Do you know what your electric rate is?

On March 2nd, 2017 Energy Price Choice conducted a survey to discover how knowledgable consumers are about their household electric utility bill. The survey asked a series of questions intent on gaining insight into how consumers think about their electric bill. Here's what we discovered.

Most people don't know what their current rate is.

Our survey shows that up to 90% of consumers don't know what rate they pay for their electric usage. We can't say the exact reason this number is so high, but here are some reasons we suspect.

1. A utility bill is something that a consumer has to pay every month no matter what. Because it is a necessity, many people may believe that it is what it is.
2. Many people don't want to spend time on this.
3. It's not immediately obvious. Many utility bills are complicated to read and the rate that they pay is not exactly obvious.

Regardless of the reason for this, we find it somewhat interesting. Just about anyone you ask can tell you generally what the price of gas for your car is. This might be because many Americans stop three or four times a month at a gas station and stare at the price. However, with the advent of automatic bill-pay, many Americans probably don't even look at their utility bills. If you need help finding your current electric rate, click here.

Most people are aware that they can choose their supplier, but the majority don't.

We found that as many as 75% of respondents claimed they were aware that they could choose their electric supplier. However, when we asked if they were on a fixed rate plan, 35% claimed they were still on a variable rate plan and 25% said that they weren't sure. Furthermore, 25% of respondents said they spend over $150 a month on their electric bill. And even though only 40% were on a fixed rate plan, only 16% indicated that they were likely to sign up for a fixed rate electric plan in the next 6 months.

Most consumers prefer to DIY

70% of respondents said they would prefer to sign up for a new fixed rate plan by themselves on the internet. We did find that 20% would prefer signing up with an energy professional over the phone.