A recent My Turn op-ed entitled “Why pay more for electricity?” suggests that certain groups of consumers are being victimized by alternative electric supply providers. The article quotes an individual from the attorney general’s office as saying “There are no good apples.… There is no supplier who is able to consistently provide their customers with lower-priced electricity rates.”

It seems ridiculous to suggest that all of the alternative providers are bad apples and that consistently lower rates is the standard by which a provider and industry should be measured.

It’s like buying hamburger. Prices change from time to time and store to store.

We have changed suppliers 12 times since 2007 because we use about 17,000 kWh per year so each penny in the supply rate means $170 — and we have saved money each time.

There are two websites that show current local power company supply costs and effective time periods as well as a number of alternative suppliers with their costs and terms. The sites are: https://bit.ly/3BObCg2 and https://bit.ly/3h6IlVG.

Also, the statement that “In fact, since 1997, customers have paid $426 million more for their electricity, than if they had stuck with their local power company” is made without substantiating data or references. Really? If the allegation is true, we must know why. Is it because alternative suppliers are so crafty and greedy? Or is it an educational weakness that has not taught people or provided instruction on how to evaluate the economic benefit of alternatives?

And then there is reference to losses cited by the attorney general’s office that “the annual consumer loss for low-income participants is $241, which is 24 percent higher than the annual consumer loss of $194 for non-low-income participants.” It’s not about income. It’s about figuring whether a deal is good or not and the energyswitchma.gov site is a good place to start.

Go sock it to the bad actors and build a system that people can use to understand the inputs and nature of price fluctuations and properly evaluate the economic benefits of an alternative deal. Don’t trash the system, improve it.

Robert W. MacDonald lives in Athol.