Taking Away Consumer Choice?

Back in 1997, Massachusetts restructured the electric utility industry, passing a measure that allows customers the option to choose a third-party electric supplier. Now, some MA officials, including Boston Mayor Wu and AG Andrea Campbell are sounding the alarm, saying third-party electric suppliers should be banned over “misleading marketing practices and false claims of clean, green energy”. Is consumer choice about to end in MA?

Abby Foster joined Dan Rea.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray onWBZ Boston News Radio. Welcome back,
Thank you very much. On DanWatkins. We have a website here in
Massachusetts that I am very familiar with. Uh. It is called energy SWITCHMA

(00:24):
dot com. And those of youwho are listening tonight on your computer or
if you're sitting near your computer,it might be fun for the next conversation
for you to jump onto that websitebecause I'm going to try to explain it
to all of you. It isa website that is run by the call

(00:47):
Health of Massachusetts. I believe it'sthe official it's the Master's Department of Public
Utilities Shopping for Electric Supply website.So this is a Massachusetts state website.
Okay, that's number one. Andwhat is it? Well, for those

(01:07):
of you who might not know it, in Massachusetts, in terms of your
electric service, you have choice insome respects. You do not have choice
regarding the electric delivery. It's calledjust delivery. The electric delivery is associated

(01:30):
with the wires, the polls,meters, the infrastructure, if you will,
other equipment that transports electricity to ourhomes and businesses. The electric companies
in Massachusetts deliver electricity to our homesand businesses, regardless of our choice of
electric or electric supplier. However,here's where the choice comes in. The

(01:51):
choice for you deals with the supplierof the electricity that is associated with the
production and purchase of the electricity weuse. Competitive suppliers can offer consumers a
variety of electric supply products that varyaccording to price, renewable energy, and
energy technology services. So, forexample, if I put in my zip

(02:15):
code, which is all you wouldhave to do at this website, it
would it would get me started.Let me do this, and if you're
doing it with me, just feelfree to follow along here. This is
going to be a way in whichwe can explain it better. So you
put your zip code in, youindicate if you're shopping for your home,
your business. That's all you haveto do, and you start shopping.

(02:38):
They do ask you to select thecommunity in which you live, particularly if
your zip code covers more than onecommunity. So I select the community which
I live, and I continue shopping, and I look at all of these
companies that offer energy. I'm herein Massachusetts, in where I live,

(02:58):
and in places where you live aswell, and some of these companies I'm
just going to run some names RenaissancePower and Gas, Think Energy, town
Square, Smart Energy, clear View, Direct Energy, Public Power, National
Gas and Electric, Major Energy,Inspire, Clean Energy, Clearview Energy,

(03:21):
Residents Energy. There are a wholelot of choices here, okay, And
each choice offers a basic service,a price of the term, and all
of that. So that's wonderful.We have choice here in Massachusetts. Well,
three of our most important political leadersin Massachusetts, Governor Healy, along

(03:44):
with Mayor Michelle wou Or, themayor of the City of Boston, and
the state's Attorney General, Andrea Campbell, have decided. They wrote a piece
in the Globe I think it wason January twenty ninth, essentially saying that
mass should be in party electric suppliers. That seems to me to be anti
choice. I spoke with someone fromthe Governor's office today, and we very

(04:08):
well may have someone from the Governor'soffice tomorrow to explain their side of it.
However, I am delighted to havewith us tonight a guest who represents
the I guess a group of theretailers. My guest name is Abby Foster.

(04:29):
So let me welcome Abby Foster tothe program. Abby, how are
you tonight? Welcome? Thanks doingwell. Sorry taking up so much time,
but I wanted people to understand whatis this all about. Now you
are associated with a would you callit an advocacy group? How do you

(04:51):
want to be referred to in termsof your organization? Sure, we're a
tread organization, the Retail Energy AdvancementLeague. Our members are retail energy suppliers
across the country, and they sawa real need for a group to focus
on opportunities where states already allow competitionto make it the best that they can

(05:12):
it can be, and for statesthat currently don't allow competition with the utility,
for us to look for ways topotentially bring competition to those states.
And a big part of what wedo is customer education. So we find
that a lot of customers don't knowthat they have the option, just like
you were saying, And so weappreciate you inviting us on here tonight so
we can help raise awareness. Yeap. My understanding that is it about seventeen

(05:33):
states that do offer some choice toeither commercial or to home residences. But
that means there's thirty three states thatdon't. Correct Yeah, and I think
most of us realize that we're inthe market for anything, whether it's buying
a new car, buying a usedcar, going to the grocery store.

