The answer no doubt varies from state to state.

I've switched a few times, without cost, but I have been careful to
switch only after completing the terms of my contract, as most have a
premature switching penalty. In fact, I just switched my natural gas,
as my old supplier advised they were upping their rate from about $8.90
to about $14.50, and I found an alternative source offering a fixed rate
of about $12.50. Its true that this only applies to the provider
portion of your bill, but still it is some savings. It would be nice to
have some alternative sources for electricity, but most of them are
largely theoretical, and I need something today, not twenty years hence.

Even if you only save a few dollars a month, you still save something.
The confusion in evaluating suppliers in my area is trying to compare
variable rate deals with fixed rate deals. I avoid the variable rate
deals, as it seems to me the provider has no incentive to hold costs
down when they can simply pass them through.

wrote:

Does anyone have experience with changing their utility providers (Gas
and Electric) to save money? Other than the charge (per ccf for gas,
or per kwh for electric), are there any other considerations (fees) to
be aware of when you change?

It appears that if I change electric, I can reduce my bill by $.05/kwh,
but I would still need to pay for transport charges to my original
provider. That small reduction is enough to be attractive to me, but I
don't fully understand how changing the supplier for the same current
can be so much less expensive (40% in this case).

For gas, I'm looking at variable rates vs. fixed rate contracts, with
ceilings, fees, etc.

Thank you,
Dave