Job candidates lined up for a career fair in Philadelphia, looking for work in the field of deregulated power in Pennsylvania.
"There are 1.6 million customers and almost 4 billion kilowatts in the PECO territory that are up for grabs," said Area manager Kevin Marino of Broker North American Power.
The alternative energy supplier is hosting bi-weekly career fairs to recruit hundreds of new brokers to sell electric power.
"I am actually going to be out of work as of Friday, unfortunately, so I am looking to launch a new career," said Laverne Hoffler-Duckworth of Germantown.
Another candidate, Kevin Marino, was unemployed for almost two years when he signed on, and says with no overhead and no inventory, you can put a lot of juice in your bank.
"Who would not want to make money from people's electricity bills every single month that they use electricity?" Marino said.
Gina Battaglini is losing her business in the throws of this ruthless recession. She joined the force three weeks ago.
"My first check, I believe, will be on Friday. I think that I made $1,500 so far but I am still waiting for residuals to take place," Battaglini said.
Basically, the salespeople are selling savings. The small businesswoman who runs Better Health Tanning and Nail Spa in Conshohocken, Kimberly Gider, is on board and says she hopes the switch will save her up to $1,00 a year.
"Sometimes our electric bill, if the tanning season is crazy, can be like $1,200 to $1,300 per month .
From the booths to the blowers, her bill can really be a doozy.
"I am hoping to see it at, maybe $1,000. That would be great," she said.
PECO's rate caps expire at the end of this month.