(05:56):
It's nice to have choice, andthere's really there's really not much that you
go out and purchase in the marketplacewhere you don't have options prior to the
market becoming a competitive market in thelate nineties, and how it's currently set
up in some of those other statesis the utility is your only option,
and that's on all aspects of yourenergy usage and the development of new energy

(06:19):
resources and the delivery of it.So delivery for any state, even if
they allow competition, like you said, the polls and buyers that charge on
your bill, your utility is alwaysgoing to maintain all of that and make
sure that you have the adequate electricity, reliable electricity. They're still the ones
that come when you have power outages. It's just the supply portion. But

(06:40):
in the states that don't allow competition, the utility is the only one investing
in building power plants, creating newenergy resources, and the customers have no
choice but to pay for it,whether it was a good investment or a
bad investment, whether it was cleanenergy or fossil fuels. Whether your preferences
one or of the above or allof the above, you have no choice

(07:00):
what the utility it tells you topay for what they've invested in. So
now, right now, in Massachusetts, the basic service, which I assume
is what most of the companies charge, is seventeen point twenty five cents per
kilo what hour. Now, thereare some companies that are offering significantly lower

(07:26):
prices that I'm just out round atseventeen cents per kilo one hour. There's
a whole bunch of companies here,four that are under eleven cents per kilo
one hour. Then there's several couplemore under twelve cents, and then there's
a whole bunch of twelve cents,thirteen cents, all of which are below
what you would be most of theseare thirteen cents. Then you get up

(07:49):
to the fourteen and fifteen cents range, and you have to be smart and
you have to look at this,and then there are some that are actually
above what is being charged by thesesuppliers here in Massachusetts. But now we
have the Mayor of Boston, thegovernor of Massachusetts, and the Attorney General

(08:13):
wants to take choice away from us. Why would they want to do that.
So we've heard from the Attorney General'soffice during hearings concern about the number
of complaints that come into their officeof customers who have either been enrolled in
a contract that they didn't understand theterms or the rates increased significantly during the

(08:37):
course of their term. A lotof these things are addressed could be addressed
by making sure customers are informed andeducated as they shop. For example,
customers should be educated on the differencebetween a variable rate contract and a fixed
rate contract. If it rolls overand there's automatic renewal at the end of
your contract, like most of yourcontracts that you're in agent for services,

(09:01):
understand what it would roll over to. But there's also a lot of things
that can be improved in Massachusetts andin looking at other states that have competition,
there's a lot of things missing inMassachusetts from a consumer protections perspective,
including notices and rollovers things like that. So there's actually been legislation introduced by
Representative Tachi Chan to improve the marketand put improved consumer protections in order to

(09:26):
better address some of the concerns thatthe Attorney General has raised so why would
the And again you don't represent theattorney general. No, do you represent
the governor's office. But I andhopefully we'll have someone from the Governor's office
on this tomorrow, and I ifthere's a problem, And I think what

(09:48):
they told me today was that someof these energy companies are going around knocking
on people's doors, you know,fairly aggressively. That could be allowed if
the legislature wanted to, I assume, pass a law that would say that,
you know that that sort of visitson announced visits, although I guess

(10:13):
they would have a right as anyother company would. I mean, I
was telling someone from the Governor's officetoday that mass PERG knocks on my door
about twice a year. I'm notparticularly interested in joining mass PERG Public Interest
Research Group. What could be doneto address legislatively some of the concerns that

(10:33):
are being raised by our Democratic leadershere in Massachusetts. One of the things
are around door to door or thetelephone sales. Is, like you were
noted at the beginning when you startedthis conversation, a lot of people don't
understand about their options for the firsttime, looking at this and looking at
your electric bill. It can bea confusing process, and so sometimes it's

