Electrical Service...Does It Make Sense To Change From NYSEG to AMVIT?

One has to love the concept of free energy, and that is just what AMVIT is offering you a chance at...how does it work you ask?  

A)  Switch your own utilities over to AMVIT.

B)  Become a AMVIT consultant.

C)  Get 15 of your friends, neighbors, family members, business associates, co-workers or renters to sign up under you.

D)  As long as you have 20 customers paying their bill to AMVIT, they will average out those 20 accounts every month and credit your account the average in FREE ENERGY.  (*note...some of AMVIT's online info says you need 15 in your downline, others say 20.)

So imagine 20 people signing up, each of them paying 75 dollars a month in electric usage...that means you are going to get $75 in free energy.  There is MORE...you can actually get paid to sign up new customers, and earn residual income every time someone under you pays their utility bill.  So, if you have been hearing about AMVIT, if you have been approached and encouraged to switch over, maybe what you should do is go visit the AMVIT site, and become a consultant yourself, and start building your own down line, rather than building someone else's.Like most good deals, there is a CATCH...think AMWAY for utility users.

You can explore the opportunity further here.  The Basics of being an affiliate or a consultant...you need MONEY!

Ambit Marketing Consultant - $429 (includes $30 start-up kit)-As a Marketing Consultant (MC), you'll be enrolled as an Independent Consultant for Ambit Energy, with the ability to sign-up customers and recruit Independent Consultants. You'll have access to a range of consultant support services. 

Ambit Affiliate Partner - $99- As an Affiliate Partner, you'll be an Independent Consultant in the Ambit Affiliate Program. This program provides ongoing commissions to the Affiliate based on the number of customers that sign up and pay their energy bill on a monthly basis. Ambit Affiliate Partners cannot recruit Independent Consultants or other Affiliates.

The question, "Is switching from NYSEG to AMVIT or some other retail provider a good idea?"  If you are able to get 15 customers in your down line that pay their bills in a timely fashion, if you are a consultant, then switching probably makes sense.  However, if you are not intending on using AMVIT as a business opportunity, not sure that it would be a wise decision to switch over.  Furthermore, even if you want to switch, choose who you sign up with carefully...you are going to be putting commissions in their pocket for as long as your account is with AMVIT.

As it was explained to me, AMVIT guarantees you a savings of 7 percent a month for the first two months, and then guarantees you a one percent savings after that...on say a $75 a month bill, in the course of one year you save $16.50 which is not a lot of savings.  Where my own concerns would lay...AMVIT owns no infrastructure, is merely packaging and reselling electricity...so, if there is a power outage, you do not contact your electricity provider, you contact NYSEG.  Lets say a AMVIT customer and a NYSEG customer both call in to report power outages...it would seem to me, that NYSEG should or even would take care of their own residential customers first.  IF that is the case, even if no one in either company will admit it, is it worth $16.50 in savings over the course of one year if you find yourself out of power for a day, a week waiting on NYSEG to get to those AMVIT customers left without power after a storm?

That is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves.  If you do decide to switch, my advice...go directly to the site and start your own down line, rather than joining in and giving profit to someone else.  Free Energy is a good thing, and if you, your family and friends can together form a 15 person down line, then go for it.

Why Is NYSEG Employing OUT OF STATE Tree Company To Trim New York Trees?

For several days now I have watched the trees under and around the power lines in our rural area being trimmed as I drove from here to there, visiting various small communities here in Sullivan County taking care of business and chores that needed my attention. Having our trees trimmed to where they are under our power-lines is a good thing, decreases the chance of winter storms taking down lines, leaving us without power. For that service, I thank NYSEG.

The company doing the work for NYSEG came into our small hamlet today, giving me a chance to take a closer look. Their workers were polite, and did good work. When asked if they could shape the one tree by our little water garden area (they were going to be topping some 12 foot off of said tree) they were very cooperative in working with our request. In short, Reese out of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania has done a very good job, and should be commended. That being said, shouldn't our trees here in New York state be trimmed by New York state citizens?

My problem with the tree trimming lays with NYSEG and who they contracted with...their business supplies about 40 percent of upstate New York with power, providing services for almost 900, 000 New York citizens in rural parts of our state. Guessing here that we rural New Yorkers put a lot of dollars into the cash register of NYSEG...yet, they are not keeping that money local, are not hiring OUR CITIZENS to do the work that we could be doing.

Perhaps I am wrong, but feel whenever possible our corporate citizens have a duty to give back, to keep our dollars in our communities. Tree trimming services in and around power lines here in New York should be done by New Yorkers, not by a company out of state that employs out of state workers.

NYSEG needs to think globally, BUT SPEND LOCALLY. Perhaps the problem is NYSEG's parent company, Iberdrola USA which is part of Iberdrola SA out of Spain where almost 70 percent of its customers reside. This international company that owns NYSEG loves to siphon our money up the chain to the parent company, but apparently does not feel it owes any alliance to the citizens and companies here in our area that are generating their income stream.

A call to NYSEG on this question was more than frustrating...first, I spent about three minutes having to push buttons as I worked my way through their automated system before I was placed on hold to wait for a customer service representative. Once on hold, I was briefly informed that the average wait time would be 8-12 minutes. The actual wait time ended up being not 8-12 minutes, but 21 minutes. Add to that time the three minutes it took pushing buttons, and speaking to an actual human being took 24 minutes...maybe NYSEG needs to look at adding more people to its customer service program?...perhaps some of our qualified, yet unemployed citizens?

As to my basic question, "Does NYSEG have a moral and ethical responsibility to give back to the communities they serve by hiring locally?", the company seemed reluctant to address that question directly, instead stating, "We subcontract out our easement work to whoever happens to be available, and there are times when that work does go to out of state contractors." Which begs the question, "How often does this work go to out of state contractors?" Furthermore, as food for thought, are the bidding criteria designed in such a fashion as to make it impossible for smaller local companies to bid? IE...if a local company can handle say doing the line easement for 50 Square miles, but the bidding criteria are 150 square miles, you instantly eliminate small local companies from the bidding process, and from my perspective that is wrong.