Colton:   0:12
Hello, everyone. And welcome to another exciting episode of Bridge The Gap, where we are connecting business perspectives. My name is Colton Cockerell. I'm a certified financial fiduciary and an independent financial advisor with Sharer McKinley Group. And, like always, to my left, the wonderful the lovely Miss Trisha Stetzel.

Trisha:   0:28
Uh, Colton, you're so nice. Yes, my name is Trisha Stetzel. And I am the owner of results Extreme Business Solutions. And I am so happy to be here with you today. And I'm really excited about our guests,

Colton:   0:39
but they're great. I know that both personally really sweet well, One of them's more sweeter than the other.

Trisha:   0:44
All right, but it's a secret because we have some other people to think first.

Colton:   0:46
lets go ahead and think Our sponsors, we do have sponsors first and foremost, Jim Butcher with Allegiance Bank, who is a relationship banker and our editor, Mr Pat Lee, with video envy. So what is our purpose?

Colton:   1:20
So the purpose of our podcast, if you didn't know Colton, I just want to let you know Colton and I interview local business professionals and industry experts. Our goal is to bridge the generational, gender and life experience gap in business through our unique styles of gathering information from our guests. Now, you know.

Colton:   1:20
Yes. Now our guest can I introduce them?

Trisha:   1:23
I guess.

Colton:   1:23
perfect. It is Mr Kevin and Miss Rose Duncan. They're incredible, their electricity experts. And I'm gonna let you talk a little bit about Just let us know, give a little bio about who you are.

Trisha:   1:33
Wow. Well,

Rose:   1:34
thank you for having us. First of all, we really appreciate you guys, including us in this really excited to kind of introduce ourselves. I'm Rose. I'm the sweeter one that you spoke of. And my husband, Kevin, he's very smart. You can't see on a podcast, but he does wear glasses. So that does bring up his IQ just a bit.

Kevin:   1:53
I'm sweet, too.

Rose:   1:53
And he's Yeah, he's he's better. But, uh, anyway, I will just kind of get right, right? Right into it. We help people save money by starting or switching their service on electricity. Ah, lot of people don't quite know what their pain. Right now they live in. A lot of our clients live in Texas, but we are We are a nationwide company, but it's kind of funny that people don't really know what they're paying on their bill and they expect us to kind of help him with that, so

Colton:   2:24
I'll jump right in because I got questions about it. So let's start. You talked about the electricity bill, So how do you read electricity bill? I see these different symbols, right, besides his numbers, and I don't even know what it means,

Rose:   2:35
right? And it's it's great that it's great that you're you're curious about it because a lot of people don't know what they're paying, and they don't know what their bill means when they're looking at it. And so because of that and because they're so many different companies out there. And there's so many different ways to confuse the consumer that the Texas utility commissioner actually mandated that every single utility provider puts what's called the average price per kilowatt on the bill so that people know exactly what they're gonna pay per kilowatt. Just after any surcharges or any Gotchas can actually be in there, It's it's It's pretty interesting how that works out, Kevin.

Kevin:   3:15
Yeah, most people don't know there's about 50 different electricity companies just here in Texas alone, so it's really kind of mind boggling. It's a lot of choices that people have again. Again as Rose stated when someone looks at their bill that really the only number they're looking at is the number on the right side of that bill to see how much they have to pay. And that doesn't become an issue until they have to save money. And then they start really looking at over utility bill. So we spend a lot of time educating customers on how to read the bill and what those numbers actually mean, and we show them based on comparing them with our company rates, whether or not we can save them money monthly on their bill. Now, the average price per kilowatt a lot times is a good indicator that a lot of companies market different types of of plans out there and, uh, you know, sell the value of the plans instead of the savings that they could have on individual bills.

Colton:   4:09
So then what you're saying is we need to not look at the free days free nights, and we need to focus on the average price per kilowatt

Kevin:   4:16
more often than not free nights and weekends and the different plans that people see on billboards and you get on flyers in the mail or maybe in magazines or TV adds a lot of times. That's not the best plan for people, even though it seems like a good idea. I'm gonna do my laundry after seven o'clock at night. A lot of times, that's not really how life is. You end it doing stuff on the weekends and evenings, so you end up paying more for your energy during the day to get that free night. So there's always a trade off. No electricity company is going to give you something for free. Well, there is one that will. That's us, and we'll get. We'll get into that a little bit later. How that works.

Trisha:   4:53
So I have a question we So we sign up for, let's say, a 12 month contract, and it comes to the end of that contract and they send me a letter and say You need to renew and here's what your new rate is. What if I don't call the company and do anything about that?