(10:54):
helpful to have someone there in personor someone on the phone that can actually
walk you through the process. There'sdefinitely market mechanisms that can help improve the
consumer protections around that specific piece.So, for example, in other states
they require ID badges for anyone that'sgoing around that makes it really clear that

(11:16):
they're not with the utility that they'rewith an energy supplier. It has,
you know, a customer service phonenumber, their name, and an associated
ID badge number, so that youcan always kind of report in if you
have any concerns. And then anotherway that that process can be improved as
third party verifications. So that's kindof a complicated way of saying that someone

(11:39):
will confirm that you enrolled in,that you know what you enrolled in for
the product that you were sold atthe time of sale, whether they're either
at your house or on the phonewith you. So it almost sounds as
if the government in Massachusetts kind ofthings that we're not small enough or a
good centage of the public isn't smartenough to make this choice, or am

(12:05):
I being unfair? Do you thinkto to the Mayor of Boston, and
the Attorney General who wrote this oped piece in the Globe, which I
want to talk about in a moment. So I struggle with this because I
personally, I've lived in states thathave been competitive states ever since owning my
first tiny little apartment, and I'vealways shopped and I've always had a positive

(12:28):
experience. And so I when Ifirst kind of sat down with the Attorney
General's office and other government officials onthis, I wanted to understand where they
thought the hang ups were for people, so that maybe there are some ways
that we can address this. Butwhat we heard directly from the Mayor's office
and also from the Attorney General's officeis that they truly do believe that customers

(12:52):
aren't smart enough for this, thatit would need to be someone who has
legal experience or someone that is had, you know, higher education and to
be able to do this process.But that is the direct opposite of what
we've heard from customers. They're areover four hundred thousand customers enrolled last year
in Massachusetts in competitive with competitive energysuppliers, and we've heard stories from so

(13:13):
many of them saying this is aneasy process. I don't know why someone
thinks I wouldn't be able to makethis choice for myself. So I think
the education component is what's so critical, and informed customer will never be taken
advantage of because they know what tolook for, what to be aware of
when the automatic renewal might happen.And so the education is the key piece

(13:33):
here that's really been missing in Massachusetts. We're going to take a quick break.
My guest is Abby Foster. She'sa vice president of policy and advocacy
with the Retail Energy Advancement League.Now again, I want choice, if
choice does exist, I want tobe able to get the best deal when

(13:54):
I go around and I drive mycar. I think I've told you my
favorite gas station is on Route ninebecause the gary's out there, it always
has the lowest price, and thegas is good. So I'd rather pay
the least for a product that's it'sthe same, and certainly electricity it falls

(14:15):
into that category. If you liketo join the conversation, and if you
are somebody who does periodically check yourelectric bill and see whether or not you
are being charged what you consider bea fair amount, feel free six one
seven, two ten thirty, tripleeight nine two nine, ten thirty or
six, one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.

(14:37):
I think it's ironic that so manyof our progressive political leaders in Massachusetts who
on the issue of choice are alwayson the side of more choice being better,
but on this particular issue they kindof flip to the big brother or
big sister knows best for how weshould manage our lives. I'm not happy

(15:01):
with that. I'd love to hearfrom you. Join the conversation. My
guess is Abbie Foster. Back onNightside Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm
Boston's news radio. My guess it'sAbby Foster. She's a vice president of
policy and Advocacy for the Retail EnergyAdvancement League. Those of you who are

(15:22):
out there like me and are happywith the ability to choose who you will
you'll get your electricity from, youcan't again deal with the infrastructure. If
you are a customer of one ofthe major suppliers in Massachusetts, part of
your bill will always dealing with infrastructurewill go to that supplier. However,

(15:46):
we were the I guess, thefirst in the nation that came up with
this law back in nineteen eighty seven, and it's been on the books now.
I guess since since early nineteen ninetyeight, and a lot of us
have used this law to keep downthe cost of electricity in our homes,

(16:07):
which is obviously something that costs allof us. Abby Foster represents a retailed
trade organization. Is Massachusetts the oneplace where this fight is occurring or are
you finding that in other certain statesthat they're trying to take consumer choice away
from customers as they are as theyare suggesting they would like to try to

