hour to $4,500 per megawatt hour) was meant to entice generators to build new plants in Texas. The hope is that additional generation will enable Texans to avoid outages due to a shortfall. There is a great deal of debate about whether or not this strategy will prove effective.

However, there is something you can do in the meantime to help out: conserve power. Putting good conservation practices into place now will allow your organization to transition smoothly into summer. And, if the decision is made to increase prices during peak demand times, you’ll be less impacted by those changes.

Here are three workplace-specific conservation tips you can put into practice right now:

1. When not in use, turn it off. This applies to everything: TVs, computers, monitors, radios and lights. While some electronics (like computers) may have a built in “sleep” function, it’s still best to power-down when you’re not going to be using it for a while.
2. As the temperature rises, close all window blinds. This minimizes the amount of heat entering the workplace, offsetting how much the AC needs to run. (And, of course, the opposite applies on cold days. Open the blinds to allow in more heat and give your heater a break.)
3. Use LED light bulbs. LED bulbs are considerably more energy efficient. If you don’t want to throw out working bulbs, simply stock up on LED bulbs and replace traditional bulbs with LEDs as they burn out.

And there’s one more thing you can do to keep your commercial electricity costs down: call Live Energy. The professionals on our staff can help you compare electricity rates and electricity providers, helping you track down the absolute best business electricity rate for your organization. Given the possibility that rates will be going up in the near future, now is an excellent time to call. Even if you’re currently under contract, we may be able to help you secure a low rate that will protect you from increases in the coming years.

Do your part to keep your costs down. Conserve power and partner with the experts. Call Live Energy today at 888-341-9155. Over the last decade, we’ve helped hundreds of business owners just like you save money on their commercial electricity bill. Give us the opportunity to help you save, too.

The post Commercial Electricity Looks Toward Summer 2013 appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

We’ve all had those kinds of days, haven’t we? You’re up and active, somehow you managed to make it into the office, but all you really want to do is find some flat surface (soft if possible, but you’re not in the mood to be picky) and go back to sleep. And if that mood strikes on a Monday, it makes for one torturously long workday!

You’re allowed days like that every once in a while, but, as a general rule, consistent laziness isn’t thought of as a core business strength. Can you remember a single time someone has referred to a coworker as “lazy” and meant it as a compliment? The idea of the American dream is built on the premise that hard work pays off. Laziness, most of us would say, is not the path to success.

But is it wrong to be lazy all the time? Aren’t there some times when it’s good to be lazy?

If you’ve decided to shop for commercial electricity on your own, laziness is not your friend. Comparing electricity rates is a big job, and it requires thorough attention to detail. After all, there’s a lot to think about when selecting a business electricity provider. It’s not just a matter of finding the lowest rate. Energy can be contracted and sold dozens of different ways. You’ll have to investigate each of these options to determine which one fits best with how your business operates. You’ll have to do your homework on each electricity provider you request a quote from. You’ll have to compare those quotes, which can be maddening as there simply isn’t a standard format for presenting commercial electricity rates. And you’ll have to watch the energy market—a market that is, literally, always moving. In order to save money on your business electricity costs, you have to juggle all these variables and move with just the right timing.

There’s not a lot of room for being lazy! But you don’t have to do all that work on your own. In fact, we advise against it.

As a business electricity broker, it’s our job to work with business owners just like you, helping to track down the perfect commercial electricity rate. To help us do that, we have some of the best market-watching technology around, as well as a seasoned team of experts. We have experience working with all kinds of companies—organizations both large and small—all over the country. We know the providers, the different rate structures, the contract options and the pitfalls. In fact, we’ve helped hundreds of business owners save money on their energy costs, and we’d like to help you.

In other words, we’re inviting you to be lazy. There’s no reason for you to spend weeks of your own valuable time reinventing the wheel. Let us help you develop a business electricity strategy that will benefit your organization, both now and for years to come.

We’re Live Energy, and we help business owners save time and money on their business electricity. Call us today at 888-341-9155 to find out how we can help you.

The post Lazy Commercial Energy Shopping appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

Here in Texas, the seasons rarely shift in a smooth, gradual way. Our transition from summer to winter this year, for example, is more like a stuttering engine that can’t decide if it’s really shutting down or not. Just as a cold front blows in and we get accustom to cooler air, the temperature soars back up into the 80’s and 90’s. And then, like this week, plummets again to below freezing. (For anyone keeping score, we got light snow in Dallas yesterday, but it’s supposed to be in the 70’s again by this weekend.)

