What can go wrong when you switch electric providers
Short answer. Most failed switches fail before the meter read. People enroll the wrong utility territory, accept a teaser as if it were the term price, miss the rescission window, or stop paying the utility. The companion guide explains the normal timeline. This one is the checklist of mistakes so the two pages are not the same article.
The mistakes
Enrolling with a ZIP that maps to a different delivery utility than the name on your bill. Comparing only the first-month price. Ignoring a monthly fee because the cents looked low. Starting a switch while an early termination fee on the old contract is larger than the savings. Assuming the lights move to the new company and calling them for an outage.
Another failure is paperwork. If the utility rejects the switch for arrears or for a name that does not match the account, nothing happens, and you may think you are on a new rate while you are still on the old one. Wait for the utility’s confirmation of the start date.
After a bad switch
If you did not authorize it, use the slamming page. If you authorized it and you are inside the cooling-off window, use the rescission page. If the window is closed, you are in the contract you signed, including its fee to leave. A comparison site cannot void it.
Keep paying undisputed delivery charges while you dispute supply.
Questions people ask
What is the normal path?
Account in your name, correct utility, licensed offer, utility confirmation, start on a meter read. That path is written out on the how-to-switch page.
I see two supply charges. What now?
Call the delivery utility with both bills. Overlapping supply for the same dates is a billing error to correct, not a feature.
The rate is not what I was told.
Compare the contract and the disclosure with the script you remember. If they differ, complain to the supplier and the state commission with the documents.
Use the bill, not a stale screenshot
What can go wrong when you switch electric providers comes down to documents you can keep: the utility name on the bill, the supply price or default price, the kWh or demand that drove the charges, and the term and fees in any contract. National average prices from the Energy Information Administration are context. For 2024, EIA put average residential use at 865 kWh a month and the average residential price at 16.5 cents per kWh. For June 2026, EIA reported 18.34 cents per kWh of residential revenue. Those figures mix supply and delivery for the whole country. They are not a price to compare, and they are not an offer in this territory.
If a salesperson’s number and the bill disagree, keep the bill. Shop Energy Prices does not rank suppliers and does not publish a live rate table. Re-check the official shopping site or the utility tariff on the day you enroll, because offers and default prices change.
Going further on What can go wrong when you switch electric providers
What can go wrong when you switch electric providers is a local shopping problem only if the account is in a retail-choice territory and the account is in your name. The utility printed on the bill is the fact. The city name is a hint.
Where choice exists, you shop supply. Delivery, outages, and the meter stay with the utility. A supplier that does not name that utility is showing you the wrong product.
The benchmark is the price to compare, basic service, standard offer, or standard-offer service for that utility, not the national average. EIA’s 16.5 cents per kWh for 2024 and 18.34 cents of residential revenue per kWh in June 2026 mix supply and delivery for the whole country.
Offers change. This site does not rank companies and does not post a live table. On the day you enroll, read the contract term, the monthly fee, and the early termination fee at your own kilowatt-hours.
An illustration only: moving from 8 cents to 7 cents on 480 kilowatt-hours is 5 dollars before fees. A monthly fee or an early termination fee can erase it. Delivery does not disappear.
Addresses on the edge of a town, and addresses served by a municipal utility or a cooperative, often cannot use the investor-owned shopping site. If the bill and this page disagree, follow the bill.
What to verify before you act
Write down the utility name, the account name, the supply price or default price, and a typical month of use. What can go wrong when you switch electric providers does not change those four facts. If a contractor, a supplier, or a city page disagrees with the bill, the bill wins. Shop Energy Prices does not sell electricity and does not keep a live rate table.
Use one official source for the benchmark: the price to compare or default service on the bill, the state shopping site if your state publishes one, or the commission docket that sets the default. EIA’s national averages are context for scale. They are the wrong number to beat.
Keep the contract PDF. Circle the term, the fee to leave, the renewal rule, and any pass-through that is not fixed. A verbal match to a competitor is not the product. If you are inside a cancellation window, follow the written notice method the same day and keep a copy.
Re-read the contract or tariff section that mentions What can go wrong when you switch electric providers and copy the defined term into your notes. If the defined term does not match the way a salesperson used the words, the defined term controls. Ask the supplier or the utility, in writing, which line on the next bill will change and which lines will not.
Re-read the contract or tariff section that mentions What can go wrong when you switch electric providers and copy the defined term into your notes. If the defined term does not match the way a salesperson used the words, the defined term controls. Ask the supplier or the utility, in writing, which line on the next bill will change and which lines will not.
Re-read the contract or tariff section that mentions What can go wrong when you switch electric providers and copy the defined term into your notes. If the defined term does not match the way a salesperson used the words, the defined term controls. Ask the supplier or the utility, in writing, which line on the next bill will change and which lines will not.
A worksheet for What can go wrong when you switch electric providers
Write the utility, the rate class, the current supply or default price, the end date, and a recent month of kilowatt-hours. Beside them write the alternative and every fee. What can go wrong when you switch electric providers is finished only when those two columns can be subtracted. If you cannot name the fee to leave, you do not yet have a decision.
Ask, in writing, which bill lines change and which stay. Delivery, franchise fees, and gross-receipts taxes usually stay. Supply, a voluntary green attribute, or an equipment runtime can change. A seller who will not point at the line is not ready for your signature.