(16:30):
do here in Massachusetts. So oneof the things that we've been working hard
to educate lawmakers and media and thepublic about is kind of refuting this narrative
that coming from a report that isbeing pushed around in different states by a

(16:51):
consultant that looks at cherry pick datato try and demonstrate customers are not ben
fitting from competition and that customers areoverpaying for electricity if they're enrolled with an
energy supplier. Unfortunately, it doesn'tinclude the full story. The data is
really apples to oranges. For example, your utility rate is typically a six

(17:15):
month term and it changes every sixmonths, and supplier contracts. As you
just had energy switch MA dot govup, you probably saw there's contracts ranging
from six months to thirty six months, and so even if you're looking at
just price alone, between those two, one is a long term fixed contract
and one is a utility six monthcontract. So it's kind of like the

(17:37):
difference between a mortgage that's, youknow, a short term variable one compared
to a long term fixed one.The other thing that's not being taken into
consideration in this report is that theutility product is totally different than what the
products are that retailers are offering.For example, retailers offer flat monthly bills,

(17:59):
which allow of customers really like whenthey change their heat pump from oil
to electric, maybe when they geta new electric vehicle, or maybe they
just don't want to have to worryabout a potentially you know, price going
up and down every month with theirelectric bill, and they just want to
know every month, I'm going topay this much money for my electric bill.
Other products include one hundred percent renewableenergy, so more than what the

(18:22):
state requires, and electric vehicle chargingso Clearview Energy one of the ones you
mentioned on the Energy switch m awebsite offers a free charger and special rates
for charging your electric vehicle free nightsand weekends, and none of that is
taken into consideration. So you mightbe paying a flat monthly bill and it

(18:45):
looks like your price per kilo athour is higher than what the utility rate
is on the reports that they do, but it doesn't consider that you have
unlimited energy usage, or that youhad free nights in the weekends for your
electric vehicle, or that you enrolledwith one renewed energy knew it was a
little bit more expensive, but we'rewilling to pay that for the social benefit,
and so none of that is considered. In addition to the fact that

(19:07):
the data is really apple stornges becauseit's not the same great terms for the
amount of time that's compared again inthis article. This op ed piece co
authored by Bust and Mayor Wu andby Attorney General. The Attorney General here
on the common Massachusetts should be inthird party electric suppliers ban, not regulate,
but ban, and the first coupleof paragraphs. The industry has produced

(19:30):
years of financial losses for consumers alongsidepervasive, misleading marketing practices and false claims
of clean green energy. Massachusetts twentysix year experiment with third party electric suppliers
for individual residents has failed that dataare clear. Through aggressive and deceptive marketing
tactics and predatory contracts. So calledcompetitive suppliers have overcharged Massachusetts residents by more

(19:56):
than half a billion dollars since twentyfifteen. Residents of color and those in
low income communities have showed it adisproportion share of these costs. Those are
some pretty strong broad statements that myreaction to would be, I don't know
how you proved that, which Ithink you just made that case. But
also we have the regulators been youknow, it's basically a self indictment of

(20:22):
the political leadership in Massachusetts who havebeen apparently asleep at the switch for the
last seven years. I mean,certainly, consistent enforcement of regulations is key
to any market. I mean,if there were, you know, speed
limits posted on the road, butnobody ever to enforce them, I think
you would start to see significant increaseof feeding on the highways. So yes,

(20:45):
it is very important that when thereare rules and regulations on the book,
they are enforced. And then,as I mentioned before, when you're
looking at Massachusetts compared to other states, there are some market structures that could
definitely be improved around consumer protections aroundsome bonding requirements, which essentially is how
much money a company has to havebasically as an insurance if they're if they're

(21:07):
ever called called to the table froma court perspective, So things that can
be done to ensure that they're thethreshold for operating in the state is higher,
and that consumers are protected. Forthose that are operating in the state.
I'm going to take a break.We have phone calls on the other
side. I'm going to get toall of you. I've got a couple
of open lines six one, seven, two, five, four, ten

(21:29):
thirty. If you have been someonewho has been smart enough to keep your
energy cost lower by making yourself familiarwith energy SWITCHMA dot gov, that would
be great. Uh. If youwant the protections of the government to commit
and protect you, I guess weshould. We should post people at most

(21:51):
grocery stores. Government officials should beposted at grocery stores so that they can
walk up and down the aisles withyou and point out the things that are
on sale and the things that arereally overpriced this week. So we could
have you know, big brother andbig sister there at whatever we do.
This is this is typical Massachusetts.We can't run facilities for for veterans.

