To estimate the value of Conectiv's, Allegheny's and QST's loyalty discounts, you need to consider how much electricity you'll use during the month in question. Allegheny has been offering the lowest price, 2.75 cents per kilowatt-hour, and sweetening the deal with the month's discount. But the 2.75-cent price isn't guaranteed. Under the rules of the pilot, it could be raised with three months' notice. It's not likely to go up, Allegheny officials say, and could also go down.
Consumers have to consider how much weight to assign that risk.
For that matter, until you sign on the dotted line, every offer is potentially a moving target. Last night, Peco officials decided to change the rate charged to pilot customers who heat with electricity to a flat 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, after more than two weeks of declining to set such a rate. Myles K. Meehan, a Horizon Energy vice president, said the change was made for simplicity's sake. Meehan said it would increase the predicted savings for such customers from about 9.4 percent to about 9.8 percent off their total bills. Consumer activist Lance Haver, for one, says no.