Border Energy Border is a regional natural gas supplier for IN, OH, and Michigan in future. They claim to help you save big on winter gas cost. However, I saw no significant savings. Plus, the email is bogus. Powell, Ohio

@Hammond Indiana author,

Let me begin by saying that I am a Border Energy Employee, you may take that as a disclaimer, but please know that I write you genuinely and on behalf of the company...

First, a bit of clarification about choice - and I can speak from your shoes as it was unclear to me "how it all worked" when I started with Border. 

We are a third party natural gas (and now electricity) supplier.  That means the underlying commodity of gas or electric you need for your home or business is purchased and distributed by us and delivered to your local utility company.  Your local utility company then is responsible for bringing the commodity the last leg of the journey to your home or business, servicing the lines, conducting billing, and servicing outages.  Our role in the process is to manage price risk associated with the commodities.  The utility's role in the process is to ensure reliable delivery of the commodity to your home or business and to bill you for how much of that commodity you use.  

There could have been a number of factors at play that caused "no significant reduction in your bill", for example, your usage could have been higher than in the past.  An example of this would be that you paid the year prior for the same period .80 per therm and consumed 100 therms totaling a bill (before taxes and utility charges) of $80, and the year following with us you may have paid .75 per therm and consumed 120 therms totaling $90 (again before taxes and utility charges).  winter of 2008-2009 was a cold winter so this is possible, but it is impossible to know what happened without a little more information.  

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the choice programs and/or third party suppliers is the concept of price protection.  Customers who sign up with us are protected from commodity price fluctuations.  Like changes in the stock market, natural gas trades daily on the NYMEX and the price paid for natural gas can vary widely.  Customers of most utilities are often by default a "variable price" customer, meaning whatever natural gas trades on the NYMEX is simply passed along to the customer, whether prices go up or down.  That means as a variable customer, your price for natural gas could range anywhere from .30 cents per therm to $1 or more if there are forces that drive the market higher.  Purchasing your gas in advance is a "hedge" against that price risk - we will guarantee we will deliver you the gas at the agreed upon rate for a given period.  If prices run up on the NYMEX you are protected.  It is important to know what product you are purchasing, some third party suppliers only offer these fixed prices, others offer variable prices, there are many pricing structures utilized so it isnt the easiest to understand either.  Our approach is somewhat unique in that we strive to offer variable pricing during the summer and fixed pricing during the winter in one package giving you the benefit of price protection for the winter months when your usage is typically the highest. 

Secondly, and perhaps more important, I empathize with your concerns regarding the legitimacy of our business.  At the time of the original posting dated 9/14/2009 we were still in our infancy as a company marketing dollars were scarce and our website was outsourced to another local company.  We have made great strides to improve the accuracy and appearance of our website, but unfortunately, as you and others experienced, our website and phone difficulties made us difficult to reach - for that we sincerely apologize. 

Our website is currently undergoing its 3rd iteration I write this response.  We are better prepared this go around, have more eyes viewing it, and have more people touching and testing it to ensure its validity, but we are still not immune to the occasional technical difficulties.  

Our customer service representatives are available from 8am-5pm Monday through Friday.  Outside of that, or if they are flooded with call volume, our phone number rolls to a voicemail box where messages are listened to and calls are returned within 1-2 business days.  We apologize for the inconvenience in trying to reach us; we pride ourselves on having some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable customer service representatives in the business.

Lastly, I can assure you as an employee of Border that we are a legitimate business and as a company we are active within our community and strongly support local charities here in our hometown of Columbus, OH.  I am proud to be an employee of Border and we would welcome the opportunity to earn your business again. 

Best wishes