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Power by the Hour ®In an effort to avoid much of the "risk premium" embedded in forward pricing, SilentSherpa's Power by the Hour program provides the cost-conscious consumer with direct access to the "Real Time" or "Day Ahead" wholesale power markets via a power contract with a state-registered energy marketing firm. The energy marketer manages all of the financial and operational requirements of the hourly wholesale transactions for you, billing you a single rate for power supply at month’s end. The monthly rate is indicative of the weighted average of your hourly power usage assessed at the 700+ hourly rates published by the ISO-NE for the given month.
 4/19/2012 - 5/19/2012 
What does it cost to participate in Power by the Hour®?In addition to the variable cost of power and associated ancillary services, your $/kWh price includes a service fee to cover the costs associated with contract administration, billing, and ongoing management of the contract. On average, the service fee equates to 1-2% of your total billed delivered cost (i.e. Generation, Transmission and Distribution).
How to participate in Power by the Hour®...To participate, simply fax us a complete copy of your most recent electric utility bill(s) to 401-868-4266. Please include a cover sheet with the appropriate company contact information (i.e. name, title, address, phone, fax and email). Upon receipt and review of your information (i.e. utility, rate classification), we will contact you with the appropriate contract proposal from our recommended energy marketing firm. Your inquiry does not obligate you or your organization to accept any contract offers.
For more information, please contact James M. Grasso at 401-284-4534 or via email at jgrasso@silentsherpa.com.
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Wholesale Energy 101StructureWholesale electricity prices are cleared through the Independent System Operator of New England [ISO-NE] on an hourly basis, by regions referred to as "Load Zones". Each state in New England represents a Load Zone, with the exception of MA which includes three Load Zones indicative of the Northeast, Southeast, and Western-central portions of the state.
PricingThe regional hourly price is referred to as a Locational-based Marginal Price or "LMP", as the cost of each hourly LMP is determined by the "marginal" cost of output by the power generators in the respective Load Zone. The LMP can be purchased on either a "Real-Time" basis [RT] or "Day-Ahead" basis [DA], each option resulting in different hourly values for power.
As a retail consumer, there are three components to your billed hourly cost of supply service:
Some Simple FactsIt doesn't pay to guess... Over a 5+ year period, most consumers who purchase their own supply contracts do not average a price that is less expensive than their alternative utility rate. Any savings made in one or two years is typically given back to the market over time due to lack of market expertise, strategy and poor timing.
When purchasing a fixed-forward rate contract, you have the following probability of locking into the best rate for the contract term:
1 Year Contract = 1/365 Chance
2 Year Contract = 1/730 Chance 3 Year Contract = 1/1095 Chance 4 Year Contract = 1/1460 Chance 5 Year Contract = 1/1825 Chance These three components are calculated for each hour of the month, averaged out to one weighted average price for the month, and then billed to you at month end by a competitive power marketer. As a rule of thumb, the cost of line loss and ancillary/administrative services equates to roughly $.01/kWh for the average commercial consumer. Hence, if the hourly LMP eqals $.060/kWh...your billed cost for supply service will equal roughly $.060/kWh + $.01/kWh = $.070/kWh.
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