[ahepp]

I used to have these guys (EDIT: energy dereg companies, not griddy specifically) knocking on my door regularly with a pen, asking me to sign a contract for real time pricing literally on the spot, because I could save a bunch of money on my bill

I would be shocked if there is any energy deregulation company that doesn't resort to this, because it's the basic result of hiring contractors and paying them on commission

[wnymls]

In NYC, back when movie theaters were open, all of the Regals and AMC had these variable rate energy companies setup tables near the machines where you buy tickets. Usually they were manned by 2 young people in their early 20s, possibly college students.

These promoters would aggressively advertise "Free $10 Regal Gift Cards" or "Free $10 AMC Gift Cards", on the spot. They would say there is no catch. All you need is to be a ConEd Customer.

Every household in NYC is a ConEd customer because it is the only electric company.

Then they give you a tablet, and have you sign into your ConEd account. What they don't tell you is that you are switching your ConEd bill to a variable rate energy provider. On average, your bill is actually higher per month.

Every time I went to the movies I saw dozens of people get conned into higher monthly bills in exchange for a $10 gift card. I highly doubt anyone that signed up knew what they were really signing up for.

In upstate New York, I recall door to door salesmen doing the same thing. In NYC, too many residents live in buildings so they setup in movie theaters instead.

I wonder what their deal was with the theater venues. Does Regal/AMC rent out floor space to these promoters, or is there a revenue sharing deal?

[fennecfoxen]

> knocking on my door regularly with a pen

How delightful! Here in New York we just have CleanChoice Power doing it via mail fraud.

(By "mail fraud" I mean that they do their best to dress it up as a something like power bill, except demanding a signature, to trick the unwary into signing it without reading.)

[paulgb]

Unfortunately energy deregulation seems to disproportionately attract hucksters. I had never heard of Griddy until recently but in NY we have our share of pushy firms with questionable sales.

Question for those in TX: was your perception of Griddy that they were sketchy, or just a get-what-you-pay-for sort of basic service? Did they aggressively sell door-to-door?

[ohyeshedid]

> Unfortunately energy deregulation seems to disproportionately attract hucksters.

Deregulation does that in lots of markets, if not all of them. Paying via commissions does the same.

[paulgb]

Yes, I think especially so in industries the average person doesn’t understand well, like electricity spot markets.

[majormajor]

The existence of hucksters is a big part of why regulation is created in the first place.

If you have to "de"regulation something, ask why it was regulated in the first place!

[paulgb]

I’m not an anti-regulation guy by any means, but I do think there are cases where too much regulation is bad for customers. I don’t know enough about Texas energy markets to say if it’s the case here, but for example the deregulation of airline markets in the US was almost certainly good for customers on net.

[freeone3000]

It's mostly not been great. Higher prices than national DOE prices, less prepared for extreme events, and notably, no power-sharing agreement possible with the national grid since they've explicitly opted-out, and vehemently defended that choice. The Texas grid is less reliable and more expensive than either US East or US West.

[cameronh90]

We have energy privatisation in the UK and I've never experienced any hucksters. Indeed, I've had a very good experience with the small start-up energy providers compared to the big pre-privatisation firms.

I would guess there are different types of deregulation. We still have a regulatory body that ensures the market and new private entrants are operating effectively.

[makomk]

I'm guessing you're not the target market. The UK energy market has a huge huckster problem - sleazy door-to-door salesmen and cold callers tricking people who don't know better into switching their energy plans without realizing that's what they're signing up for, even outright faking signatures in some cases.