General Questions FAQs
If I switch electricity suppliers, will my reliability be affected?
By law, the local utility company is not allowed to provide different care levels to customers who have chosen an alternate supplier. You will continue to receive the same level of delivery quality, emergency response, and meter reading from your current utility. Your utility company will not change, just the supplier of your electricity and/or natural...
What is the difference between Direct Energy and my local utility company?
Direct Energy is a retail supplier of electricity and natural gas (depending on your location), and your local distributor is a regulated entity that delivers electricity or natural gas to your home. Direct Energy is able to purchase the electricity or natural gas on the competitive market and sell it to customers. Your local distributor continues to deliver that electricity or natural gas to your...
What is the role of my local utility company?
Your local utility company delivers the electricity that flows into your home. The utility company is responsible for the lines, poles, pipes, meters, power outages, repairs, and other issues with how energy gets to your home. For example, if a storm blows down a power line or a car hits a utility pole, your utility company still fixes the problem and restores your power.
Your utility company continues to be responsible for:
- Delivery of electricity to all users in their service area
- Reliability and safety of the electricity or natural gas distribution system
- Maintenance of the poles, wires, and pipes
- Meter readings and maintenance
- Providing customer services related to the electricity or natural gas distribution system such as cable/pipe locations and 24-hour emergency service
- Connecting and disconnecting the customer's property to the electricity or natural gas distribution system
What is Renewable Energy?
Also known as Green Energy, Renewable Energy is electricity generated by naturally sustainable fuel sources instead of being generated from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, etc.) or nuclear technology. Examples of renewable energy are solar (energy harnessed from the sun), hydro (energy harnessed from moving water), wind (energy from wind turbines), geothermal (energy from the heat of the earth), and biomass (energy that's produced from all types of matter).
When green energy is generated, harmful emissions like carbon dioxide, mercury, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide are not sent into the environment. Furthermore, the renewable energy industry has proven to be one of growth in recent years, leading to development in rural areas where space for renewable energy sites is...
What kind of energy sources does Direct Energy use?
Direct Energy purchases power generated from a variety of sources including natural gas, coal, and nuclear.
For our customers who choose a green plan or the "Make It Green" option, we purchase Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset your usage with power generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are "tradable, non-tangible energy commodities in the United States that represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource. ... In states that have a REC program, a green energy provider (such as a wind farm) is credited with one REC for every 1,000 kWh or 1 MWh of electricity it produces. ... The green energy is then fed into the electrical grid (by mandate), and the accompanying REC can then be sold on the open market. Once in the grid, renewable energy is impossible to separate from the conventionally generated energy. This makes purchasing of a REC equal to purchasing a claim that the REC owner consumed energy from the renewable portion of the whole energy in the grid." [Source]
To summarize, when you choose a green energy plan, we are purchasing RECs, so you can be assured that you have purchased renewable energy from green sources and that your carbon footprint has been reduced. When you choose to use green energy for your home or business, you are becoming part of the solution to concerns about the pollution created by traditional sources of energy. And when we increase the amount of green energy that customers use today (and the more customers that use renewable energy), more green energy is then made available to benefit us and future generations...
