Q: What do you think of the 10 percent discount on electric service that Dominion Peoples Plus is offering? Are there pros and cons? Are there other savings offerings available that we may not be aware of? We are a Penn Power customer at the present time and as you know, the electric rates have increased dramatically.

GERI ANGELETTI
Cranberry

A: It sounds like a good deal to me, Geri. Electric Choice is simple. It is nothing like gas choice. You can take advantage of a savings that is easy to understand and easy to follow.

Here's the deal right now for Penn Power customers:

Dominion Peoples Plus is offering a 10 percent savings on the generation part of Penn Power electric bills, provided you are a standard residential customers. Take note here. The savings is only on the generation portion of your bill, not the entire bill. You won't save big money here, but a Dominion Peoples Plus representative estimated the average consumer would save $8 to 10 a month. The offer is good through May 2008.

First Energy is offering customers of Penn Power the same deal. First Energy is related to Penn Power, just as Dominion Peoples Plus is related to Dominion Peoples Gas. The only difference between the two offers I can find is that First Energy charges a cancellation fee if you decide to terminate the contract before May 2008. Dominion Peoples Plus does not charge a cancellation fee to customers who change their mind.

I am not a fan of cancellation fees because I think it takes the choice out of the choice programs, but in this case, I can't imagine why you would want to cancel. The 10 percent discount is not tied to a specific number, it is tied to the generation charge as stated on the bill, whatever it is, so why cancel?

The only caution about signing up for electric savings now is that you have to be a careful consumer down the road. If you sign up for savings now, you have to watch for changes in your agreement next May. If you receive a letter from the company you choose, read it. Other than keeping watch over your account, it's a quick and easy way to save a few dollars this year. I'd say go for it.

Dominion Peoples Plus used to offer Duquesne Light customers a 3 percent discount off the generation portion of the bill. Over the years, that offer has changed. Currently residential customers who have stayed with Dominion Peoples Plus are saving a much smaller amount. It is certainly not worth switching to Dominion Peoples Plus for this tiny savings, but for those who signed up, it's worth keeping.

Follow-up to Verizon customers

So many of you called to complain about the $5 switching fee Verizon charged when you called to cancel its long-distance plan. You wanted to cancel because Verizon started charging a $2 monthly fee for a plan that used to have no monthly fee.

Some of you said Verizon customer representatives told you that this was a federal charge and that Verizon had no choice but to charge this fee. That is not true. The government says Verizon is allowed to charge a "switching" fee, but does not have to charge a fee at all.

How can Verizon charge a fee to drop a plan that is no longer the same plan you signed up for? That doesn't seem fair, does it? If you are dropping a long-distance plan to avoid a $2 fee, chances are you don't have extra dollars to throw around.

"Customers were given a 60-day notice of the changes to the terms of the contract of this particular long-distance plan," said Verizon's Lee Gierczynski. "If a customer called to cancel the plan within those 60 days, there was no charge."

For customers who didn't realize there was going to be a fee until that fee appeared on the bill, the standard switching charge of $5 applied. Again, it comes down to reading the information our companies send us. The problem is there is so much advertising for new products and services, we often miss the important stuff.