It was pretty hard for me to find Zach and get him to help me move. He is big on other people doing him favors, but not so big on the other way around. I had to get mad at him and tell him I was going to steal his truck if he did not come along peacefully. I am living at a place called scott mountain now. It is a pet friendly place, which is good if you have a dog and I might get one if I feel like I can take care of it. For now I am just not going to have enough time and I am not really making much extra money. I have definite priorities, first off I want to get rid of the money that I owe on my Portland State student loans. Of course I have to take care of stuff like the car insurance, the rent and the groceries. Of course I have a girlfriend too and she is still in college for another year at the least. So she costs me a bit of money, but not anything that is incredible or past what you would expect. I do have a pretty good job and I picked this apartment because it is within about a mile and a half of the office. In fact it is like less than a mile if I hoofed it through this little patch of woods, because it is sort of a fish hook shaped route that I take to work and if there was a back exit I would be there in a minute. In that regard it is precisely what I wanted, because my old place was a long commute away and almost exactly on the opposite side of the city from this job. Read more [...]

Electric companies in Texas make up one of the most successful competitive, commercial energy markets in the United States. Texas has over 40 Retail Electric Providers with more providers entering the market everyday. Only the smart and financially savy companies stay around for any length of time. Spark Energy would be a success story of a new electric company working their way to the top. When Texas energy suppliers compete in Texas they all have to start with their Risk Management strategy. This is the strategy the energy traders use at the trading desk. A big part of what energy traders do is buy off the Natural Gas futures market. They then hedge that energy as insurance against a large increase in price.

A few electricity providers offer some alternative ways for low or no credit. Texas energy consumers to have their electric service turned on without having to fork over the equivalent of 1 months rent for many of these Texas electricity customers. You will hear three different options when it comes to low or no deposit electric service. These options are post paid, no deposit guaranteed, and prepaid electricity service. The post paid energy service is what most people have. You simply are billed for the electricity service you used the previous month and you pay that amount. The problem is if you have bad credit most electricity companies in Texas are going to want a deposit.

The interesting thing is they often have their hands tied as to be able to price below a competitive electricity price because their policy does not allow them to go below a certain price. This is a questionable call but as long as the electric company has a strong brand name they will be carried by their brand name during the times they are not as competitive as the next provider.

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