In New York City, we’re pretty much beholden to Con Edison for our power supply, but recently Dan got an email offering him 10,000 bonus Amtrak Guest Rewards points for changing his electric company to NRG. This deal looks active for those living in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, or Pennsylvania. You have until August 15th to take advantage of this offer
As Dan has previously reported, there have been some similar offers previously:
- 10,000 American AAdvantage miles
- 12,500 Southwest Rapid Rewards for switching energy providers
- 12,500 American AAdvantage miles
- 10,000 American AAdvantage miles
- 10,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points to switch energy provider
- 12,500 Southwest or 15,000 Amtrak points for switching energy providers
- 10,000 Amtrak points for switching energy providers
The Deal
You can sign up by clicking here, or by calling 1-855-500-8703 and mentioning the offer code ATK-7645-047.
A Warning
I’ve never done something like this before (again, not much we can do here in NYC), but Dan has a pretty good warning for those who plan to do this, which I’m copying below:
I have switched my electric and gas providers around every couple of months for a couple of years now, and I definitely think that it is not for the faint of heart. You REALLY need to be on top of things. Note in the “features” above the part where it talks about the “flexible month-to-month plan”. This is code for “the time where NRG screws you over”. When “your ongoing electric supply price will be variable and can change each month“, that is not a good thing for you.
I usually sign up for 3-6 month fixed rates, taking whichever company offers the lowest price and/or best promotion. Then I set myself a reminder to make sure and update my account when the time frame is up. A month or two on the “variable” plan will quickly eat up any savings you have.
What to do with 10,000 Amtrak points?
If you live in Massachusetts, 10,000 Amtrak points is roughly the cost of two roundtrip tickets between Boston and New York City, which is a pretty good deal in my opinion, as Amtrak points are worth up 2.7 cents per point. Participating in this promotion could save you $270 in Amtrak ticket costs!
For example, a roundtrip in October priced out at $127.00 or 5,382 points, which is ~2.4 cents per point. If you have an Amtrak credit card, the cost is actually only 5,113 points, which means you’re getting ~2.5 cents per point in value.
What about you? Have you ever swapped your gas or electric providers for a promotion? What was your experience like? Is this an intriguing offer? Let us know in the comments.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
We signed up for the NRG promotion back when they were offering 20,000 (I think) AA miles, which was nice. But you’re not kidding about the “stay on top of it” factor — that first month when our bill nearly doubled, I thought my husband was going to have a stroke :-/
Fortunately, he got on the phone to them ASAP and renegotiated a deal that restored our original deal, at a fixed rate for the next year. And you better believe I have an alert on my calendar for this time next year, just to make sure they don’t sneak in another rate hike! 😀
I have an alert in my calendar to check my electric rate on the first of every month because I switch my electric supplier all the time.
Sam, are you certain you can’t change suppliers? I’m in Pittsburgh, but lived in CT until a couple of years ago and have changed suppliers for years. The electric still comes through the public utility, no matter who your supplier is.