I locked in May. I don't think what you mentioned is a problem with the program. I'm pretty happy with my locked in rate (met-ed). I actually bought a electric space heater because we plan on keeping our house cold due to oil prices but using heat from electricity to keep it comfortable.

I ran some numbers and it will be cheaper for us to heat with a space heater than it is for us to keep our house at 70 with oil.b