Happy time needs to be a safe time as well, so ElectricityTexas wants to help parents and children enjoy a spooktacular Halloween celebration minus any mishaps or nasty surprises.

Before Halloween

• Plan a trick-or-treating route ahead of time with a plan B in case you need to alter routes last minute.


• Keep up to date with the weather forecast.


• Incorporate reflective colors or material in your child's costume. Avoid masks or makeup that obscure or block clear eyesight.


• Purchase LED flashlights to conserve energy while providing a safe experience for your child.


• Clear all pathways leading to your home of possible hazards. Keep an eye out for obstructions such as bulky or flammable decorations as your child approaches a home.

• Keep your children and their friends in a group. Ask other parents to accompany so that you aren't stretched thin keeping track of a large number of kids.


• Keep away from dark side streets and alleys, and stay on sidewalks if at all possible.


• Always face traffic when forced to walk on the street.


• Do not allow your children to eat candy before going to home to check the bounty thoroughly. Be wary of any items that aren't properly wrapped.

The key to any safe Halloween experience is planning ahead. Give you and your family ample time to work out any kinks in the process, and ensure that your group arrives home safe and sound. You may not be able to control all the variables on such an exciting and often crazy event, but you can prevent many common Halloween mistakes by sitting down with your children and laying out guidelines in advance.

It goes without saying that saving money on the electricity bill every month is a huge priority for almost everyone. With the surge of green energy conservation guides, tips and news online, there really is a plethora of information on how to reduce your energy consumption. Here are a few simple tips to start saving immediately.

• Proper insulation in your home is essential to retaining temperatures and not wasting energy cooling or heating your home. This process should include all windows and doorways, crawl spaces, walls and even your garage door—an often overlooked area where precious energy can leak out. Your local Lowe's offers insulation instructions and materials so that you can save on installation costs.
• Use Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs throughout your home. CFL's use about 75 percent less energy than traditional light bulbs, and last more than 10 times longer. The initial cost is a bit more expensive, but you'll more than make up for that in what you save on electricity annually.
• Switch out your aplliances with Energy Star® approved items. Energy Star® products are labeled by the U.S. Envirnomental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy as being energy efficient, so it's very likely you'll save money and energy by switching. Products include everything from dishwashers to more efficient water heaters.
• Make a conscious effort to turn off lights after exiting rooms. It's an easy habit to settle into, and only using lighting that is essential for specific tasks will help ease your energy dependency.
• Texas residents are fortunate to live in a mostly deregulated electricity state, which means if you live in a fully deregulated area you can switch, compare and transfer your electricity service, and find the company that helps you save the most money.

Before deregulation kicked off in Texas circa 1995, the generation, transmission and distribution, and retail sales of electricity were all provided by one utility company. Oh how times have changed. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) now regulates the transmission and distribution, so the delivery of your electricity through poles and wires is not handled by your energy company.

Confusing yet? It's actually quite simple. Generation—the production of electricity—was the first aspect of electricity in Texas to become deregulated, providing you and other energy consumers with a ton of options for clean, affordable electricity.

Now comes the final piece of the deregulation puzzle. Electricity companies are responsible for selling electricity to consumers, and providing customer service options to help you manage your monthly bill. Enter competition: Companies benefit from competition, as it opens up additional service areas that before were regulated to a specific utility, and you benefit from lower prices and special products that are a direct result of said competition. It's a reciprocal relationship. Companies compete for your business, and in turn you receive incentives that help you save on your electricity bill.

Even better is the fact that with all of this utility competition, the PUC still protects you from fraudulent or non-competitive business practices, ensuring that your electricity service is reliable, safe and affordable.

One last thing: The only stipulation to Texas electricity deregulation, is that the PUC has yet to open all areas in Texas to competition—mainly due to the ongoing development and organization of the electricity markets in those areas. Fortunately, the PUC offers a deregulation service map as well as the ability to enter your zip code and find out if your area is fully deregulated. Find out today if electricity competition is available in your area, and which company has the flexible rate plans and products that provide you the safest and most reliable electricity service.

Ever wondered how exactly electricity is produced? Most electricity in the United States is produced by converting kinetic energy (energy of motion) into mechanical energy via steam turbines. The steam is forced against the turbine blades, in turn causing a generator shaft to turn and generate an electric current. Several different fuel resources are used to generate electricity, though some are nonrenewable and will eventually run out.

