Q: Can I save any significant amount of money with a broker??

A: Indeed you will Energy isn't easy any more. A lot of people are completely unaware that they've have made less than optimal choices. We'll give you some examples.

Q: Can I negotiate prices on my own?

A: You can. But you won't beat our best deal. We hear this all the time: "I'll just get three quotes and go with the best one." A lot of people have used that strategy to successfully negotiate a very, very bad price. There are several reasons why:

They didn't know what to ask for. There are many different plans available, and it's vital to pick the plan that works best for your energy use profile. Get this wrong, and no price is the right price.

Energy bids aren't like bidding on E-Bay. Each provider has their own rules and requirements. It's a lot of work...more so if you don't know the industry. A lot of learning is involved if you don't have the experience. Get it wrong and you won't get a bid back, which is time wasted. Get the timing wrong and your bids won't come back at the same time. Auditing and coordinating bids takes the work of several trained staff with years of experience...and our staff is very good at what they do. Many people who don't use New Breed end up giving up after the first or second offer.

We bring thousands of customers to the table. Providers work harder for us because they want to stay in our competitive pool. You're just one customer.

This is all we do. We've got the time to play providers off each other and grind them down. You've got a different business to run.

We know what we're being offered, and which "best deal" really is the best. You'll never see an apples-to-apples comparison, so you need to know how to compare an apple to an orange.

Q: Why does it take so much work to get a better price?

A: Because that's how competitive markets work. Energy is very much like the "Priceline" model you've seen for hotel rooms and airline flights. The energy market is a lot like the hospitality and airline industries. Highly competitive. Fairly low margins. Everyone wants as many customers as possible, and at the same time everyone wants to make as much money as they can off of each customer. They'll take as much as they can get right up to the point that they'll take what they can get.

They start at a rate that makes what is, for them, a reasonable profit. Then they put up a wall to discourage you from trying to get a better deal. Most people settle, because it's not worth the time and effort, and because they don't know what to do next.

But for Energy Hawk Services LLC, that's where we go to work. If they have to, providers will trim margins down to the bone to keep a customer from going somewhere else. To make this happen, you've got to know how to make them trim. You've got to know who's willing to bid aggressively for new customers. You've got to know where the markets are going, so you know when is the optimal time to send contracts out for bids. These are all things we know.

Q: If the provider pays you, how do I know you're working for me, not them?

A: YOU are our customer. The final deal is the same whether our fee is considered to come from the provider or as part of a "shared savings" plan with you. Many of our customers choose the latter approach for accounting reasons. It's all the same to us...and more importantly, all the same to you. Just numbers on a page.

In the end, the proof is in the savings. If we don't keep getting people better deals than they can get on their own, they won't come back. The providers may end up footing the bill, but they don't need us. It's the customers looking to save who need us. The fact that providers pay for the privilege of giving you a great deal just makes the savings that much sweeter.

Q: Why would the provider want to pay you?

A: Because we bring them new customers. Yes, their margins are really, really low for customers they get through EHS. But they still make some profit, and they don't have to spend any money on advertising or marketing, so it works out for everyone. We're big fans of win-win scenarios.

Q: What is the risk to me?

A: It costs you nothing to start. If we send you out to bid and you don't like any of the deals we can offer you, you are under no obligation.

Q: What's the "at worst" risk?

A: Every energy plan is, to some extent, a gamble. Remember, energy is a commodity now. It's traded on an open market, like stocks, options and pork bellies. And it's a highly volatile market.

Your energy plan will be based on either a "locked in" price, which avoids market fluctuation, or a "market based" price which rises with the highs and dips with the lows. It might be locked, variable, or a hybrid of the two with all sorts of hedges and options which we can teach you.

In a volatile market, every choice involves a certain amount of risk on your part. "Locked" prices make you look like a genius when prices go up...less so if they move lower. Variable prices go with the flow, and can make for a wild ride. We can't prevent this risk, but we can explain it to you, and help you make the informed choice that will allow you to sleep easy at night.

You probably weren't aware of these risks before. That's because you weren't aware that you had the opportunity to save before. Ignorance, in this case, is NOT bliss.

Q: What if something happens to my new provider?

A: The worst that can happen is you end up back where you started. In the early days of deregulation, providers did sometimes go out of business. Their customers were picked up by the local utility's "provider of choice," usually at the same price they were paying before they came to us. Then we started again to find them a new, better deal.

We thoroughly assess providers before we add them to our pool of bidders, so this has not been an issue to New Breed customers in quite a while. We don't work with providers we don't trust. We're choosy.

Q: Could I ever lose service?

A: No. That simply doesn't happen. The utilities are required to keep delivering energy to you as long as you're able to pay a bill. It's simply a question of who is billing you.

Q: Who IS billing me if I choose a different provider?

A: You might have one bill; you might have two. The utility still takes care of delivering your energy, and will continue to bill you. Your provider might send you a separate bill, or might bill you through the utility. Separate billing doesn't affect your price in any way.

Deregulation split your energy into two components: the energy itself, which has multiple providers, and the delivery, which the utilities still control. The utility serves everyone, regardless of provider.

By the way, no matter who your provider is, the price you pay to the utility for delivery is always the same. We get you your savings on the energy itself. Mixing energy prices with utility prices under an arcane set of fees, tariffs and charges is one of the ways providers disguise their "true" price.

Q: Will I notice any difference in service?

A: No. We assist you through all the necessary paperwork so the bills come from the right place. The energy never stops flowing.

Q: Why do you audit my bills? Do utilities and providers make mistakes?

A: All the time. But not when we double-check. For some customers, this has resulted in substantial savings. Think YOU can spot the mistakes in an energy bill?

Q: Once I'm with a new provider, do I stay with them?

A: If they keep offering the best deal. Energy contracts are generally 1-3 years, although in the current economy 2 years is the maximum most providers will offer. When the time comes to renew your contract, we send it out to bid again. Best deal always wins. We don't play favorites with any of our providers.

Q: How hard is it to get started?

A: Easy and painless. All we need are a few basic facts and a few old bills. The more old bills you can find, the better we can assess your energy needs. We can send an agent for a face-to-face or do everything through phone calls and e-mail.

You'll need to sign an LOA (Letter Of Authorization), which enables us to bid on your behalf. The LOA is not a contract and does not oblige you to do anything. It merely authorizes us to act as your agent.

Providers will run a credit check before they make an offer to you...this would be the case whether or not you go through EHS. As you know, credit is very tight in the United States under the current economy. NOW would be a very good time to make sure you have the necessary records and information. Call us and we'll explain what you need to do to have that information ready.

Q: What do I have to do after I give you my information?

A: Be ready to make a decision...quickly. Be aware: the energy market is highly volatile and the energy industry moves fast. Offers, particularly good ones, don't stay on the table for very long. So you need to be ready to react fast. All it takes is a "yes" and a signature.