Utilities & Frequent Flier Miles

Yesterday I started thinking about what will be involved in establishing utility service to my new home and discontinuing the service in Beaumont. I am a frequent flier mileage hound and have a couple of credit cards that award miles for my purchases. I try to charge as much as possible in order to get miles. Here in Beaumont I have only been able to charge my cable and phones bills to the credit card. The water, trash, electricity and gas do not accept credit card payments.

 

I found the City of Frisco's website. They have the procedure for establishing new service on the website. They accept Visa and MasterCard for online payments. They will require a $75 deposit for new service which is fully refundable after one year of a good payment record. Then I looked at the City of Beaumont. They do not have provisions for online payments. They say you can discontinue service by making a phone call and the service will be discontinued the next business day. They require a $90 deposit for new service which makes Frisco look very reasonable.

 

Time Warner is the cable provider in Beaumont. I have been very happy with their service. I have digital cable and the RoadRunner Internet service from them. I will have to return the digital cable box, remote and cable modem to them when I move. Comcast is the cable provider in the Frisco area. My favorite online TV listings are Zap2it. I changed my zip code to 75034 so I could see the channel lineup for Comcast in Frisco. I was thinking that I would not get digital cable and would save some money. After I looked at the lineup, I decided I would have to get digital cable because many of the channels that are on the Time Warner expanded basic service are only available in the digital range on Comcast.

 

My telephone service is through SBC (now AT&T). It is the same in Frisco. I am hoping one phone call will allow me to make the switch. My cell phone is through T-Mobile. They told me I could keep my area code 409 number if I want to allow my Beaumont friends to call me without paying long distance charges or I could get a new phone number without additional charge. I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile back in December. They seem to be much more accommodating than Sprint.

 

Del Webb listed CoServe as the provider of electricity and gas in the Frisco area. Electrical service in Southeast Texas is still regulated because it is on a separate power grid from the rest of Texas. Entergy Texas is the only choice. Deregulated electrical service is something new for me. I follow discussions on the FlyerTalk forums. I have learned a great deal on how to maximize my frequent flier miles from these forums. There is a power company Gexa Energy that has a partnership with American Airlines and offers AAdvantage miles. I checked their website, and they appear to serve the Frisco area. I am going to start making phone calls and learn more. They give 2 miles for every dollar spent and allow credit card payments. That means I could get at least 3 miles for every dollar that I spend. I do not want to pay more for my electricity just to get frequent flier miles; but if I can get lower rates and miles, too, I will be very happy.