Complain about a product or service

TXU Energy

Cindy of Arlington, TX March 13, 2010

I have used TXU for the past 15 years that I have lived in my house, my same house for 15 year I have "never" received an electric bill so high! I have gas heat so it was a BIG surprise to me when I opened last months bill for 555.14! So I called to see if there was a problem.The person on the other end of the line did not speak engilsh very well. When I ask if I could talk to someone about my bill she said she would be happy to help me. I explained to her my problem. i have gas heat and I have no ideal how I could have use this much electric. Her response was well this was the coldest month of the year.

I ask her if she lived in Texas? She said no she is located over seas. WOW she then ask if maybe I have a new appliance. My electric bill is normaly around 130.00 in the winter and higher in summer months because of the ac....But NEVER this high! Then she ask if maybe I had house guest? This is not help! I need to know how anyone can think for one minute I could have used that much electric? she could not explain or help in any way. We really need to do something about this! This is crazy! What has happened here? And what can we do? I am not sure where I am going to get this much money to pay for this bill. I'm stressed and scared that my electric is going to be shut off.

Kristy of Temple, TX March 13, 2010

As like many other people, our electric bill is climbing and mutiplying each month. Sure, in Texas, we have a choice of which provider we would like to use for delivering our life's power, and we have chosen to be loyal to TXU since moving into our home in 2004.

Our home was supplied with a "smart" meter in Oct. of last year, and we were honestly unaware, and the first 2 bills cycled off of it were very compairable to the last several years. However, the third month cycle which covered the month of January, more than doubled. Not only from the month before, but almost nearly the same from January 2009.

When the "cold snap" (Pardon me, but cold snap my ass!!!) passed, and our next bill came, we were outraged to put it mildly I placed a service call to TXU to have our meter checked ASAP because due to the increasing complaints in our entire serviced area, we were even more diligent with making sure we weren't being wasteful. (Our thermostat has served just fine for many years, (And NO, we do NOT need a tutorial in where to set the temperature to be the most efficient...apparently now that definition being somewhere between freezing your ass off to be able to keep the rest of your life's budget, or staying comfortable in our own home, which we fully deserve to be, and basically paying the electricity on an invisible home which has apparently manifested in our back yard and is also tapping into our power!)

It's been the amonth of another car payment each of the last few months! Sound ridiculous? It is, and that's what we're being charged! It's been over 2 weeks since I called to ask for an inspection of the meter, so I finally placed a call to Oncor directly. (Highly suggested as they pulled our account much faster than the yahoo's at TXU!) I was told it would be possibly 4 or mire weeks because of 2500 other inspection requests in front if mine! To that I replied, "Does that not raise a red flag to someone there? Anyone?" About all I got in response was that the meters are checking in the factory, and also again before placement, and as if right now, the charges stand and the usage meter is accurate. Well, so were Toyotas! Not everyone is at risk of receiving a monstrous electric bill next month, just as compaired to the fact that every Toyota driver is going to be rocketing out of control down the highway this morning, but it is happening. Some, obviously many, of us loyal customers, are getting tageted at our wallets, and it IS affecting our family! What are we supposed to do? Don't we elect officials to stand up for all of all small voices? Um, yes, we do. And if a stand isn't taken soon, SERIOUS one, I'm sure the voter turnout will be much less in their favor next time! DO SOMETHING! We can't even change compaies because ONCOR supplies the meter anyway. We're getting robbed!

Our family works very hard for what we've acheived in this life if ours. We have a budget, because we have to in order to find balance between "surviving" and "living". We've already had the power cut off this year, and were told that if we didn't pay the nearly 600.00 bill that day, they wouldn't turn it back on that night. It's forcing us to use credit cards to keep up right now, therefore putting us in more debt which we've worked so hard to get out of. WITH INTEREST added to fraudulent charges, and no one taking a freaking REAL stand, we're starting to struggle paybug sll of our legitimate bills.

Sabrina of Farmersville, TX March 11, 2010

We moved into our house in June of 2009. In July I didnt get a bill so I started calling to find out why. They said they hadnt read my meter yet, so I told them they needed to read it and send me a bill. August rolled around and I still didnt get a bill, so I called again. They still hadnt read my meter and I told them that I didnt want to get a huge bill for five months that I couldnt afford.