Rose:   5:09
Well, then you'll actually just go on to a variable plan because we can't automatically renew anyone in the state of Texas. We just have to, you know, contact them. And and I know our company does really, really well, sending someone a text message sending them an e mail, sending them a snail Mail your letter through the post office. They'll do several ways to contact that person, but it's actually up to the customer to make that that step to renew themselves. If they don't, they get put onto the variable plan, which isn't always the best rate, but it does continue service for them. So one of the things we also don't do is just shut, Shut it off on people just cause their contracts up.

Kevin:   5:52
Yeah, it's kinda funny that you mentioned that most people don't know what that means. What that really means is the rate changes every single month, so month by month, by month, it'll fluctuates. So if all of a sudden your bill goes up and you don't know why you haven't changed habits, it hasn't gotten any hotter outside. But you just have a much larger bill then You had last month, and chances are you're no longer contract, because here in Texas, the contract rates are steady. It's a fixed price per kilowatt for the entire time you're on contract. Variable. Well, it will change sometimes by three or four cents per kilowatt. Which makes your bill, you know, a couple times, you know, least two or three times higher than it normally could be.

Trisha:   6:32
Speaking of prices, I think you had a question about there were some really high prices. 

Colton:   6:38
so you know, a few. I heard people talking about this about electricity bills, but maybe what? Five months ago, you heard something about this electricity crisis where people's electricity bill was out the roof. You have any light to shed on that?

Kevin:   9:29
Yeah. So without getting too technical, there is a new organization called ERCOT here in Texas. And what they do is they control the price of electricity on the open market on the open market just for Texas, the Texas market. And what they did a couple of years ago is they changed a few rules, and they raised the the maximum price per megawatt that they can charge electricity retailers like what you know, since they control the costs, they control what the companies buy it for essentially. And what they did was they raised that price and it went from basically, you know, I think it was $1000 a megawatt to $9000 megawatt was the max. So you know, here, over the summer you saw some days where it was extremely hot, hotter than normal, especially here in the Houston market and it wasn't just hot. There was no wind. So the wind turbines that usually pick up the slack when the When the electricity usage peaks, the windows weren't turning, so they had to spend up additional generators, which then raised the price for megawatt that the retail had to buy it for and the retailers can't pass that onto the consumer's right away. So, you know, you think about it. You're paying an average of 10 cents a kilowatt. Well, the electricity companies paying $9 kilowatt to sale it to you first. So eventually they're gonna get their money back. So eventually that does trickle down into the market. Consumers see their price per kilowatt go up and you know the the retailer recoup their money that the reason the prices went up so high it's because there's there's a couple companies in particular that had a plan called wholesale plan. You know, one of one of our competitors was named Grady. They only do wholesale electricity and wholesale always is. When I'm a wholesale customer, I get it for what you buy for. So there's literally no mark up. It's you buy it from the you know, the generation companies and pass it on to me for basically what you bought it for the small mark up. And when the prices spiked, everything he saw on Facebook and on the news customers were paying literally $400 every two or three or four days on Bill because they were getting it in that $9 right? So and that kind of goes back around to the market. And you need to make sure that you understand the plan that you're on, and it's a little bit difficult with 50 different electricity companies. But you know, there's a way to read the details. You gonna ask us

Trisha:   9:29
and that's why you have an expert right and electricity expert who you go to to ask those questions.

Colton:   9:29
if i got a $2500 bill would be furious.

Kevin:   9:32
You can search on the Internet. There were people that were getting $1000, $1200. bills where It was normally $300. And and while those kind of plans were really good during the months like this month, when when the temperatures relatively low in the peak summer months, when when they're passing that cost along with consumers and there's really no real cap $9 a kilowatt? It doesn't get much, much more expensive. So that's why you have to find an electricity expert. Yes, to a, ask questions it out and make sure that the plan you're on matches your needs.

Colton:   10:06
So I do have a very elementary question. Probably very stupid, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.

Trisha:   10:12
No questions are stupid Colton. 

Colton:   10:15
Is there Is there a difference between electricity period, Like if you were to use one company versus another company, do they use different electricity?

Kevin:   10:22
Well, so the way that it works is every retailer has their own supply supplier where they buy the electricity from when they buy electricity. They put it on the grid. So around here in our area, it's CenterPoint Energy and Texas New Mexico Power. They're called the delivery companies. We're a supplier, so we buy the electricity, put it on the greatest technically all mixed together. CenterPoint tells us how much Kevin Duncan used at his house and then Ambit energy bills you for that electricity. So technically, they're really using a lot of difference. There's on price given example, Most companies spend a $1,000,000 a day in advertising, so they can only lower their price so much because I gotta pay for the buildings, the brick and mortar in the advertising and things like that, or companies an exception to that. We don't spend a $1,000,000 a day in advertising you have to know someone who does what we do with Ambit Energy. To know, that Ambit Energy, even exist. So we take that savings and pass that along to a customer.