(22:15):
We lost people at the Holy Oakand the Chelsea Soldiers Home. They couldn't
regulate those locations. They couldn't protectthe veterans during when when COVID hit,
it's on and on. Massachusetts politiciansoften just focus on a on a on
a place that they feel they canmake some some headway or some headlines.

(22:40):
And this is just it's just selffrustrating. Tomorrow night I will have someone
from the state on and give thema chance to respond here. But this
one, this one has me scratchingmy head, and we'll take phone lines
are full abby. We'll get tophone calls right after the break. Here
on nights, we have news atthe bottom of the hour with Dan Ray,

(23:07):
Boston's News Radio. By the way, if you do go to the
Energy switch m a dot gov website, there's all sorts of questions answered for
you about your electrical service definitions,overvial of your overview of your electric bill.
It really lays it out if youknow, if you're able to to

(23:29):
just take a little bit of timeand read. Let's get to the calls.
We're going to go first to Danand Quincy, Dan, I got
pack lines. We're going to tryto move everybody tonight a little more quickly.
Go out ahead, sir. Okay, Dan, you only a few
minutes, but that's okay. Youpick it up next week. Go ahead
only, go ahead. Well,well, one night you cut me.
You cut me off, and Ihadn't call back. Said, but uh,

(23:55):
anyway, Dan, I had arecent experience, and what I want
to address is the the door todoor marketing. I could sear stories of
people who were because they didn't understandtheir electric bill and who the supplier was
and the provider, you know.But I come home the other night and

(24:21):
I live in a private card dominiumcomplex, but one hundred and eighty units
here, and it was to knockon the door. And we have two
dogs. Okay, do be afavorite dinner. I don't want to catch
you off again, but we've gonea minute and I'm trying to get you
to the point. Go ahead,Yeah, yeah, I remember you promised
me a little time one time,and I never got it. I'll be

(24:42):
real quick, dad. So anyway, this this gentleman knocked on the door.
I don't know how he got in. Now there's clearly signs mocked no
solicitation. I have pictures of mine, going to call him the police.
He's wearing uh, you know,the bright yellow wing vest. He's got

(25:02):
an id dad on. I askedto take a picture of it. Uh,
and he he really would have leftme, gave me his name,
He identified himself as my energy supplier, and he was there to lower up
my rates again. And then whathe asked for was he wouldn't come in
because of the dogs. What heasked for was to take a picture of

(25:26):
the second page of my electric bill. Okay, okay, and some of
the problems. And I noticed fromthe from the past, Like I said,
I could give you a countless storiesand because of the work I do.
What'd you just tell him? Hey, buddy, I'm not interested.
Just close the door, I cried, Dan, I tried. He was
very aggressive and Dan, uh Iwould have reached for my cell phone and

(25:49):
called the police. So Dan,but here here he is. You know
what, I don't know who thisman is. I think come and door
to door. They need to beregulated. I agree with the free market,
okay, in competition, yeah,but someone's got to regulate these these
third party supplies, these other suppliers, and because I don't know who this

(26:14):
man was. Well, we gotthat, Dan, and I think you've
made your point. You've made itwell, but I got full lines and
I'm gonna keep rolling here. Ijust would suggest, in a situation,
you sound to me like a guythat can handle yourself. You sound like
a city guy. I don't thinkyou're a shrinking violet at all or a
wallflower. And I think if yousaid to the guy, hey, I'm
closing the door, either with yourfoot in the door or not, he

(26:37):
would pull his foot out of thedoorway. Okay, like the hot topic.
But you know what, one nightI sat on the flone for forty
five minutes. All I don't I'mnot gonna waste time on that tonight,
Dan, we'll talk again. Thankyou very much. Let's keep rolling here.
Going to go to Kathy in Lunenburg. Kathy, want to get as
many folks in as possible. Goahead, Kathy, Hi, Dan,

