Direct Energy Reviews

So I had a disconnection notice for 03/11 and I never give out my bank account number information 'cause they told we can't use your debit or credit card 'cause I don't pay them on time. They told me the only way to prevent disconnection if I pay with bank account so I gave them my account number and then I have disconnection for today and basically they rob my money so I switch to another provider.

I purposely put my phone number on the “Do Not Contact” list because of how many times a day Direct Energy calls me. When I have 6+ missed calls DAILY from you guys, it’s borderline psychotic at this point. Stop calling me, learn to read the room when people do not answer their phones to your soliciting calls.

I have been a customer for 9 years and have paid my bill immediately when received. My last bill had a late penalty and I am positive it was mailed on time as I take postage to be mailed directly to the post office. The customer representative said it was posted one day late on their end and would not reverse the penalty. How do I know it was not Direct Energy’s error in late posting? Representative said there was one other late payment 11 months ago. That was a postal error and was credited. The rep tried to get me to receive online bills which I declined. I am disappointed that my long term loyalty has apparently meant little.

I moved here from Louisiana into a new house, got connected through Direct, everything was fine, working well. Then early one day when I came home from dropping my kids to school, the lights was off, after a week of service called and was told it was because my lease agreement so I send that in again. Waited then called back, same process. By time I was done I sent a total of 50 emails or more, emails with my lease agreement. Did everything that was asked of me and for some reasons no matter what you have to wait 2 business days for them to review emails. So with that being said, me and my 3 kids are in the dark tonight, so yeah if I could, I would give them no stars cause that person whoever turned the switch off is going home to their family with power, while me and mine is without for no reason.

FROM A 3-YEAR-LONG CUSTOMER I DO NOT RECOMMEND!! Before having a huge breakdown due to the terrible “customer service,” I was transferred between 3 different people in order to find some help. I was trying to set up a payment arrangement and was told I would need to make a $45 payment in order to receive the extension. This was my first time using the 24/7 chat and I unknowingly made a mistake while doing so, that caused my chat conversation to become “unavailable” even though I had already paid the $45 payment! I called them and asked if I could finish my extension over the phone because my chat is saying it’s unavailable. The First Lady was super nice, but immediately sent me to a supervisor and could not help me.

Some months ago I was sucked into getting a Vivint smart home thermostat and doorbell camera. I've had nothing but trouble with them but that's another story. Evidently part of that is you get enrolled in a Energy savings program where Direct Energy randomly hijacks your thermostat to save energy and supposedly save you money. After requesting four times now that they cancel me from that because I don't want anyone controlling my thermostat but me I wake up the last two mornings and my temperature is in the low 60s. We are in a freeze warning right now and I am struggling to keep my pipes from freezing as I live in a mobile home.

I finally see why Direct Energy is not a great company for electricity. Poor customer service. Pulling teeth to get information regarding their services. Please be careful when they call on the phone regarding updating services or offering extended contracts. I rate customer services poor. When I first became a customer, I was told not to select this company by others. I will not recommend Direct Energy to anyone else. Will not sign a new contract with them.

The last straw is when they gave me two bills for the month of December and then charged me in additional $86 in unknown fees. Also, their agents will tell you one thing, then you later found out it is false information and they do nothing about it. I was with them for 4 years and the first 3 years was fine but this last year has been a nightmare. My bill has never been over $100. Now they want to charge over $300 and claim it is accurate readings. I work two jobs and hardly home. How is that possible? Do not get Direct Energy.

I have never had such a high bill for November and December in South Texas!! What a bunch of scam artists!! What a horrible company! They bought out my contract from a previous company and now I have to endure this unprofessional, unethical, immoral company until my contract expires. Which I might add, my previous company had NO EARLY TERMINATION FEES!! How is it I sign up with one company and you come in and buy it and change my terms!!?? I hope everyone that reads this tells everyone they know and so on, so instead of robbing the general public maybe your CEO doesn't get his paid!!!

