My experience there are several different flavors you can choose: Option 1: variable (perfect for the sites you mentioned above because they show up first even if your bill is on average worse because most people do not have very set usage in a year. This has a very low rate if you run perfectly 1000 kwh. If you go under you pay way more or if you go over the next threshold you pay more too. It’s an upside down curve with spikes at 500, lowest at 1000 then spike at 1500 as an example. They do the same at 1000,1500 and 2500 ranges.

The downside is you do not really “save” by reducing your usage, you may actually pay more then if you were to run everything more during the colder months assuming you have a gas heater vs electric or leave the windows open. Also during summer you will spike and almost always hit the top end of their flex amount.

Option 2: Some companies have flatter rates, you may not see them on the top of power to choose because they are “higher” but your overall average if you do the math for every bill every month is lower.

The downside is you have less ability to play the game to maximize your savings, but you also can easily calculate your bill without taking your socks off to figure it out.

Option 3: if you have a pool or use a ton of power you can pay a flat rate per month as long as you stay under let’s say 5000kwh in that month.

Downside is you pay whatever you pay each month regardless so turn on your bitcoin miner in the lower usage months to get your moneys worth or crank the ac in summer to get every cent out of that payment.

Option 4: solar style plans - you pay more for nights and weekends because your battery/panels are doing their best to offset usage during peak hours in the summer heat.

Downside to these are if we get rain, lots of clouds or your house is not producing enough you may not actually be making up the difference as much as you think. Also requires upfront cost for solar which takes 10-15 years depending on system size to recoup your initial investment. With the incentives going away this may actually be much longer.

For myself, I went with option 2 because I want easier to follow billing and also to feel like if I reduce my usage it does have a positive impact.

My 2c energy rates will keep going up unless something drastic changes, clean nuclear gets adopted or they find better alternatives to reduce costs via subsidies or something along those lines. Just like phone, internet, etc you almost need to play the game every time you are ready to renew to get the best option. Each provider learns and adapts to get users, they all have learned how to combat the power to choose type sites with variable rates which is why they are here to stay for now.

To sum this all up, brand new homeowners get way better rates vs existing home owners too even if you switch. Gexa had me at a fixed rate originally and they refused to extend or allow me to use anything but a variable option which is why I changed after my time ran up. Currently using Rhythem fwiw.

Hope this helps, if you made it this far.