(26:59):
Thanks listen. You know municipal aggregationwhen you mentioned competitive supplier, there's one
hundred and sixty seven towns in Massachusetts, and these towns offer a municipal aggregation
for the purchase. The sole purchaseof supply, and there's so many people

(27:19):
that are confused by that, andI just would like to hear from Abby
in terms of you know, theseelectric suppliers versus municipal aggregation, because so
what you're hit it with a question, Kathy, go ahead, you know
the subject, hit it with aquestion, go ahead, Well my question
is this. I mean, myrate with municipal aggregation is very, very

(27:42):
low, and we've been very fortunatein my town to have aggregation for a
number of years that the DPU hassuch a process to get aggregation that,
for example, the needs I don'tknow that Abby's going to be able to
address that. I don't think that'swhat okay, which she's here to talk
about. It's a related question.Do you want to take a swing at

(28:04):
this abbey or or would you prefernot to? Sure, So it's I
think it's important for customers and massachuseetsto be aware of all of their options.
So, as you noted, nota very part of the state has
municipal aggregation yet, but minisual aggregationis a great option for customers who want
to take advantage of competition in aset it and forget it type of way.

(28:26):
Minisful aggregation creates the opportunity for youto pool all of your energy usage
and load with your neighbors so thatyou can negotiate or your town on your
behalf to negotiate the best price possiblefor the time, and usually they lock
it in for a three year ratefor a really long next However, I'm
looking at the rate and municipal aggregationalmost statewide. Even the municipal aggation rates

(28:51):
are beat on the Energy switch mA website right now, and so that's
the benefit of having all the options. Even sometimes minis laggregation can have prices
that are lower than that of buildingand the other benefit of having the supplier
options in addition to minus flaggragation isyou can have plans tailored to your individual

(29:11):
usage, whereas a minus flaggragation it'syou with a large group of all of
your neighbors. You can't really haveyour individual plan based on whether you have
an electric vehicle or whether you liketo run your washing machine during the day
rather than at night. And oneof the cool things that's finally happening in
Massachusetts is advanced metering infrastructure is beingrolled out, which means you'll be abled
from your energy supplier to get planstailored specifically to your usage, so you

(29:34):
can get paid to reduce your loadduring certain times of the day, and
you'll be able to start to beincentivized to and reduce your bill in different
ways that you couldn't before. Andso customers in minus flaggragation can't take advantage
of that. But it's definitely agreat option, and you should definitely look
at all of your options. Andif you have municipal aggregation available for you,

(29:56):
it'll be at the top on energySWITCHMA dot gov underneath your basics service
rate. That way you can seeall three rates, all the options from
the suppliers mean usful aggregation and thenyour your default utility supply rate in one
place right and on people stills thattheir town has aggregation, because some people
don't even pay attention to that,it is reflected right on their bill like

(30:18):
on ours, it says Lunenberg aggregate. So it yelled out pretty clear.
Very lucky Kathy to have it.I know you worked hard up there to
get it, so great job.You were very aware consumer, and I
want everybody to be aware consumers andspend the least amount of money that they
have to which I think this thiswebsite energy switch MA dot CoV. You

(30:41):
probably are better off than the website, but the website does give some choice.
Kathy, I'm up on my break. I gotta let you run.
As always, I appreciate you takingthe time. Thank you, that's so
much. We'll be back with myguest, Abby Foster, she's vice president
Policy and Advocacy at the Retail EnergyAdvancement League. Tomorrow we will have someone
on from the Healthy Administration who willwant to make whatever points they want to

(31:03):
make. Feel free to join usnow and tomorrow, either tomorrow night or
the next night. We've not decidedupon the hours yet. They when I
reached out to today, Abby,they they said that they that they would
have liked to have joined tonight,but I didn't think it was fear since
I had invited you to have asurprise guest. We don't do that here
on Nightside. So they will getthere their chance to talk about it later

(31:26):
later on this week. Back onNightside, more phone calls coming right back.
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston'sNews. Don't want to try to
get everyone in here. Let mego to Ken in Rockland, Ken,
appreciate your patience. Next on Nightsidewith Abby Foster, go ahead, Ken,
thanks very much. I've been onthe energy switch site for at least

(31:48):
five years selecting my supplier. Ithink it's an excellent website, very easy
to understand. I don't know howanyone could have a problem with that.
I'm also on that aggregation here inRockland and we get a low rate of
like ten cents. It's very cheap. I didn't know about it till last
year, but you know, Ifind it very easy. It's very competitive.

