If you don’t know who’s supplying your natural gas, you could be leaving savings on the table

Fluctuating energy costs can wreck a small business’s budget. In fact, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’s Energy Consumption poll, energy costs are one of the top three business expenses for 35% of small businesses. The good news is, a little homework could save you big money.

To start – do you know who supplies your natural gas? If you answered CenterPoint Energy, you need to take a deeper look.

CenterPoint Energy is a great Dayton Area Chamber member business, and a reliable energy delivery company, but it’s not in the business of supplying natural gas. In fact, CenterPoint Energy stopped supplying gas in 2008. CenterPoint delivers natural gas. When it comes to who’s supplying your gas, you have options.

Answering the supplier question

If you’re not sure who supplies your business’s natural gas, take a look at your gas bill. Your supplier is listed under the “Gas Supplier Detail” heading. But knowing who supplies your gas isn’t enough. If the words “Standard Choice Offer” are printed above the name of your gas supplier on the bill, you are being served by that supplier, which chose you, not the other way around, at a variable rate based on the month-end market price of natural gas listed by the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) – plus a fixed adder that is set annually in April through an auction process.

Each year, CenterPoint Energy conducts an auction to determine that year’s natural gas suppliers. All customers who have not chosen a gas supplier are then served by one of those third parties. This means the customer’s natural gas bill will fluctuate with the price of natural gas on the open market. And each year, if you haven’t chosen a supplier, you’ll find yourself  being served by one of the annual Standard Choice Offer suppliers that has won a place in the supplier auction.

How to take control of your gas supply

According to CenterPoint, the cost of natural gas typically makes up more than half your monthly bill. Choosing a supplier and taking advantage of the programs they have to offer could result in savings.

Dayton Area Chamber member businesses have access to more possible savings. Through chamber partner IGS Energy, member businesses can control costs through fixed price, straight variable or the Active Commodity Allocation Program (ACAP). The ACAP is a blend of the fixed price and variable concepts. It allows smaller users to procure energy in the same way a large industrial customer would. IGS’s team watches the market for you, and buys when gas prices are low, both keeping costs down and mitigating market risks.

Make a supplier choice

As a chamber member business, don’t miss out on your chance to have a free cost estimate. Contact Reggie Franklin, IGS Energy, at 937-972-0382 or rfranklin@igsenergy.com to learn more. You can also learn more or contact Reggie via the contact form here: https://daytonchamber.org/services/member-benefits/igs-energy/.