Low and behold, at the end of September I got a bill for almost 900. I was pissed!! They made it out like it was my fault and put me on an installment plan, but the monthly bills were so high that I could barely afford to pay those without the installment on top of it!!! With my income tax, that I really could have used for other things, I had to pay 1015 to TXU. Now after getting that paid off I get a bill for 405 and nobody is at home during the day and everything is off in the house until about 5:00 in the evening.

When we are home all that is usually on is a TV the computer and 1 light. I have all energy efficient bulbs throughout my house and energy efficient curtains, so I know they are full of crap!!! Last months bill was almost 600. This is B.S. WE ALL NEED TO GET TOGETHER AND DRAW UP A PETITION TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!! And if I change I have to pay the high bill and a 250 early cancellation fee.

amanda of brooklyn, NY March 9, 2010

DO NOT USE TXU. I have never in my life dealt with a more fraudulent company. I was ignorant and I guess spoiled coming from the North East where utility companies are regulated and kept in check with the government to make sure they aren't over charging and lying on bills about usage. Here's what I just submitted to the BBB, I doubt it will get me anywhere. But basically my bill went from being 60 to 430 the next month and this was with no one living there half the time!

We have tried and tried and tried to get TXU to admit they are either lying or made a mistake and they won't budge. Dealing with them for the year and a half I was in Texas was a nightmare, our electricity was going out all the time, they turned it off without warning and would turn it off even when we paid our bills and try and charge us a fee to get it turned back on, not to mention that they wouldn't send someone out for another day after they turned it off. And we were being overcharged the whole time we were there. We had bills up to 600 for one month in a one room studio apartment.

Oh and we almost never received our bill in the mail. I would have to call them several times before I could get a bill actually sent to me, including my last bill for the apartment I moved out of, I still have not received it even though I've asked them to send it multiple times. I also have never been able to actually view it online because their website conveniently enough doesn't load the current or past bills:

I believe that TXU Energy has provided false meter readings and estimates for account number {woops editing out my account number and former address}. I initially contacted the company in the beginning of January 2010 regarding a 430.27 charge for the month of December, because the charges had almost doubled from the previous month and had gone up more than 5 times from the month prior to that. Considering that I was not living in the state and there was only one person living in the apartment part time the reported usage was obviously false. I was told that the meter reading was estimated based on the usage from one year prior.

When I mentioned that the previous year we had had an issue with a heating unit which was malfunctioning and over using electricity and that after it had been fixed our electricity bills had been reduced significantly, if they were estimating based on the December of 2008 then the estimation would not be correct because the heating unit not only was now functioning properly but was also not being used the majority of the month because we had already begun moving out of the apartment and were not there for much of the time in the later months of 2009. I was told that the corrections would be made on the next bill when they were able to get a new meter reading.

I have since contacted TXU again because my bill is still very high, and believe that they still have the incorrect meter reading. The meter reading for the month of December 2009 which was based on an estiamation on January 3, 2010, not an actual reading had not been adjusted by even a single digit, the bill had not gone up or down at all, TXU claims that they estimated the bill for Decemeber 2009 usage down to the very last penny without looking at the meter.

Additionally we were told that there was an estimation because on January 3, 2010 the meter was not accessible. This statement is false. There are no fences on the property, the meters are outside of the building, there are no animals living on the property and there were no weather issues on January 3, 2010 according to weather history data. It was stated by the TXU representative that they are allowed to make estimations 3 times per year. Because there was no reason for there to be an estimation at this date it seems highly likely that the estimation was made to maximize TXU's profit rather than bill me, the customer the actual amount of electricity used for December 2010.

Our situation is certainly not unique, upon researching the company there are countless complaints of this very same issue with other customers and former customers. Being charged an exorbinent amount of money for electricity we did not use, spending a lot of time disputing charges with no success instead of working and making money, emotional stress.

felicia of jacksonville, TX February 28, 2010

I have had so many probs with them over the last year. I built a new home and a digital meter was put in. My lights flickered for months and my breaker box was flipping like crazy. The company TXU sent to install everything did not ground the transformer right and burnt several of my neighbors appliances as well as screwed up some of mine. Finally after the third time the repairman came out and realized that there was indeed a prob. That prob was fixed and then there was a delayed billing error.

