Eric Murray wrote:
> Electric and piped gas are
> always monopolies so theres no shopping around.
That's not actually true everywhere.
Here in Ontario, Canada, we have the fair access laws, so although
the piping is all owned by the same company, you can buy your gas from a
few companies. In return, they pay a government-set fee to the company
that owns the distribution network.
It's kind of like being able to choose your long distance company,
even though Bell owns all the lines.
The kind-of-sad news though is that a large percentage of the
alternative companies are a little shady. They market door to door and
are known to do things like asking to see your gas bill to "calculate
your possible savings", but really they take down your account number
and file your switchover paperwork without your consent.
But oh well... gas is obviously important here because winter heating
bills can get large. ($450+ for the coldest months even for my modern
well-insulated house, it can get a lot higher in older draftier places)
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