Rose:   11:20
And so what I would really like to answer in that question is, you know, electricity's electricity if it gets to your home and it turns on your life and it's doing its job and no company can say their electricity is better than our electricity, what they can say is, sometimes their renewable resource maybe more. So there's a lot of people that are, you know, part of the ECO friendly, you know, movement and the green effort. But I'll be honest with you when you're paying for green energy, you're paying for the efforts of that energy you're not. You're not going to get all the green kilowatts on the grid to go to your house, and the brown kilowatts are gonna go to your neighbor's house. It's all in there, mixed up. But what you are paying for is the efforts of that. And and we're proud to say our company is green certified. And that's, you know, that's unfortunate that we don't have green in our name just because, you know, it could confuse people.

Colton:   12:17
and just kind of just to clear the air. Just about common misconception. Misconceptions about electricity. I mean, Rose, we talked about earlier about that. So what are some common misconceptions that people have about electricity?

Rose:   12:29
Some common misconceptions that people have about electricity is that, uh, you know, they're paying what they think that they're paying. That's the biggest misconception. In fact, when I before I became a consultant, I was only approach to be a customer, and she said, Well, how much are you paying for electricity? And I was like, I don't know,

Trisha:   12:49
$300 a month.

Rose:   12:52
So, I do remember being promised over the phone by company. I won't name that. I would be getting it for nine cents a kilowatt and so apples to apples on thinking you've got to be nine cents per kilowatt. And she's like Well, we can now What? I didn't understand it. After I learned how to read my bill, I went home and after surcharges after, you know, after base charges, after any other fees that they wanted ad in their excluding tax, I was actually paying 16.44 cents a kilowatt when I thought I was paying nine cents. So making sure that people understand there's a raw rate and there's a loaded rate into understanding, the rate in the average price per kilowatt becomes a lot more significant in understanding so that you know if you can save money by switching to another company.

Kevin:   13:41
Yeah, there's a few other misconceptions on the electricity bills, and most of it has to do with how some of the companies actually priced their their plans. We call it a tiered plan, a as well, as kind of you to go back to what Rose said on your bill, there's a there's a price for the supply. And when you ask someone how much they pay for their electricity since that the first number they come across on their bill, they usually give you that number. They don't know that there's also a delivery charge that every retailer passes on or base charges or anything else? But, you know, one of misconceptions a lot of people have is is if they just totally look at that average price per kilowatt. Some of the companies have found out that there was a ways to manipulate that price. And what I mean is is if you use more than 1000 kilowatts, then we're gonna give you a $30 bill credit, which is going to drop that average price per kilowatt. You know, really kind of fake. Drop it to make you think you're actually saving money. But then if you use more than 1200 kilowatts, we're gonna raise it again. So if you kind of following that sweet spot which no one can control, how much electricity they use in the house, just Face it, you could you can try to lower it but you can't completely make sure that you get between 1000 and 1200 kilowatts. You know they're banking on you either falling below that are above that. But they use that as a way to sell you the electricity plan. What you need to look at is is you need to look for companies that just have a fixed price 24 hours a day for the length of your contract. No gimmicks, no gotchas no nothing else in there that they can come back and say, We'll use over 1500 kilowatts So now you're paying 17 cents instead of nine? Well, that's in the fine print, so make sure you guys read the fine print. I mean, that's the most important thing.

Trisha:   15:23
So this is a good segue way into, um, it sounds like something that you guys offer your customers is helping them read their electricity bill. Yeah, so I know that you guys introduced each other. You have the same last name. You happen to be married. I think it's amazing that you have this company together. So together you guys are taking on clients and helping them read their electricity bills. And what else can you do for clients? that pursue you?

Kevin:   15:52
so our company is called electricity experts dot com. We started that We've actually been with this company for about nine and 1/2 years now, which doesn't seem like a its been.

Colton:   16:03
Very tenured.

