Goodbye Gexa Energy

The Dallas Morning News ran a story last week about a proposed new Texas law that would require Retail Electric Providers to tell their customers when the customer’s rate is about to change.

The article mentioned that many customers of Gexa Energy were surprised when they were transferred to a variable rate plan without their knowledge. The Morning News quoted Gexa Energy spokesperson, Bernard Kaplan, who reasoned that their month-to-month plans are a “premium-priced product.” Gexa can call it “premium-priced” if they want, but I prefer to call it “penalty-priced.”

I’ve been a Gexa customer since August 2004 and have always paid my bill by auto-pay credit card each month. At the time I signed up, this was the preferred payment option for Gexa customers. It seemed convenient so I took the bait. The problem with paying by credit card is that you tend to pay attention to the credit card statements, without paying much attention to the actual electricity bill. I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.

After reading the article in the Morning News, I rifled through all my unopened Gexa billing statements. Imagine my surprise to find out I’ve been paying 19.87 cents per kilowatt-hour for the last three months. That’s a far cry from the rates that Gexa advertises on the state website www.powertochoose.org where Gexa says their rates range from 11.5 cents to 13.1 cent per kilowatt-hour. When I called to complain, Gexa recommended I sign a new contract. Fat chance of that!

Apparently, Gexa comes from the TXU school of customer service: “Screw ‘em when they’re up, screw ‘em when they’re down, if you get just half a chance, screw ‘em all around.” Friends, they’re not talking about light bulbs here.

I hope the state quickly changes the law forcing electric providers to pre-notify their customers of rate changes. Can you imagine pulling into a gas station and not knowing how much you’d have to pay for a tank of gas until after you’ve pumped it?

Deregulating electricity in Texas has been a monumental disaster. Texas now has the highest electric rates in the United States. State Legislators and the Public Utility Commission have been derelict, if not criminal, in their duties. ERCOT is a mismanaged joke, and their original management team was exposed as thieves and incompetents. One of the saddest aspects of deregulation is that the same company continues to supply the actual electricity and repair the meters and power lines. All of the other companies that sprang up as Retail Electric Providers don’t really do anything more than push paperwork and bill the end customers.

It seems like every week I receive mail from TXU telling me about their great rates if I’ll only switch my service back to them. I’m sure Gexa will do the same thing once they find out I’ve replaced them. As soon as the paperwork clears through ERCOT, my new electric provider is Champion Energy Services. Their rate is 11.6 cents per kilowatt-hour. They weren’t the cheapest company, but they have a good reputation for customer service. And, best of all, they’re not TXU and they’re not Gexa.