The same joke gets told here that gets told in countless other places: if you don’t like the weather in Texas, wait five minutes.

But that joke gets told all over the country because it’s true all over the country. Weather is, by nature (get it?), unpredictable. The science of meteorology has made impressive leaps in the last couple of decades, and still, our best guesses are just guesses, even if the weatherman is right more than wrong.

When it comes to commercial electricity, the weather presents buyers with a very real risk. Shifts in long-term weather patterns as well as short-term weather events can wreak all kinds of havoc on the the business electricity market. We might make jokes about the weather, but jokes about surprisingly high charges on your energy bill are never funny.

It wasn’t that long ago that north Texas commercial electricity customers were reminded of the impact weather can have in a fairly unpleasant way. In February of 2010, a cluster of ice storms tore across north Texas. We get ice storms from time to time, so that, in and of itself, wasn’t all that dramatic. But these storms were crippling. The ice, inches deep in places, stuck around for days. The city ground to a halt.

And business electricity prices spiked.

Truth be told, that’s an understatement. Due to the increased demand coupled with several power plants going offline in the midst of the storms, some business electricity customers paid ten times their normal rate for that week. Ouch.

Whether we’re talking about ice and snow, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes or some other weather event, there really isn’t anything you can do to fully prepare for the unexpected, and certainly nothing you can do to stop it. However, you don’t have to be caught completely off-guard. Not where your commercial electricity is concerned.

A big part of what we do at Live Energy is help our clients mitigate risk. We work with clients all over the US, down near the coast where hurricanes are a factor all the way up to the north where blizzards are an annual reality. Wherever your offices are, we can help you build an energy strategy that takes into account the possible impact of weather. It’s bad enough being hit by a literal storm. You don’t want the follow-up headache of being hit by a financial storm because you failed to create a business electricity plan that would protect you from unexpected price jumps.

Let us help you prepare for the unexpected. Call the experts at Live Energy today at 888-341-9155. We can work with you to develop a commercial electricity strategy that provides you with some shelter from the storm.

The post Commercial Electricity On Ice appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

But philosoraptor is right. Thanksgiving is a time to take stock of what you have and be grateful for it. No matter what you might not have that you want, there are almost certainly things you do have to be thankful for.

Where commercial electricity is concerned, what you have is choice, and that is most certainly something to be thankful for. If you live in a deregulated state, you have something the residents of regulated states are still hoping for: the right to choose your business electricity provider for yourself. That choice allows you to select a provider, product and rate that match your organization’s goals, structure, budget and future plans.

But too many business owners mistakenly see this as a burden, not a blessing. It’s understandable. The chore of choosing a business electricity provider—and it is a chore—can be time consuming and overwhelming. Choice is great, but when the number of options in front of you number in the dozens, it’s hard to plot a course to the commercial electricity strategy that will truly benefit your company. Sifting through all the available choices, it’s easy to become fearful that you’ll pick the wrong one instead of grateful that you have the right to choose in the first place.

That’s where Live Energy can help out. Our team of energy experts are focused on helping our clients sort through all of their options in a way that is both efficient and pain-free. Imagine it: taking advantage of the freedom of choice without feeling overwhelmed with all the available options.

Live Energy has been working with businesses of all shapes and sizes for more than a decade. We take pride in what we do, and we go the extra mile to ensure that our clients are comfortable, informed and empowered. It’s our goal to save you time and money. There’s no reason for choice to become a burden. Not when you have a team of industry experts at your fingertips, ready to do all the heavy lifting for you.

Here at Live Energy, we have a lot to be thankful for, too. Namely you, our clients. Without your trust and partnership, we couldn’t do what we feel so passionately about doing. We love our work and we feel a deep sense of gratitude to the business owners and decision makers who place their faith in us.

If you’d like to visit with one of our experts, please call us at 888-341-9155. We’d love to put our expertise to work for you.

Now, go enjoy some turkey and time with your family. All of us have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The post Commercial Electricity and Thanksgiving appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

After all, you run a business. You know your stuff. You’ve selected other services and products for your company in the past. What makes this one so different? Why would you bring a third party into the picture when you could just roll up our sleeves and do it yourself?

In many cases, that logic would be sound. However, commercial electricity is a different sort of animal. While your options and choices may seem straight forward at first, dig a little. You’ll soon discover that there are dozens of alternatives to choose from, and each one could have a dramatically different impact on your business electricity expense.

