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Switching retailers in Alberta.

Alberta lets you choose who sells you electricity and natural gas. The wires, the meter, and the storm crews are not part of that choice. Here is what actually happens when you switch, and what never does.
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Switching retailers in Alberta changes one thing: the company that bills you for the energy you use. Your distribution company keeps the wires, the meter, and the outage line. You sign up with the new retailer, they file the enrolment, and your old retailer sends a final bill. No visit, no downtime, and under Alberta law you have 10 days to change your mind at no cost.

Step by step

Four steps, one of them yours.

  1. Step 01

    Check your current contract for an exit fee.

    Alberta retailers can charge one, and many do on multi-year fixed plans. Find the cancellation clause in your terms and conditions, not the brochure. A surprising number of people are waiting out a fee that does not exist. If there is one, weigh it against what you would save over the rest of the term; often the switch still wins.

  2. Step 02

    Pick a plan and sign up. Minutes, not an afternoon.

    Three steps: choose electricity, gas, or both and whether you want a fixed or variable rate; add your address and contact details; review and confirm. No payment is collected at signup. Residential signups run a soft credit check that does not touch your score.

  3. Step 03

    The new retailer notifies everyone. You do not.

    Your new retailer files the enrolment with the distribution company that owns the wires in your area. That is the switch. The distribution company moves the billing relationship on the start date you chose, and your old retailer is told through the same system. There is no call for you to make.

  4. Step 04

    One final bill, one first bill.

    Your old retailer bills you up to the switch date and closes the account. Your new retailer bills you from the switch date on. Both bills carry the same delivery and rider charges, because those never belonged to the retailer in the first place.

What never changes

Nothing but the name on the bill.

Alberta separated the wires from the energy on purpose. The utility that delivers power is regulated and does not compete. Retailers compete on the energy charge and the admin fee, and that is the whole switch.

  • Your wires
    The poles, wires, and pipes are owned by your distribution company, and they stay put. Switching retailers changes who bills you for the energy, not who delivers it.
  • Your meter
    Nobody visits, nothing is swapped, and you do not need to be home. The same meter reads are sent to the new retailer.
  • Outage response
    In a storm you call the wires company, exactly as before. Retailers do not own trucks.
  • Delivery charges
    Transmission, distribution, riders, and the local access fee are set by the utility and the regulator. They are identical on every retailer's bill, including ours.
The other option

Calling your retailer for a better rate.

It is the most common thing people do after learning they are overpaying. It works, in the sense that most retailers will shave the rate to keep you. It also tells you something: the rate they find in a five-minute call was available the whole time. You were paying the difference until you asked.

The trimmed rate usually comes with the same renewal clause, so the same call is waiting for you next year. Posted rates do not work that way. Ours are the same for the person who phones and the person who never does, and when a FLUX Fixed term ends it continues on our posted variable rate rather than a new fixed term.

Get their best offer, then compare it to a posted rate card. If you have never signed with a retailer at all, you are on the regulated Rate of Last Resort, currently 12.01¢/kWh in most of the province, and the gap to a fixed rate of 6.76¢ is the biggest single saving on the bill.

Questions people ask before switching

Switching, answered straight.

No. Your physical connection to the grid never changes. The only thing that changes is the company that bills you for the energy portion. There is no downtime, no site visit, and no reason to be home.
No. When you sign up with a new retailer, the enrolment is filed with your distribution company, and your current retailer is notified through that process. With FLUX, we handle the notification and the transition. You do not need to call anyone.
Signing up takes minutes. Supply starts on the date your site is enrolled by the distribution company, which is typically within 30 days and depends on the start date you choose. Enrolments received before 4pm Mountain Time on a business day are processed the same day.
Yes. Alberta law gives you the right to cancel a new energy agreement without cost or penalty within 10 days of the retailer receiving your acknowledged agreement, no reason needed. You also have that right if there is already a marketing energy agreement in place for the same site that will not expire before the new one starts. Both are written into FLUX's terms, section 7.2.
Briefly. Your old retailer issues a final bill covering usage up to the switch date, and your new retailer issues its first bill from the switch date on. After that, one bill.
Residential enrolments include a soft credit inquiry, which does not affect your credit score. Deposits, if any, are only requested where there is no credit history, a poor rating, or a previous supply cancelled for non-payment, and residential deposits are capped by regulation.
You can still switch. The question is whether their terms charge an exit fee, and how it compares to what you would save. Read the cancellation clause. If you sign with a new retailer while an existing agreement is still in force, Alberta's cooling-off rules also let you cancel the new one at no cost.
Yes. Any FLUX plan, fixed or variable, can be cancelled with 10 business days' written notice, and there is no exit fee on any plan. That is section 7.1 of our terms and conditions.

FLUX facts on this page come from our Terms and Conditions (sections 5, 7.1, and 7.2). The Rate of Last Resort figure is read from the Utilities Consumer Advocate's regulated-rates page and refreshed daily. Delivery charges are set by your distribution company and the Alberta Utilities Commission, not by any retailer.

Ready when you are

The safe switch.

Sign up in minutes. We tell your old retailer. Ten days to change your mind, no exit fee if you ever leave.

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