Prudent Community Energy will negotiate the energy commodity market for your electricity and natural gas load and present those cost reduction options to you simply and transparently.
ENERGY BROKERS WORKING FOR BUSINESSES & THE COMMUNITY
SAVE TIME. REDUCE RISK. LOWER EXPENSES.
FAQs
Common questions and answers below. If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
HOW DOES ELECTRICITY/NATURAL GAS SUPPLY WORK?
In Ameren Illinois’ territory, for example, 75% of all commercial and 92% of industrial customers are supplied by a third party supplier. This is, very plainly, a result of the fact that most business customers qualify for better rates through these suppliers than what the regulated utility can offer. This is mainly due to three factors:
ANNUAL RATE CHANGES
A regulated utility generally only changes their rates once per year so they can’t react to market conditions like a company whose only job is to provide a commodity to the customer can.
ARBITRARY PRICING
A regulated utility can’t make or lose money on supply. This means that when they do set their rates every year, they are not just setting them based on current market conditions and prices, but also based on how well or poorly they estimated prices the previous year!
If they underestimated supply costs the previous year, rates could be higher in the upcoming year to make up for the revenue lost purchasing energy at those higher rates for the previous year.
SET ONE RATE
A regulated utility has to to charge every commercial and industrial account the same rate: no matter their load profile, when they use the most energy each day/month, how much they use, etc. Coupled with their requirement to balance costs and the necessary use of averaging in order to estimate future rates, this equates to higher than market value rates for at least half of their customers.
When your business’ load is priced individually using your specific load profile, you get a rate that is what suppliers are willing to offer YOU for YOUR load. And this allows your business to be proactive in managing costs by pricing and locking rates in for future peak period usage during the off season.
HOW DOES THE GIVING BACK PART WORK?
FEE BASED
These business services are sold on commission. Some employees of suppliers are paid a salary with a small commission for every sale. Others make only commission but receive more for each sale than those receiving a salary. We are brokers of these services and revenue comes from commission.
This is the best model because we can offer not just one supplier’s best pricing and terms, but the best pricing and terms from many nationwide suppliers and set our customers up with the best rates and terms for them.
REVENUE SPLIT
We keep our margins low to offer fair, competitive rates to all of our customers and potential customers. Our ability to do this is evidenced by our success in serving over 110 customers, most of them in Central IL, and being able to serve a good portion of them after going head to head against other, larger brokerage houses and even the marketing arms of the suppliers themselves.
The margin is paid to PCE by the supplier as the customer pays their (lower) bills every month. As the revenue is received every month, it is split up accordingly among the various organizations with which we have partnered or that our customers have chosen.
Simple & Easy Implementation
HERE ARE THE STEPS:
Provide Copy Of Utility Bill
CUSTOMER provides a copy/picture of their electricity/natural gas bill.
Profile Created
We build a profile of their usage using historical and future projections.
CHOOSE A SUPPLIER
WE market that usage to trusted, stable suppliers and compile the offers and contract terms (length, fees, etc.) into an easy to read and understand comparison sheet for the customer.
SELECT A PLAN
CUSTOMER reviews the comp sheet and decides which of the offers, if any, are right for them and signs a contract for whatever length they choose.
SUBMIT PAPERWORK
WE submit the paperwork (whether hard copy or electronic) to the supplier, which then submits electronically to the utility the start/end dates and rates.
Pay Less Every Month
CUSTOMER sees the updated rate and lower bills on the next account invoice after the start date (contract begins 3/20, the first statement to reflect the changes will be the one received towards the end of April for the 3/20-4/20 usage period).