Think about it this way. When you’re sick with a simple cold, you likely do what most of us do: you self-diagnose, swing by the drug store for some over-the-counter meds, pop a couple of pills or down some foul-tasting syrup, and jump right back into your routine. But when you’re sick, truly sick, you go to your doctor. Why? Because your body is complex. You live in the thing, but you can’t explain how it works or what part is broken. If you suffer serious injury or come down with something severe, you turn to your doctor for help. He’s the expert. He’ll work with you to determine the problem and find a solution. It’s something you simply could not do on your own.

Commercial electricity is complex, too. Maybe not as complex as the human body, but more complex than most folks know. The electricity market is always changing. The price of power never stops rising and falling, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And there are dozens of things pushing that price up and down. It can spike to 10 times its current price if the right set of possibilities fall into place. Likewise, the bottom can fall out of it, making the cost much lower in future weeks than it is today. The best any of us can do is take educated guesses as to what will happen next.

But all educated guesses aren’t created equal. To analyze the commercial electricity market well enough to know which way it’s about to move, you have to have a good deal of experience, and even that’s not enough. Frankly, there are so many moving pieces that you’ll need some sophisticated programs and tech tools to track it all, as well. The final ingredient to this mix is strategy. Without an understanding of past trends, how can you hope to plot a course for the future that will save you money?

It’s tough, as many business owners have discovered. That first step? It’s a doozy.

Our pal Felix (pictured above) didn’t take his historic leap alone. He had an entire team to guide him through his record-breaking jump. He couldn’t have gone so far without them.

The team at Live Energy can take you far, too. We have the experience, the tech tools and the know-how (strategy) to help you find the very best commercial electricity plan for your organization. Call us today at 888-341-9155 to find out how we can help you get off on the right foot.

The post Shopping for Commercial Electricity On Your Own appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

News reports are calling it “the perfect storm”, or, perhaps more unsettling, “the monster storm”. Hurricane Sandy rolled into New England last night, bringing with it large amounts of rain and strong, hurricane-force winds. With storms of this magnitude, damage isn’t just likely. It’s expected. And power outages for residential and business electricity customers alike are unavoidable.

Those in the path of the storm have stocked up on everything from water to duct tape. Now there is little to do but wait it out and hope the damage and loss of life is minimal. The Live Energy team would like it add its voice to all those expressing concern and well wishes for the people in the storm’s path.

Natural events—tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and the like—remind us of the uncertainty of the future. Who could have predicted, a month ago, that a late-season hurricane would roll into New England? Even as the storm makes its way inland, only time will tell how much damage it will cause. Even the immediate future is unknown.

As the storm winds howl, it’s doubtful many of the people taking shelter are overly concerned about their business electricity contracts. However, when the rain moves on, as damage is assessed and repairs undertaken, energy will certainly play a pivotal role. One of the first priorities will be restoring residential and commercial electricity.

When the weather is good and the market is stable (or, at least seems stable), it’s easy to be complacent about your business electricity arrangements. After all, the power is on and you have more important things on your plate. You have a business to run. Maybe you could trim some of your energy costs, but you simply don’t have the time to invest in researching it. And besides, why fix what isn’t broken?

But when storms hit, both metaphorical and sometimes literal, your business electricity account can quickly become a high priority. It is far better to be prepared for those moments in life and business than to find yourself scrambling in the midst of the chaos.

One of the things Live Energy offers its clients is peace of mind. Yes, we can save you time and money by analyzing your commercial electricity needs and recommending the contract best suited for your business, but we do more than that. We also offer you the assurance of knowing you’re working with one of the very best teams of energy experts in the country. We offer you the confidence that your contract is solid—one that will lower your costs and provide for your needs. And we offer you our partnership. We want to work with our clients to help them meet their goals. We are invested in you.

If you’d like to talk to one of our energy experts to learn more about how we can help you with your business electricity arrangements, please call us today at 888-341-9155.

Naturally, commercial electricity is important to us–that’s what this blog is about. However, we would be remiss if we failed to say once again that our thoughts are with those in the path of Hurricane Sandy. We wish them well, both in the coming days and weeks.

The post The Perfect Storm and its Impact on Commercial Electricity appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

Anyone who runs a business knows the importance of staying on, or better yet, under budget. The less money you spend on operating expenses, the more inbound money you can count as profit. If you can cut down on your overhead without sacrificing functionality, that’s virtually always a good thing. If, on the other hand, you let your expenses get out of hand, you can kiss those precious profits good-bye.

