Atco Energy

[spaded]

So I need some advice, maybe I am not the only one...

I had my power with Spark energy or whatever there name is - looks like things went sideways somewheres there and utility net is now my provider...
I got countless emails and calls watching them both fight over customers.

Sorta goofy actually...

So today I see that Atco Energy has started up and offer power now. They claim they have the lowest admin fee in Alberta.

Any insight on who is better/cheaper? or any advice anyone can give.

I am thinking I will go to atco energy they already provide me gas, they are Albertan and seem pretty reasonable and not so greasy like direct energy and others...

[From The Hip]

I heard about Atco entering the retail market today.Considering they own all of the residential gas network in the province it only makes sense for them.Maybe a combined gas/electricity bill with Atco could save some money.

Time will tell.

FTH

[Jason Bourne]

This site has info on electrical retailers etc. http://ucahelps.alberta.ca/regulated-rates.aspx You have a choice of many different retailers in Alberta and as you mentioned bundling gas / power together may help. If you fail to actively choose a retailer your billing comes from a default retailer which i believe is Direct Energy in the north and Epcor in the south of the province. Lots of info on the net regarding Alberta retailers

[KGB]

It looks like atco is less expensive then others unless there are some "fees" involved that they are not showing upfront.

[masalma]

http://www.atcoenergy.com/home/shop/...t_details.html



Looks pretty interesting. They are offering a $100 credit and Anniversary credit of up to $50/year.

Also something about Green Energy, need to do some reading about it.

[coolpete1]

atco used to be good , till they gave their billing to direct energy , that wasn't very nice to stick us with direct energy but enmax has been pretty decent.

[Sashi]

Things are probably hurting in the energy industry, so imo Atco may be getting back into residential marketing to keep their cash flow consistant.

[tchammer]

Atco has been brought to their knees in the past bit. I don't know for sure why, but I suspect their forays into the international markets, Australia and Mexico for example are to blame. That and their traditional piggybank, us the Alberta consumers, have been decimated. They have been doing massive layoffs across the province over the past few months, including their local front desk staff. So for them to try and entice me to buy from them when they just laid off the face to face contact I would have had is dumb to say the least. It would have been the single best reason to switch.

It turns out there is a little good with the bad, I have heard they are doing a lot of soul searching on their asinine safety programs because they are starting to see how it is affecting efficiency.

[kevinhits]

I personally see utility/gas providers as bad as a used car salesman....Do not trust any of them

[Mountain Guy]

I'm probably going to switch over.
Why not support an Alberta based company with a call center that is in Alberta?

[Ricki Bobby]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

I'm probably going to switch over.
Why not support an Alberta based company with a call center that is in Alberta?

^^^^

[vinny]

Originally Posted by masalma

http://www.atcoenergy.com/home/shop/...t_details.html



Looks pretty interesting. They are offering a $100 credit and Anniversary credit of up to $50/year.

Also something about Green Energy, need to do some reading about it.

The green energy means that a percentage of your power will come from a green source.

[vinny]

Originally Posted by tchammer

Atco has been brought to their knees in the past bit. I don't know for sure why, but I suspect their forays into the international markets, Australia and Mexico for example are to blame. That and their traditional piggybank, us the Alberta consumers, have been decimated. They have been doing massive layoffs across the province over the past few months, including their local front desk staff. So for them to try and entice me to buy from them when they just laid off the face to face contact I would have had is dumb to say the least. It would have been the single best reason to switch.

It turns out there is a little good with the bad, I have heard they are doing a lot of soul searching on their asinine safety programs because they are starting to see how it is affecting efficiency.

The face to face contact you had, would have had zero to do with the retail available now. Atco Energy is its own retail company under the Atco Group.

[Justanotherbuck2]

The reason for Atco re-entering the energy sales at this time has nothing to do with the economy, the contract they signed with direct energy to provide downstream services including gas and electrical sales has just expired. For over a hundred years Canadian western supplied energy to Alberta Customers at a fair price! Atco selling sales and downstream services is one of the issues that led me to leaving after 17 years! Great to see them returning to the core values that CWNG had before the Atco take over. Massive lay offs is a huge over statement as most of the people being let go are of retirement age and have their full pensions ahead of them, several of my friends and past co workers were on the fence about retiring, but they were offered 60 weeks severance to go nice parting gift! Others stayed that did not have a defined pension benefit, they have not been forced to take the buyout. Only a handful of people have been let go that did not fall into this group, and I do feel sorry for them. The world is always changing and big businesses do they same. There are definitely going to be a few more people loosing their jobs and that a shame but I can't wait to sign up and get my energy under one roof again!

[vinny]

Originally Posted by Justanotherbuck2

The reason for Atco re-entering the energy sales at this time has nothing to do with the economy, the contract they signed with direct energy to provide downstream services including gas and electrical sales has just expired. For over a hundred years Canadian western supplied energy to Alberta Customers at a fair price! Atco selling sales and downstream services is one of the issues that led me to leaving after 17 years! Great to see them returning to the core values that CWNG had before the Atco take over. Massive lay offs is a huge over statement as most of the people being let go are of retirement age and have their full pensions ahead of them, several of my friends and past co workers were on the fence about retiring, but they were offered 60 weeks severance to go nice parting gift! Others stayed that did not have a defined pension benefit, they have not been forced to take the buyout. Only a handful of people have been let go that did not fall into this group, and I do feel sorry for them. The world is always changing and big businesses do they same. There are definitely going to be a few more people loosing their jobs and that a shame but I can't wait to sign up and get my energy under one roof again!

Yup✅

[Camdelle]

Originally Posted by Ricki Bobby

^^^^

Maybe because they engineered a deal to sell their billing arm to Direct energy years ago...

They made 30 million on the deal and the next day every alberta resident with a gas bill paid a $7.95 cent fee.

[Mountain Guy]

Originally Posted by Camdelle

Maybe because they engineered a deal to sell their billing arm to Direct energy years ago...

They made 30 million on the deal and the next day every alberta resident with a gas bill paid a $7.95 cent fee.

Maybe because the by-product of de-regulation made it such that the utility companies weren't allowed to sell power because the big industrials were smoking cigars and drinking cognac with the government of the day and felt they could get better deals with a competitive retail market.
And bingo..they got a sweet deal. They got to buy big blocks of power at wholesale while the rest were left to pay more...like you and me.
This was not concocted by ATCO or any other utility.

[Big~stretch]

check out burst energy !