The New Hampshire Union Leader reported on April 5 that a pair of MIT graduates have created a new website called ShopEnergyPlans.com to help customers identify energy plans in their region. The site comes at a time when retail supply is gaining traction in New England, with 20 percent of local utility Eversource’s residential customers switching to competitive supply. In February, Retail Energy Buyer published an article about how to shop for retail energy as well as a directory of retail energy shopping websites.
Although this site operates much like other shopping websites, it offers some differentiators. Most notably, it has a PlanTracker feature that allows customers who sign up to receive reminders that their contracts are about to expire. It also tracks a wide list of reputable sponsors, displaying brand names for site sponsors. Like many energy shopping sites, it allows users to filter by renewable energy content and plan duration, with terms as short as one month. Savings versus default utility rates are shown in both percentage and dollar terms, while the site also displays renewable content and plan duration, and it notes the presence of early termination fees. The site allows customers to enter their email addresses and sign up directly for retail power plans.