(32:10):
The one thing that you have tobe aware of if you sign up
for a seven month plan or aten month plan, two months before the
time period is over, they're goingto send you a letter and say you
need to make a decision to eitherswitch to another supplier or if you don't,
they're going to now give you thenon promotional rate. So you just

(32:30):
have to be aware of that andwatch your mail and make the switch.
I do it every time. It'sa piece of cake. I agree with
you one hundred percent. The politiciansthey're either on the take from National Grid
or they're just typically corrupt, andthat's the only reason they'd want to go.
I think to be realized with.I think what they want to be
able to say is to go intothe too communities and say we protected you,

(32:53):
we did this to look out foryour interest, and everybody applauds like
clapping seals, and they have noidea what they're actually talking about, but
they can go in and they canbasically gaslight people. That's your typical gas
letting. Well, we fought thesebig companies on your behalf. Ladies and
gentlemen, let's have a round ofapplause for me. That's what it comes

(33:15):
down to. I think that's justthe typical lies, and I think it's
just one more reason why tomorrow withthe election, I'm not voting for anybody
with a D next to their name. I'm not going to dissuade you from
that. Thank you, Ken,appreciate you keep calling the show. I
need you more often. Okay,thank you. Okay, let me go

(33:35):
to Andy and freetown Andy. Outon the Cape, Andy or none of
the Cape down in down southeast Massachusetts. Go ahead, Andy. I have
been using that site myself for fiveor six years. I completely agree with
last gentlemen completely. I mean,I you know, I got six months
of college behind me, and Iseem to have no problems that. Well,

(33:55):
again, you're too smart for thepoliticians to gat slight you. But
that's yeah, yeah, exactly,And they write, they write an op
ed peach Michelle wou and Andrea Campbellwrite an op ed piece in the Boston
Globe, and they'll go around andtalk to people who really don't understand what's
going on and say, we workto protect you. That's where use it.

(34:17):
That's where government helps you. Governmenthelps you because we're using this to
try to convince you to vote forus, and we're really we're not saving
you any money, because what weshould do as government is explain to you
how you can save money. Absolutely, And I've been to a meeting with
ever source when they were applying fora rate increase. The state just bends

(34:39):
over every time and gives them everything. You know, and and two thirds
of your bill is the transmission fees. But this this stuff is not hard.
I mean, it says right onit cancelation fee, no cancelation fee.
Ye. And just like the lastgentleman, it is simple to use.
I've been you was in it forfive or six years, and i

(35:01):
if you got half a brain cell, it's no more complicated. I see
people pull it to gasoline stations,and they always go for the highest price,
you know. And if they sayto the gasoline attendant or fill it
up, you know, and thegasoline station send it, what do you
want? I don't just fill itup? What do they think the gas

(35:22):
station to dead is gonna do.They're gonna give them the high test,
whether they need it or not.Okay, well there you go. And
I really do feel that this isthis is the state trying to hoodwinkets.
It's everything just tell us everything stupidto make our own decisions. I think
what they should do is they shouldhave they should have state employees. Let's

(35:43):
hire some more dim witted brothers inlaw to be state employees and they can
be stationed outside of some of themore expensive restaurants and tell people before they
go in, you know, they'regoing to charge yourselventy dollars for a prime
rib state car. You know whatI'm saying. I'm going to McDonald's just
down the street and it will onlycost you five bucks and a big fat

(36:04):
state pension to go along with it. Absolutely positions Andy, thank you much.
My friend talked to you, sir. Good. All right, I
gotta try to get two in realquickly here if I can, Jim and
Quincy Rosen Milton, you'll be next. Go ahead, Jim, Yes,
I reiterate with these other two guys. I've been doing it for the last
five or six years. I've doneend style and I've had ever source,