For some reason the computer did not generate a bill for me so I finally got a nice fat bill in the amount of 965. WTF? I called to complain and my bills keep doubling. I have a gas water heater, fireplace, and we are hardly ever home. They also drafted a payment out of my account three days early and caused my account to overdraft. They do not care. Something needs to be done. I checked my meter today and I used 5kwh in less than an hour and only had the TV and one light on. I am so frustrated and I keep calling and getting nowhere. They need to be stopped!

Cathy of killeen, TX February 19, 2010

I call in because my December bill had double or better. I call in they sent a tech out. Found out meter was bad and they had to replace it, said credit would show up on next bill and for me to make payment, but I said no, then was told to pay half to keep it from being shut off. Did that, then received late bill to make full payment or bill would be cut off-tranfer to suprv which ext out to March 1st, now they are saying Oncor said meter was not bad and they just change out meter in my area, it would be okay if they did it but I'm they only one with a smart meter and my bill show 333.74 from last month of 436.00. I want to know when this madness is going to stop. When they are making such a high profit and people are losing there jobs. Can anyone help ups.

Alexandra of Grapevine, TX February 18, 2010

Similar to all the other complaints, since the new meter has been installed my bill for last month jumped to 861 for an 1800 sq ft house. In addition, the previous meter was not working. I called to complain on numerous occasions. Finally in December, TXU sent someone to install the new meter. The previous meter reading was 11,720. When the new meter was installed TXU changed the number to 41,349 and then manipulated the charges retroactively over the months the meter was not working. When speaking to the TXU representative, I asked how they came up with that number. She stated it was based on prior usage. I asked her to send me this data she supposedly had. I have never received it. My current total bill is now approx. 3500.

I have filed a complaint with the Utilities Commission and requested billling data from neighbors to prove these charges are unsubstantiated. Any other business would have to prove charges before one was required to pay a bill. Why can TXU get away with fabricating meter readings? Where can I turn to?

brenda of dallas , TX February 12, 2010

we have noticed since november when the new meter was put in our bill has been higher. we called customer service and wanted to know the reason why and was put on hold three times. When we finally got of hold of someone she couldn't really answer our question to well (and we kept our prior bills) she kept telling us that we are running our electricity more. I dont understand how, it really hasn't been that cold but we have lived in this house for 14 years and we have gas heater, gas stove, gas dryer and we explained that to her so that shouldn't have anything to do with txu anyways. And also noticed that oncor is charging us for the new meter.

The employee had the attitude of what is the big deal. but when one person in the household is working and there is medical and pharmacy costs and its our money. Especially when we know we didn't use all that electricity we even have those energy saving light bulbs.

bill of mesquite, TX February 10, 2010

poor and sharp,rude discussion on his explanation of still appears to be an excessive bill...swithced from dept to dept trying to connect to avg billing..switched from reliant and was promised visa 100.. card...never happened...very disatisfied and find it hard to get number to talk to a persom about this...was txu customer for 30-40 years..switched to reliant and then switched back...i am afraid txu will end up being a mistake...treated like a peon...not good business tatics

kyle of frisco, TX February 4, 2010

Been with TXU for several years and because I only get paid once a month I asked them a couple of years ago to move my due date to the 15th of every month. They could only move it to the 9th and I thought everything was fine. I sell my house go with another provider at my new location becasue TXU is not in the service area.

I asked for a letter of credit which I received at to much my surprise it had 8 late payments for the past 12 months although I have paid my bill on the same date for the past 15 years. I did ask why it was not 12 late payments instead of 8 and no one has provided an answer. I feel I was punished for only getting paid once a month and had no idea they would consider my payment late.

Having to pay a huge deposit to another electric company becasue of the letter of credit I received. I had Oncor fax it directly to TXU. I should have had it sent to me and not used it. I have spoken with 5 different supervisors and they do not care. Terrible way to do business, I will never ever use them again. I feel they could strike these if they wanted and could have probably changed my date as well but they did not.

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