Block and Index

Description:
  • Also known as a hybrid product, this product allows for a business to fix in a certain volume of their usage at a specific fixed rate, leaving the remaining unfixed portion on the market-based index rate. 
Benefits:
With block & index  product, business customers can: 
  • Determine how much electricity to purchase at a fixed price and adjust the volume based on market opportunities, rather than locking in to a fixed price that may be at the top of the market.
  • Avoid paying for extra risk protection (variable load cost).
  • Opt to fix or pass through the costs of ancillaries, capacity and transmission —depending on the wholesale market rules and system limitations.
  • Purchase renewable energy certificates to "green" a percentage of your usage.
By using the “standard” wholesale block (7x24 periods), businesses are afforded the opportunity to layer in portions of their usage to optimize when and how much energy they use in response to market-based prices (index). 
Points to consider:
  • Business can split up 100% of the load, as the percentage for the block portion (fixed all-in) of the product goes up the risk tolerance goes down.
  • A business can always do a product conversion and move percentage of the index load to the fixed all-in side, in contrary once the usage is locked into a fixed all-in it will remain at that price until the end of that specific term.