It’s Texas Energy Savings Day! But What Does That Really Mean?

So--when I first saw that this was something coming up in September a few weeks back-my initial thought without really looking into what that name meant was--all of us in Texas are being asked to cut back / conserve energy today. Perhaps even as a way to ease the burden on the shaky power grid here for even just one day. It's not unheard of-we had two things similar to this in Chicago- one called "Lights Out" where every day after 11pm, all the buildings downtown would turn all their lights off so that migrating birds wouldn't fly into buildings; and the annual observation of "Earth Hour"-where lights / power are turned off for an hour city-wide for conservation purposes. So the idea wasn't completely foreign to me.

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But as it turns out-that isn't the meaning of the day AT ALL. They created this day for awareness because of the way energy options in the state are structured. With so many different providers in existence since the 2002 law went into effect that changed energy being provided and regulated by the State of Texas into consumers having the choice of different corporate providers. It's a day to remind you to take a moment and review the status of your energy bills and whether or not you're in a contract for a certain rate, or if you've completed a contract and are now "month-to-month" with your provider where the rates are unstable and can change. Shopping for these things can be time consuming and a pain and it's something we tend not to think about. So a day to remind us on the calendar is a good idea. Now go check your bill and see if you're still getting the best rate!