One of my least favorite tasks is dealing with utilities and other service providers, like the cable company, to see if I can get a better deal. It’s unpleasant, but something that needs to be done periodically — especially when you notice your monthly bills ticking inexorably upwards.
A Web site called WhiteFence aims to make this sort of task less painful, so I gave it a try. It turned out to be helpful, although not necessarily in the way I had initially expected.
WhiteFence lets you type in your address and see the best deals available for a variety of services, including television, Internet and telephone; it displays options for stand-alone services, and bundled packages. If you live in a state where gas or electric service is deregulated, like New York, you can also compare rates among different utility companies. (The site is free to use; if you end up signing up for a service through WhiteFence, the site earns a commission).
“Our mission is to make sure that people understand they have a variety of choices, and to make sure you’re not overpaying for things you don’t use or need,” said Bob Harris, WhiteFence’s chief executive.
I happen to live in a state where energy deregulation hasn’t fully taken hold, so there was only one natural gas provider available when I typed in my address. Out of curiosity, I typed in a former address in Georgia, a state that has been deregulated for some time. A menu of three gas companies popped up, with different rates and contract options.
The rates didn’t seem to vary by much, however, for a twelve-month, fixed-rate plan. One provider, for instance, offered a rate of $0.585 per therm (a measure of the heat content that flows through your gas meter), while another offered $0.650. (Natural gas prices are lower than they were a year ago.) The difference between the two isn’t enormous — a quick calculation showed that a home using 85 therms a month would save about $5 monthly with the lower rate — but it might be worth considering a switch if your budget is very tight.
Things got more interesting when I queried WhiteFence for options for cable, Internet and telephone service at my address. (Yes, we still have a land line).
One of the phone choices that cropped up — a digital option — looked cheap. But I dismissed it because it wasn’t clear how well it supported 911 emergency service. We have young children, so that’s a deal breaker for me.
The lowest-priced bundled option that popped up seemed less than I was already paying my provider, Cox, each month for a package of all three services (phone, Internet and cable television). So I pulled up my latest bill online for comparison and, sure enough, it appeared I could have saved about $18 a month in the most recent month if I had been on a different plan. (Assuming, of course, that my overall, bundled rate would still apply if I swapped phone plans — one of the variables that often makes comparing service options so maddening).
When I called Cox, the representative ran the numbers and agreed I could net a savings by switching my calling plan. Then, however, he moved into sales mode. Why not keep my monthly bill the same, he suggested, but add more television channels to my package?
I hesitated. After all, wasn’t the point of this exercise a reduction in my bill? Plus, my family generally doesn’t watch a lot of television —i n part, because we think limiting electronic media is best for our kids, but mostly because we’re all just too plain busy to spend much time in front of the screen.
However, we do record our favorite shows on a DVR, and often find ourselves wishing we had more (or better) options when we do have time to watch. And one of the choices the Cox rep dangled in front of me was the National Geographic channel; educational, right? So I bit. “That’s what I’d do,” the rep said, approvingly.
Of course, he would.
Have you recently tried to shop for a better deal for residential services? What was your experience?
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d07f3b6fb1419eed6d0b6e8bcbfa6ba6
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