Talk about scary.

While businesses incur a wide variety of operating expenses, one that is common to all organizations is commercial electricity. Without it, you’re working in the dark. Literally. Everyone needs power, so everyone is looking for a good deal when it comes to their business electricity contract.

There are a lot of options out there, too—dozens of providers, plans, contract arrangements and products. It’s a mountain of a task to sort through all of it and find the plan that will save your organization money. But if you don’t find some way to fully investigate your options, you could end up paying thousands of dollars a year more for commercial electricity.

How do you avoid the terrorizing realization that you’re getting charged too much? Simple. Partner with a reliable, proven commercial electricity broker, like Live Energy.

Think of the team of experts at Live Energy like the heroes of a horror movie. They dispel the darkness of high prices and confusing insider jargon. They’ll slash through all the analysis of your company and your options to find the perfect business electricity plan for you. And they won’t stop there. Oh, no. They will continue to watch the market even after you’ve signed a contract, guarding your account both day and night to ensure that when it’s time to make a change or extend your contract, you don’t miss your opportunity to continue saving.

You can count on Live Energy just as hundreds of other business owners have in the last ten years. If you’d like to hear more about how Live Energy can help you save money on your business electricity bill, call us today at 888-341-9155.

Your energy bill shouldn’t be a scary thing. Oh, and happy Halloween.

The post Commercial Electricity Shouldn’t Be Scary appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

Last week, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported that complaints to the PUC (the Public Utility Commission) for residential and small commercial electricity customers have dropped by about 10% when compared to last year. In fact, the number of complaints received during the fiscal year (which ended on August 31) is roughly half of what it was two years ago.

That is certainly good news for business electricity customers. Complaints are filed with the PUC when energy customers feels a retailer has infringed upon their rights in some way. That could be anything from poor communication to inaccurate billing. A high volume of PUC complaints means there are a lot of customers in Texas unhappy with their providers—so unhappy, in fact, that they are taking time out of their busy schedules to file complaints.

It is encouraging to see the total number of complaints for both residential and commercial electricity customers dropping; however, it’s not all good news. While the volume of complaints is decreasing, the nature of the complaints is also changing. According to the article, “Among complaints that seem to be fixed is the practice by retailers of not notifying customers when their contract is up and putting them automatically into a higher-cost plan.”

At Live Energy, we can understand the frustration of customers who’ve had this experience. Imagine taking the time to investigate your options, searching for a good, low rate. You enter into a contract for your business electricity needs and, as hoped, month after month you enjoy a low rate which reduces your operating expenses. Until the month after that contract ends. Then, without warning, you discover that you’ve been moved to a “default plan” that has significantly raised your rate.

Ouch.

One of the advantages of working with a proven commercial electricity broker, like Live Energy, is that we make it our job to stay on top of all the important details of your energy plan, including the expiration date. We don’t want you to be surprised by a sudden increase in your billing. In fact, not only will we make sure you are aware of when your contract expires, we’ll also be on the lookout for dips in the market months prior to your expiration date. If we see a prime opportunity to renew your contract, we’ll let you know.

As for complaints, we don’t expect you to have negative experiences with the providers we represent, but if you have questions about your billing, concerns about the rate you’re paying or misgivings about any element of your business electricity contract, we’re here to help. Often, we can contact providers directly, prompting a quick response. This is another strong advantage of working with a broker. Few business owners have extra time for dealing with these kinds of complications. We can take that off your plate, freeing up some of your time.

The team of experts at Live Energy has been working with business owners and decision makers just like you for more than a decade. We have the experience, the technology and the strategies to lower your commercial electricity costs and save you time. Please contact us today at 888-341-9155 to learn how we can help you.

The post Commercial Electricity PUC Complaints Down This Year appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

On September 29, just after 11:00 pm, an odd thing happened in Irving, TX. There was an earthquake.

This particular earthquake was odd because we don’t get many of them in Texas, and when we do they are rarely significant enough to feel. But this one was a 3.4 magnitude quake–powerful enough to shake the walls of my home. It was followed 4 minutes later by a second quake registering 3.1. Neither incident did any real damage, though. As earthquakes go, those numbers are relatively small.

However, a small earthquake is still an earthquake. My wife and I, neither of whom had experienced an earthquake before, were alarmed by it. After all, we live in Texas. We get tornadoes and hurricanes, but not earthquakes. It was a new (and unsettling) experience.