(36:25):
and it's it's almost so easy toswitch. You do think it's like,
oh, this isn't the right thingto do, but it's so easy to
do. Uh, Like you said, just gonna watch when your your your
your service is up, you reup again. Then your rate will go
up super high. But you justyou pay attention to it, like your
bill comes in the mill. Youknow you've got to change it, and

(36:47):
but you're saving. Like I havea pool, I have the e condition.
It's it's the summertime, Like soonthe summer comes up. Hey,
when am I coming up? Youwant to want to take care of it
right before the summer comes up?Yeah, And the one ones that have
no brain and the ones that haveno cancelation fee. If you check it
every once in a while and yousay, whoa this, I got a
spot here this ten cents and I'mpaying thirteen cents. Welly yesterday is a

(37:10):
lot of these companies. Most ofthem do have no cancelation some have cancelationship.
You could see like, hey,I want to cancel today and there's
no cancelation fee. So it's ano brainer. You got it. You,
You, along with Ken and Andyhave just proven how smart my audience
is. And I thank you.Ah you no problem anytime. Thanks Jim.

(37:32):
Last call Rosen Milton Rose, sayhi to Abby Foster. You got
a question or comment for Abby Rose? Yesh, My questions would be go
ahead. I would like to understandif with what she is advertising, I
can't jump that will allow me tosay goodbye to National Grid and ever sirs.

(37:55):
No, depending upon the town whereyou live. Okay, depending upon
the town where you live, sometimesyou have no choice. You're in Milton.
What's your zip code? Okay?Two one eight six? Okay you
let's say and this is a home. Let me see what we got here

(38:17):
for you? Uh in Milton.I can't tell whether you have ever source
in National Grid, but you probablyhave ever source for electricity and National Grid
for gas. Yes, National goodfor gas and for electricity. Okay,
I do not believe you have achoice in the company that is going to

(38:38):
UH that you're going to pay yourbill to. You do have a choice
in which company you get your electricityfrom. Again, go to this website.
It's called energy Switch m A dotgov uh and you can you can
look at it and I think you'llunderstand it very well. And there is
a town there is in the townof Milton. Canmmunity electricity aggregation. You

(39:02):
can get price as low as tenpoint four cents per killer? What hour?
Ten point four eight cents per killer? What hour? That's a good
rate? Okay? Tell me theenergy energy switch energy switch MA A all
one word energy switch MA dot gov. G ov Okay and that gov.

(39:24):
Yeah, you don't do me afavorite, Rob, give the give Rose
energy switch MA dot gov. Spellit out for okay, Rob, and
give him my phone numbers. Youcan call me tomorrow if you want.
Okay, Thanks Rose, We're flatout of time, Abby. I wish
there were more questions, but Ithink you convinced most of my audience of
your position. And they say,we will get the side of the politicians

(39:45):
a little bit later on, laterthis week, maybe tomorrow. Night at
ten or Wednesday night at nine,Abby, thanks very much for your time
tonight. You you explained it verywell and I really appreciate you taking an
hour at the end a long dayto spend time with my listeners. I'm
happy to and I think Rose's lastcomment just hit the nail on the head

(40:07):
on what's needed in Massachusetts. Customereducation, customer education, customer education state.
Like Pennsylvania, they put out pressreleases when the rates are going to
change, when the utility rates areup to change, they put out social
media graphics. They have a hashtagsave in PA campaign. That's the role
of the State Commission and they're doingthat to educate customers. Even the Attorney

(40:28):
General puts out notices to customers.So that's what's needed in Massachusetts. Customers
need to be informed and educated ontheir options. And if customers want to
advocate against the market closure bills,they can go to TinyURL dot com backslash
save Energy Choice NA tiny it's tinyurl dot gov dot com dot com backslash

(40:52):
save Energy Choice m A. Okay, save energy choice m A. I'll
try to give you a plug onthat as well. We'll have you back
if you'd like, thank you verymuch, Abby. Thanks, talk again
when we come back. On theother side, we're going to go to
a different topic, a topic thatis quite interesting. There will be dual

(41:15):
visits to the southern border by PresidentPresident Biden and former President Trump. We'll
talk about that on the other side.