Coal and petroleum
Both are burned either for producing steam, or at extremely high temperatures, producing combustion gases that again spin the blades that in turn spin the turbine shaft. Coal is a nonrenewable fossil fuel, meaning that it takes million of years to form from the trapping of dead plant energy, so there is a constant need to find new resources to mine. Petroleum is similar to coal in the sense that we cannot make new resources, but petroleum production also requires the trapping of organic material in oil-rich rocks to prevent the oil from rising to the rocks surface.

Natural Gas
Natural gas can also be heated to produce steam or combustion gases, but unlike the other two fossil fuels, natural gas undergoes a four-part process to separate various impurities, producing clean, dry natural gas for the consumer. Natural gas produces more methane than the other fossil fuels, but produces far less carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases.

Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is a bit more of an involved—and dangerous— process. Enter nuclear fission: Uranium is contained in a reactor core. Uranium atoms collide with neutrons in the core, splitting (fission) and striking each other in a chain reaction that releases heat, which is then used to produce steam.

Hydropower
Water reservoirs created by dams is forced through pipes against the turbine blades. A second hydroelectric method called run-of-river forces water against the turbine blades in order to turn the generator.

Geothermal
Heat is trapped underground, building energy that rises near the surface in the form of heat, that then turns the water into steam. The percentage of available geothermal resources is very low.

Solar Power
Solar cells made from silicon absorb the sun's radiation. Also called photovoltaic cells, photons from sunlight are either reflected, absorbed or passed through. The absorbed photons build up, and eventually electrons separate from the solar material's atoms. Certain electrons carrying a negative charge travel to the front of the solar cell, creating an imbalance similar to the negative and positive sides of a battery. Whew. Solar heating furnaces feature large-scale mirrors that create high temperatures in small spaces, and water-filled glass panels on your home can be used to heat water without having to waste electricity or natural gas.

Wind Power
A wind turbine converts the kinetic energy (object's motion) in wind into mechanical energy that is then used to generate electricity. The electricity is then fed through lines to a substation, and on to your homes and businesses. Wind Power is steadily becoming a widely-researched form of alternative energy, as several countries including the United States are building large-scale wind farms.

Biomass
The combustion of waste creates steam. Landfill projects in the United States are attempting to trap and use methane from trash to form natural gas, which can then be converted to electricity. Waste-created steam can also generate electricity using steam turbines as mentioned before, and the heat created from burning waste and other materials such as wood, can produce fuels such as biodiesel as well.

Shopping for electricity in Texas shouldn't be a confusing or difficult process. Enjoying the benefits of living in a deregulated electricity market is almost too easy with the competitive prices and products from major energy companies. The key to saving even more on your monthly energy bill is understanding exactly what makes each service unique. With that being said, Texas energy companies have several fixed and variable rate plans that give people like you a ton of great options for electricity
service. So what exactly is the difference between a fixed and variable rate?

Fixed
A fixed rate generally carries a contract term with it, meaning you can lock in your price on a monthly basis after signing a contract. Terms generally run 12 months. The advantage of a fixed rate plan is that your price doesn't fluctuate when the rest of the electricity market does. Think of a fixed rate as sort of a security blanket.

Variable
Variable rates do change based on the several factors, most especially demand. During hot summer days or cold winter nights you'll often see price spikes as electricity use increases. The advantage to having a variable rate plan is that you can cancel your service at any time, and the monthly and cancellation fees are often very low.

Regardless of what you choose, living in a state that gives you power to find the service that meets your individual electricity needs is a wonderful thing.

Texas is "reaping the rewards" from the brand new Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) shooting across the District of Columbia and quickly picking up steam across the country. Texas is among 24 other states that are adopting the new electricity standards requiring a specific percentage of all power to be produced from renewable resources. A report from Environment Texas shows that the state known for doing everything bigger is now producing more wind power than any other state in the U.S.

In fact, you won't have to dig down far into your Texas pride to appreciate that this state owns the two largest wind farms in the world—both combine for a whopping 1240 megawatts of wind power. So what exactly is wind power, and how can you save money and the environment simultaneously?

Texas energy companies are hard at work to meet the new RES standards. Texas has built more than 3,000 megawatts in wind turbines in recent years. A wind turbine converts the kinetic energy (object's motion) in wind into mechanical energy that is then used to generate electricity. The electricity is then fed through lines to a substation, and on to your homes and businesses.

It becomes far more scientific to fully explain the process from capturing wind to powering your homes and businesses, but in a nutshell, wind power is plentiful, renewable and a very clean energy source, and continues to grow annually into a widely-used form of energy. It just so happens that the state of Texas features some of the heaviest hitters when it comes to harnessing wind power, and with Texas electricity deregulation you are able to compare and select your energy provider to get the best deals possible on your electricity service.