‘Totally unbiased’ power shopping site owned by electricity company
Houston Chronicle, by L.M. Sixel Oct. 17, 2019
Power Wizard, a new electricity shopping website in Houston, promotes itself as an independent voice on the side of consumers looking for low cost plans, providing unbiased advice to shoppers because Power Wizard has no ties with retail electric providers.
Except it does.
Power Wizard is owned by NextEra Energy, the nation’s biggest utility company, which also owns two retail electric providers in Houston, Frontier Utilities and Gexa Energy, according to registration records on file with the Texas Secretary of State and other public records. The chief executive officer of Power Wizard, Brian Landrum, is also president of Gexa, according to public records.
“It doesn’t sound very unbiased to me,” said Fred Anders, founder of Texas Power Guide in Houston, a website that helps consumers find the cheapest power plans.
Power Wizard, which was launched in February, is one of a growing number of concierge-like services in Texas that promise to find the best retail power deals for consumers. The growth in the industry reflects the confusion many Texas consumers face while shopping for power as they wade through gift card offers, free nights and weekend promotions, multi-tiered rates that change based on the number of kilowatt hours used and electricity brokers who promise they can find the best deals.
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