The unexpected earthquakes illustrate the nature of weather–it’s unpredictable. Yes, the science of weather forecasting is more advanced today than it’s ever been, but there are still days when the weatherman says it will be bright and sunny outside and it rains. Weather is difficult to predict. It can sneak up on you, quite literally, and strike with little warning.

Sometimes, unexpected weather presents us with nothing more than a surprise and mild inconvenience. Sometimes it can be disastrous. And the simple truth is that we never know when inclement weather is going to hit.

In February of 2010, for example, a group of unusually intense ice storms rolled across north east Texas. Many offices simply shutdown as workers chose to stay at home rather than brave the icy streets. As a result, the demand for power spiked, and the increased demand for power led to a sharp rise in the cost of electricity. In some cases, the cost of commercial electricity for those few days was as much as ten times higher than normal.

Both hurricane and tornado season are behind us, and with Autumn’s lower temperatures already arriving, the chances of a heat wave in October are slim to none. But that doesn’t mean that the weather can’t throw us a curveball. It most certainly can.

Here at Live Energy, one of our goals is to help our clients develop business electricity strategies that function as a safe-guard against the volatility of the commercial electricity market. Weather is merely one of the factors that can change the cost of power over-night, and when the weather hits hard its impact on electricity rates is certainly felt. Why wait for something dramatic to happen? Why not lock in a secure, low rate now, thereby protecting yourself from the unpredictability of the energy market?

Our team of energy experts has been working with business owners just like you for more than a decade. We pride ourselves on our ability to find the right provider, rate and contract for companies of all shapes and sizes. We don’t want to see our clients left out in the cold when bad weather rolls in. Let us save you both time and money by analyzing your commercial electricity needs and helping you develop a business electricity strategy that will strengthen your organization’s bottom line and give you peace of mind.

Call Live Energy today at 888-341-9155. Storms come and go. We’re here to make sure you’re prepared when they strike.

The post How The Weather Can Shake Up Your Commercial Electricity Rate appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.

We know there are a lot of brokers out there—hundreds of them, in fact—and we know that all of them will make similar claims. We are confident, however, that the quality of service we offer our clients is hard to come by. Don’t make the mistake of thinking all electricity brokers are created equal. They aren’t.

So what makes Live Energy different? Why is success kid so excited about partnering with us? We’re glad you asked.

We feel there are three things that distinguish us from our peers, making Live Energy a business electricity broker you can feel good about working with. First, we have experience. The energy market in Texas has been deregulated for 10 years. Over the last decade, a number of brokers have come and gone, but we’ve been here the entire time. Since day one of deregulation, we’ve been working with businesses of all sizes helping them create commercial electricity strategies that work. All you have to do is tell us your goals and future plans. Want to cut down on costs? Are you expecting to add additional locations? Do you prefer a fixed rate or are you interested in other types of energy rates?

You tell us what you want to achieve and we’ll help you achieve it. We have a 10 year track record of doing that for hundreds of clients, both in Texas and in other deregulated markets, as well.

Secondly, we have technology that would make even the geekiest mathematician jealous. The commercial electricity market is always moving. It’s been moving since you started reading this post and it will keep right on moving when you click through to request a rate quote on the right hand side of the screen. (Hint, hint.) It never stops.

There is no way a human being could stay on top of it 24/7, so we’ve developed and implemented some of the most sophisticated market-tracking technology around to help us keep up with every dip, every spike. Using that technology, we can pinpoint the best time, product, provider, and price for your business electricity contract. Your energy costs are too important to leave up to guesswork. We’d rather give you an accurate picture of the market, right down to the minute, so that’s what we do.

Finally, we have a plan. Our strategy works. It’s been proven many times over. At its most basic level, our plan is to save you money. We do that by taking a complete look at your organization, analyzing how you use your business electricity and finding the perfect match to meet your needs. All the experience and technology in the world wouldn’t mean much if we couldn’t deliver on our promise to save you time and money, but we can. We know we can because we have, time and again.

There’s a reason why so many business owners have turned to Live Energy in the last 10 years for help with their commercial electricity needs. We know power, and our passion is to pass that expertise on to our clients in ways that make a different. We want to help you save time and money.

Call us today at 888-341-9155 to find what Live Energy can do for you.

The post Be Your Own Commercial Electricity Success Story appeared first on Energy Broker | Business Electricity Rates | Commercial Electric Rates | Live Energy Inc.