Kevin:   16:03
It's been It's been quite a while and honestly, even over the last nine years. Electricity pricing in the way, its billed and, all that stuff. It's changed quite a bit, and it is different across Texas, so it's a little bit different in Dallas than it is here in Houston and out in the Valley. So, there are some some interesting differences between those but. We do help people determine what they're really playing for the electricity, and if we can save money on their on their electricity bill now, we don't just do residential. We also do commercial Okay. A lot of business owners are in the same boat, you know, they're busy running their business and they have someone in the back office or in the admin area that's just responsible for making sure that the bills get paid. They don't really care what they're paying. You don't know what they're paying, so we do go and do a free analysis of their bill as well, and you'd be surprised at small businesses like restaurants. You know, just recently we save some almost $400 a month,

Colton:   16:56
Wow

Kevin:   16:56
on their electricity bill and they had no idea what they were actually paying. And that's generally the case. When we moved here, Rose didn't even know who we used for electricity, because when you get it, it's one of those bills that you put it on auto pay if you can, because you know what happens if you don't pay it or if you pay it late, right? So if you have out of all your bills, that's the one that gets paid first. That's why most people don't know what they're paying. They only notice if they see a big fluctuation in that bill that they're like, Wait a minute. You know, I've got to look at this,

Rose:   17:26
and we we offer the ability to just be a customer and come over and enjoy a savings. We also offered the opportunity to be a referring customer, and that's Ah takes us into a little bit about our free energy program, because if you were to refer 15 other customers to switch over and, they came over because of you, you get credit for that. And after 15 customers, the company takes the average of their bill and puts it as a credit toward your bill. So we've been free energy customers just about as long as we've been consultants. And then the final piece that we offer is some people just want to save money. But other people are out there and they not just want to save money. They also want to make money. So we do have the ability to introduce them as you know, customers or consultants and get them started.

Trisha:   18:13
So can I ask the funny question? are we at the end?

Colton:   18:15
If you have one, if you have enough wit?

Trisha:   18:17
I do, I do! It was really It was really coming to me while we were having this discussion. So here's the question.

Colton:   18:22
I to busy paying attention to what they were saying.

Trisha:   18:24
Would you choose hot air balloon or bungee jumping?

Rose:   18:27
Bungee jumping.

Kevin:   18:29
Oh, Bunge jumping, yeah.

Trisha:   18:29
All right. Was that good?

Colton:   18:30
That was a quick response.  

Rose:   18:32
That's absolutely now it's funny that you said that I actually had hot air balloon on my vision board. I heard about all the crazy things that can happen and bungee jumping only one thing that happened, your rope snaps and you hit hard.

Kevin:   0:00
Worse case scenario here.  

Trisha:   18:45
Thats not dangerous at all  

Rose:   18:50
Now, if I have a real choice Trish, I would choose neither.

Trisha:   18:54
Okay.  Both are too dangerous.

Colton:   18:59
So, let me ask this, how can people get get contact You guys, they want to know more about learning how to read their bill or get one of those analysis company getting analysis. How can they contact you?

Kevin:   19:07
Okay, so we have a domain name electricity experts dot com so it's just electricity. E l e c t r i c i t y experts e x p e r t s Just like it sounds dot com. You can also email us info at electricity experts dot com, or you can call us at my wife's favorite number.

Rose:   19:27
Let me give the number

Kevin:   19:28
There you go.

Rose:   19:28
it is 8888888275 And that is actually 8888888ask

Colton:   19:38
So how many eights is that without looking 

Rose:   0:00
It's a fungshway. It's as many eights as you need to be.

Kevin:   0:00
It's 7 eights, Its 7 eights and then a s k.

Trisha:   0:00
I love it!  

Rose:   0:00
Yes, you pay extra for all the eights.

Trisha:   0:00
Thank you guys. So much for being here with us today. We really appreciate having our electricity experts dot Com on our show. It was wonderful.

Colton:   0:00
I learned so much on how to read a bill.

Trisha:   0:00
I know, I did too and it was really amazing So I want to thank our sponsors again before you do your thing.

Colton:   0:00
My thing yes, my thing.

Trisha:   0:00
Yeah, because we all know it's coming. Right? So I would like to again thank Mr Jimmy Butcher With Allegiance Bank for sponsoring our show as well as Pat Lee with Video Envy. Thank you guys. So much for being a part of our show and helping us keep it together and Colton. Take it away.

Colton:   20:29
Yes. And thank you to compliance for forcing me to do this every time. So my name is Colton Cockerell with Sharer McKinley Group LLC. I am located at 820 South Friendswood Dr Suite 207, Friendswood  Texas 77546. Phone number 2819925698. Securities offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc member FINRA SIPC. Sharer McKinley Group is not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group, Inc. All right, I got it all out.

Trisha:   20:50
All right. Great show.

Colton:   20:52
Yeah, it was awesome. Thank you again for coming out. We really appreciate it.  

Kevin:   20:54
Thank you for inviting us. We enjoyed it.

Colton:   20:56
 absolutely, um, bungee jumping next week?

Rose:   0:00
NO!  

Trisha:   0:00
Man, come on Rose!