Beware of Reliant Energy

[Colyn]

I'm sure some of you Texas residents like me have Reliant as your electric company but beware.

I have been with them for 6 year with no problems till now. They made 2 (large) unauthorized debits to my bank account. These unauthorized debits resulted in a total of $192 in over draft charges which they said they would reimburse but to date have refused. I have had to contact the PUC and have asked my bank to take action since these debits were not authorized by me..

I now have bill pay set up through my bank so they won't be able to steal my bank info and do this again..

[AndrewCCM]

I changed over from them a while back.. Saved me about 40% a month... Not a Reliant fan at all.. They like to sneak in a month of increased rates on you too once your term is up. I just paid the reletting fee ($150) and made my $ back in one month with Champion.

[smdebnam]

Our electric bill with Reliant this month was $283.56 but the autopay to our credit card was a charge of $404.00. They said it was a "processing error" and refunded the difference. We'll be switching soon!

[Colyn]

Originally Posted by smdebnam

Our electric bill with Reliant this month was $283.56 but the autopay to our credit card was a charge of $404.00. They said it was a "processing error" and refunded the difference. We'll be switching soon!

This is what happened to me. Not once but twice in less than a week. However I never gave permission for them to do either.. I too am looking to change providers..

[Cajungaltx]

Yup - not a fan of Reliant either...

[JohnT]

I've been a loyal Reliant customer for at least five years. I called them a couple of weeks ago to try to get a better rate than $.15/kwh (told them I could get $.10/kwh from Texas Power). They said they couldn't help me. I'll be switching soon.

[cooltouch]

Used to be a Reliant customer, then switched to TXU with their promise of "always being 8% cheaper than Reliant" a few years ago. Well I figured 8% wasn't much, but it was better than staying with reliant.

But we started getting jacked around by TXU, culminating with a similar overbilling, in which they absolutely refused to refund the difference or pay for the resulting overdraft charges. The next month we switched to Bounce Energy. This was back in March, and at that time they were the cheapest around that I could find, with a flat rate of 11.2 cents/kw hour. Given the continued decline of natural gas prices, I'm not surprised to see providers offering even lower prices.

We've had a hot summer this year, and our most expensive bill so far (August) was less than the "average pay" plan that TXU was gouging us with, which was less than what Reliant was gouging us with on their "balance pay" plan. (FYI for those who might not be familiar: "balance pay" etc. is a system where the amount you pay is based on a sort of running average of the amount of energy you use with the supposed aim being to decrease summer bill amounts by increasing the bill amounts for cooler months.) With TXU, their averaging resulted in an increase in about $90/mo over the period of a few months while heading into the cooler months of the year, even though our usage had not increased year-over-year, and then they doubled billed us, which was the last straw.

I am glad NOT to be a customer of either Reliant or TXU. And if you are, the only question I have for you is "when are you gonna wise up?"

Michael

[Brains]

When I called Reliant, they said they overbilled basically every customer. Apparently their billing system went nuts. Mine was a charge of $493.xx instead of the $329.xx it should have been. The gal on the phone was apologetic, said it would be refunded and re-billed in a day or so, and it was (two days to refund, billed on the third).

The problem for many folks, is the overdrafts if there isn't enough cash in the account. If you run your checking account close to your budget, things like this can cause a cascading effect. Its smart to keep your checking lean I think, to minimize risk if someone gets ahold of the info - but it can have undesired consequences as well.

[Colyn]

Originally Posted by Brains

When I called Reliant, they said they overbilled basically every customer. Apparently their billing system went nuts. Mine was a charge of $493.xx instead of the $329.xx it should have been. The gal on the phone was apologetic, said it would be refunded and re-billed in a day or so, and it was (two days to refund, billed on the third).

My problem is I had already paid my bill by check. Then they apparently stored that info and overbilled me twice..

The problem for many folks, is the overdrafts if there isn't enough cash in the account. If you run your checking account close to your budget, things like this can cause a cascading effect. Its smart to keep your checking lean I think, to minimize risk if someone gets ahold of the info - but it can have undesired consequences as well.[/QUOTE]

I have 2 accounts. My primary and my checking account. When I don't have any checks coming in I maintain a minimum balance of in it so when they hit the account it went into overdraft. Then they hit it a second time..

[donlfaulkner]

Originally Posted by smdebnam

... Autopay ...!

Do Not Use autopay It Can Ruin You!

donlfaulkner added 4 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by Colyn

My problem is I had already paid my bill by check. Then they apparently stored that info and overbilled me twice..

The problem for many folks, is the overdrafts if there isn't enough cash in the account. If you run your checking account close to your budget, things like this can cause a cascading effect. Its smart to keep your checking lean I think, to minimize risk if someone gets ahold of the info - but it can have undesired consequences as well.

I have 2 accounts. My primary and my checking account. When I don't have any checks coming in I maintain a minimum balance of in it so when they hit the account it went into overdraft. Then they hit it a second time..[/quote]


If you pay by check, they should NEVER be able to direct bill your account. If you gave them permission to direct debit out of your account, you are setting your self for problems big problems. Been there done that got no t-shirt (they took that too).

[HotHolly]

when did this happen? they did this to me about a couple of months ago, but the amounts were weird.

[The Philos]

Nothing weird happened here.

[WTx]

Switch to Startex. Incredible customer service!

[Colyn]

Originally Posted by donlfaulkner

Do Not Use autopay It Can Ruin You!

donlfaulkner added 4 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below



If you pay by check, they should NEVER be able to direct bill your account. If you gave them permission to direct debit out of your account, you are setting your self for problems big problems. Been there done that got no t-shirt (they took that too).

I never gave them permission to direct debit. I have always paid with a paper check. They apparently got my routing number and account number off my check and debited my account..

I have contacted the PUC and filed a complaint..

[angiem357]

I had so many problems with Reliant that I switched to Direct. I had so many problems with Direct that I switched to TXU. I've been pretty happy with them, but I feel as if I'm being seriously overcharged - my highest electric bill this summer was $425, and I keep my thermostat on 78 - and I want out! Still researching, so any suggestions y'all give are worth my time to investigate. Glad this thread's here.