Four students, perhaps much like ones that you know, decided to move into an apartment together. The week before they decided to move in, they realized they needed to turn on electricity at their apartment.
“How are we supposed to turn everything on?” they asked out loud, all together.
Suddenly a small white rabbit appeared. “It’s easy!” he said. “You can turn on all your utilities with a single flip of the Golden Switch.”
“The Golden Switch?” only one student asked this time.
“See that rainbow?” asked the rabbit. “At the end of the rainbow, there’s a Golden Switch to turn on all your utilities. It’ll only take about five minutes to get there.”
To celebrate this wonderful news, our four friends played video games and slept in the whole week. On their move in day, they followed the rainbow to find the Golden Switch to turn on electricity before they moved in.
In about five minutes, they had reached the end. To their surprise, they found only a solitary leprechaun, sitting on a barrel of cod.
“Ye’re looking for the Golden Switch, aye?” the leprechaun grumbled.
The four students nodded in assent. “We need our electricity on today! We’re moving in.”
The leprechaun squinted. “There is no Golden Switch, laddies. It takes a week to turn on your electricity.”
“A week!” they cried. “We need it today!”
“Then you’ll need a priority move-in. There’s an extra fee for that. That will get your power turned on in 1-2 days.”
“But how do we turn on utilities today?” the students asked.
“Sign up a week ago.” said the leprechaun.
“But the rabbit told us there was a Golden Switch!”
The leprechaun puffed on his pipe a bit. “Have ye ever taken advice from a rabbit before?”
It was a good point. The students learned that day that if they don’t sign up to start electricity at least three days in advance, their electricity won’t start on time. They also learned that to get electricity turned on without a priority move-in fee, they have to sign up at least a week in advance.
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Now for a more detailed explanation from the BearBills Team
When you sign up with BearBills, we send in your electricity order right away to our REP (that stands for "Retail Electric Provider"). The REP is the one who sells electricity to consumers--companies like TXU, Reliant, StarTex, etc. REPs do not, however, actually turn on the electricity. When they get an order from us, they in turn send in an order to Oncor, the company in charge of electricity for the area including Waco.
Oncor will send out their technicians with a list of addresses to turn on or off. These are the guys that actually turn the power on for you. Once the power is on, the REPs will start billing the residents for the power usage. Oncor is also the company who reads your meter each month. They send in those readings to the REPs, who then charge you for the power you used. Oncor also maintains the power lines. Incidentally, part of your electric bills are fees to Oncor for the work they provide.
Surprisingly, this is all an extremely efficient process. It seems like a lot of steps, but considering these companies are turning on power for thousands of people on time is pretty impressive.
The normal time for having power turned on is 3-5 business days, so it really comes out to a week, all in all. You can also issue what's called a "priority move-in," or "PMVI," to have your power on in 24-48 hours (for an extra fee). Oncor's technicians don't work weekends, holidays, or during extreme weather, so those days need to be taken into account also. Technicians are people too--it's good they get time off.
There's definitely a lot of different players involved in electricity service. You can rest assured knowing that if you sign up with BearBills, we'll help you get power taken care of without any confusion. It's good to know the process, though, to be able to appreciate the service Oncor and the REPs provide to all of us BearBillers! Next time you see a power worker, or a meter reader, be sure to thank them for their hard work. Without them, you'd be powerless.
Brad Norcross
Director of Marketing
BearBills
