Another day, another commercial touting a new electricity plan gimmick. This time it’s Reliant’s “Speak & Save 24” plan, which includes a Nest Thermostat E and a Google Home smart speaker. Both of these devices are great, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Let’s compare how much you’ll pay for this Reliant plan versus low-cost competitors for three different-sized homes:
| 2-Year Electricity Costs (DFW/Oncor area) * | |||
| Avg monthly usage (kWh) | |||
| 500 | 1000 | 2000 | |
| Reliant “Speak & Save 24 plan” | $1,320 | $2,554 | $5,026 |
| Low-cost competitor 24-month plan | $1,016 | $1,836 | $3,786 |
| Difference | $304 | $718 | $1,240 |
Any way we look at it, “Speak & Save 24” is overpriced. Dallas customers who wait “up to 8 weeks for delivery” and pay an extra $304 to $1,240 (or more) for electricity get two devices that retail for only $298. Houstonians get dinged for another ~$140. And breaking the 24-month contract costs $295.
Not to slight the devices themselves. If you don’t have a programmable thermostat, you should buy one ASAP for the obvious energy and cost savings. Air-conditioners and electric heaters are notorious power hogs, so the less you can run them each day, the better. The Nest and Google Assistant — using Home or your smartphone — make it easy with simple, voice-based controls. And to Reliant’s credit, they’re the first retailer to offer Assistant-based account management, whether or not you sign up for this plan.
Just don’t let fancy gadgets blind you to budget-busting electric rates. In this case, there are much cheaper options from other retailers and even Reliant itself. To find the best plan for your home, click below and let our RateGrinder tool do the hard work for you.
* Notes: Calculations are based on the plan EFLs posted on Reliant.com and competitor sites as of 1/31/2018, and assume the 2016 average Texas monthly residential load profile from EIA scaled linearly to each target monthly usage. Cost projections exclude taxes and non-recurring fees.
Prior to January, Reliant offered a 12-month version of this plan with the Nest E and Google Home Mini. The current offering is 24 months and includes the standard Google Home.
As a reminder, Direct Energy’s “average rate” claim already assumes 31% of your usage occurs within the “free” period. So unless your electricity usage is extremely weekend-centric, don’t expect you’ll make up the difference. See the previous review for more on why “free weekends” plans generally aren’t a great deal.