John Deere Slowdown
FINDING SAVINGS IN QUAD CITIES AMIDST SLOW ECONOMY
Over the past several months John Deere has been forced to layoff hundreds of employees, including the most recent round of 910 from their Illinois, and Iowa facilities. This comes on the heels of relatively abundant hiring over the past few years. Although experts close to the situation feel that this news does not necessarily indicate that the company is falling behind, the Quad Cities economy is feeling the pinch.
Economic cycles bring highs and lows. During the low points, as we’re experiencing now, the affects can reach a variety of business types. The results have a ripple effect, causing loss of business to local banks, healthcare establishments, local suppliers, etc.
When the economy turns, businesses look for ways to save. For those located on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, electric choice provides the opportunity for businesses to choose an alternative energy supplier for their electricity. This means that they are no longer locked into the rate charged by the utility. Electric choice allows direct purchasing of electricity without additional costs from MidAmerican, Ill. The result is savings for businesses.
Realgy Energy Services provides electricity savings to businesses across the Quad Cities in the MidAmerican, Illinois service area – savings of 6% for our average customer. As a result, well-known businesses, and many municipalities including, East Moline, Rock Island, Andover, Hampton, Rapids City, and Milan, among others, have chosen or are getting approval for Realgy to become their electricity provider. Electricity services are not yet available in this market for residential clients.
When it comes to offering savings for businesses, Realgy is an innovator of plans that lead to costs savings. We have programs in place that assess, in detail, the electricity usage of the marketplace. We’ve been analyzing the MidAtlantic market for over a year. We apply these learning’s to the particular usage needs of our business clients. The result is a plan designed to help businesses take advantage of the most cost effective fee structure available.
As businesses in the Quad Cities, and beyond, continue to deal with the affects of a slower economy, it can be nice to know that there are options available to help improve the bottom line. Electricity, for a large or small business, can be a significant cost factor. When these costs can be reduced businesses start to see the affect.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer in the states of Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual savings. Additional information; www.realgyenergyservices.com
Smart Thermostats
Smart Thermostats or Not.
I know you have seen Smart Water, we are being promised Smart Cities and of course the ubiquitous Smart Phone!
As with the smart phone (it’s only been 7 years since Apple iPhone came out), we adjusted to being connected 24/7/365 and Apps brought us Candy Crush, Tweets and Angry Birds; so too a connected thermostat will bring such changes.
Currently, there are apps that allow control over the thermostat and home lighting but it seems more a gizmo than a tool. A big advance in the usability of a connected thermostat will be when appliance manufacturers and energy companies allow pricing to be priced each hour.
Imagine: it’s 4PM and the price of electricity is $0.10 / kWh and you just load your washing machine and turn it on. However, it doesn’t start. It flashes you that it will begin at 8PM when the price is scheduled to be $0.03 / kWh. This type of pricing is called Time-of-Use (TOU) and it’s been available for very large energy users for some time. It will become available to energy consumers of all size.
The savings from one wash will be relatively small but in aggregate across a year and across a City could be very large, perhaps even smart!
So, what would it take you to want to buy a Smart Thermostat?
Some additional information on Smart Thermostats is available at: http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/15/01/smart-thermostats-could-help-utilities-combat-death-spiral?utm_source=2015_01_28&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=IU_DAILY&utm_content=4521
Realgy Energy Services, a natural gas and electric energy provider, advocates for the use of technology that allows consumers greater control over their choice of energy supplier and the use of energy.
February 2015: Tied for Coldest February on Record
Chicago and the Tri-State area experienced a record cold February 2015 to go along with a very cold winter.
One more month and the winter of 2014/15 will be over and we can tally up the final score.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lot/15winter_CHI.png
OUTRAGISM!!!
OUTRAGISM!!!
Have you ever been misquoted, your intentions judged to be deceitful, even predatory, your reputation damaged because someones take on something you said or did was misquoted or taken out of context?
If so, you have been the subject of an OUTRAGIST (out-rage-ist).
Anyone who talks to someone is at risk of being misquoted and if you offer an opinion they don’t like, that misquote can become outrageously retold. Think of the game telephone when a story starts at one end and passes thru people until it gets to the other end; inevitability the story changes. Now, insert a person who doesn’t like something they heard, finds something insulting or is having a bad day. That person is liable to take the story and insert some outrageous statements, which then becomes “truth” to the next person to hear the story.
This is the origin of the word: OUTRAGISM. Taking something out of context because it fits with a preconceived idea … the intent or context of the original speaker doesn’t matter.
This is the idea behind Scott Adams (Dilbert creator) coining of the word. In keeping with Scott’s humor, I find labeling a situation and taking it to an extreme is humorous.
Not all criticism is outragism. Remember to look behind the statement or complaint to the origin of it and the person or company. Ask yourself: “Is it reasonable or do you think it’s a little dramatized for an OUTRAGIOUS effect?” If so, it may be OUTRAGISM!
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/109482303301/outragists-are-the-new-awful
Chicago’s “worst electric deals”
What makes the list for being the “worst electric deals” in Chicago? Of course, it’s price!
Price is the easiest item to compare and it’s very important. However, behind the low price can hide many costs!
Consider what we see every day:
- Teaser price: the “quoted” price is low…sounds like a deal. However, its only for 2-6 months. After that, the rate moves to a “market based” price. This is code for we charge you what we want.
- A fixed price (that isn’t): usually for 12-24 months. However, the fixed rate doesn’t include transmission or other “cost of service” or it’s for an amount of electricity that is below what you normally use. The “extra” electric is charge at….you guessed it “market price”.
- Renewal during peak season: a renewal that occurs in the summer during the highest price months is a trap to keep you. Using this tactic, you have little incentive to shop as you will miss their fixed price for the summer (when you use the most electricity).
What the difference between these energy marketers and Realgy? Consider first off that:
Realgy is listed A+ (highest with Better Business Bureau) and we have served Illinois (Michigan and Indiana) for nearly 15 years. We have 1,000’s of customer who chose us and stay with us: a 92% retention rate.
Our difference: we plan to save you money. In each utility (COMED, Ameren, MidAmerican), we know the utilities cost and we have a plan that can save you money.
We don’t offer a teaser rate, we plan your renewal during the off-peak months and we offer seasonal fixed prices.
Illinois Customer Choice works: please ask us to show you how.
Additional information about how we plan to save you money on electric choice in Illinois is at: http://realgyenergyservices.com/#Illinois
A link to the Worst Electric Deals is below;
http://abc7chicago.com/news/citizens-utility-board-lists-chicagos-worst-electric-deals/492005/
Energy Choices Begin with a Choice
Energy comes in many forms; wood, oil, solar, natural gas, propane, etc. With each choice comes the benefits and the costs of delivering those benefits.
Looking at natural gas, it is generally transported from one of three sources; Louisiana Gulf Coast, Oklahoma/Texas panhandle and recently shale gas in Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.
It takes pipelines to carry the natural gas to where the people use the gas. The link below underscores some of the concerns in constructing new pipelines or expanding others; environmental (is it good for people), property rights, ecology (is it good for the all life on the planet) and cost.
Question: are you willing to support new or expanded pipelines for natural gas?
This question (along with many others) will influence what energy choices we have in the future.