Will the real Power to Choose stand up?
By L.M. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, 12/26/2019
The Public Utility Commission operates the online shopping website Power to Choose, which millions of Texans use each year to find the lowest priced electricity plans. But good luck finding the real Power to Choose website.
More than a dozen online electricity brokers in Texas have adopted the phrase “Power to Choose” to promote their own websites. Many shoppers get tripped up by the confusion, consumer advocates say, and sign up for power plans that appear to come from the government-run site, but are actually sold by commercial brokers who receive commissions. Consumers often end up paying more.
“Consumers don’t necessarily catch that kind of stuff,” said Paul Paras, co-founder of Real Simple Energy in Houston, an electricity shopping website that tracks prices. Choose Texas Power, for example, an electricity broker owned by the South Carolina digital platform company Red Ventures, uses the phrase Power to Choose on online search engines to promote its electricity shopping website. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
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