Why Electric Power Contracts Need to be Read Carefully And Negotiated Carefully OR-Will Somebody Please Tell Me What I've Signed?

Abstract

A cons u ltan t often hear s questions such as these:
• "Wo uld yo u look at our pow er contract and tell me wh at we hav e
sig ne d?"
• "I don 't know wh at this power contract m ean s. The guy wh o was
here befor e m e signed it. Wh at' s it all ab out ?"
• "O ur local util ity w ant s to give us a lo wer rat e if we w ill sig n a new
5-year power contrac t. Sho uld I do it?"
M any lar ge users of power have ass ume d for yea rs th at bec au se the
frie nd ly mark eting r epr esentative from the Do wn Hom e Pow er Com-
pa ny came by wi th a power con tract it was okay to sign the docu men t.
After all, who wo uld one bu y electric power from othe r tha n Do wn
Hom e Power ? It was lI ever true that one sho uld sim p ly sig n the po we r
con trac t bec au se Do wn Hom e's nam e was printed boldly across the top
of page one . It cer tainly is 1I 0t true today th at a power contrac t sho uld be
sig ne d sim p ly becau se the power com pany m ark et ing rep res ent at ive
places it on yo ur d esk.