To whom it may concern: I spoke with 3 different reps who didn't help. They all repeated the same information, and no one had a number for corporate office. The last rep Mani #09133100 was rude and dismissive. Escalation group is a joke. He repeated what the other 2 reps before him stated. I suggest you save some money and get rid of the escalation group because they can't or won't help your customers. My services were disconnected basically for $1.00. I made payment arrangements on 12.15 for 96.00 payment and the balance to be paid on 12.26.

Very expensive. I have never had such high electric bill. Their customer rights document did not clearly state when I was free to make a switch. They even had the audacity to send me a survey trying to find out who I switched to. Not giving my business to them again.

Direct Energy is the most incompetent business I have ever dealt with. It is difficult to pay my bill, impossible to speak with a professional person and all of their shortcomings are the customers' fault. Their technologies are 50 years behind the world. Their customer service is outsourced to third world countries.

Worst company by far. They use indirect wording to make you sign up for things you didn’t even realize you agreed to. In my case, they put me on “average billing,” which I understood to mean it would average out my usual bill — around $60. Instead, for the past two months it jumped to $98, and now it’s $146. HOW? I live in a studio, barely run my AC, and I’m hardly ever home. I’ve been with them for 4 years and this has never happened.

— Beware of Direct Energy’s Misleading Practices. I’ve been a loyal Direct Energy customer for 4 years, never once late on a payment. Recently, I received an email prompting me to renew my contract and lock in a rate. Naturally, I assumed my contract was ending soon — why else would they ask me to renew? Because of that email, I shopped around and switched to a better rate. Then my final bill arrived, and Direct Energy slapped me with a $300 early cancellation fee. Only then did I learn my contract didn’t end until May 2026 — something the renewal email absolutely did not make clear. If I had known, I would NEVER have canceled early.

These folks are Robbers, they changed my plan to more the double amount after the contract, they didn't even tried calling me or sending me email. I would stay away from them. 0.194379/KWH is ridiculous.

Biggest negative is their payment processing. Sent them a check via bank bill pay and 13 days later they started sending snarky emails about payment. Chatted with their arrogant and unhelpful support person and they blamed it on the postal service. She claimed they “immediately process” payments. Funny that in all my experience with my bank’s bill pay they are the only ones who I have trouble with. It’s one thing to be incompetent but to tack on arrogant seems like a company that doesn’t give a shit about their customers. I’ll be shopping for a new energy company. Btw, that check the post office supposedly didn’t deliver was miraculously posted last night. The back office of this company is a joke.

Direct Energy has a policy on their website that states a disconnection notice will be sent out after 60 days yet their employees starts threatening with a disconnection after 7 days late then again 20 days late and now 24 days late, maybe some off these employees need to be fired for not going by Direct energy policy of 60 days!

Let me say this, Direct Energy is a rip off!!! Granted my bill was due on the 15th and I paid it in the 17th. Which it is late, however a $43.10 fee for 2 days late is crazy and I was told the fee is because a email was generated! Not because some had to come and disconnect service but because a notice was created for 2 days late. Mind you I have had them for years and never had this happen until about a year ago. I have canceled and I encourage everyone to do the same.

We had a sales representative come to our house a few years ago promising us that we wouldn’t pay more than 11 cents per kilowatt for our electricity because we supposedly lived in a low income area. Well fast forward a couple years later our bill just got significantly highe and higher and higher we were paying $319 a month for just a little over 500 kilowatts of usage per month. We even got our power disconnected even though we made a payment arrangement. We called a representative and she said she would see what they could do for us to get our power back on and proceeded to do nothing but ask for our full payment. Our scheduled payment arrangement was for the following day, but they still disconnected us one day before our agreed upon payment. This was our deal breaker and they even had the audacity to try and keep our scheduled payment arrangement even when we paid what we owed to get power back on.

Direct Energy is the most expensive provider in the US. When I finally summoned courage to go with another provider, They slammed me with almost $500 hidden fees and charges. Think twice before choosing Direct Energy. They made me cry as an adult.

You are not getting free nights as they advertise. You are still pay for delivery charges. If you want to advertise free nights take off the delivery charges and then it would be free. There's always a catch, nothing is ever free.

Updated on 08/18/2025: If you go to choose energy for your right to choose your energy company stay clear of Direct Energy. From day one I had issues with the customer service and their website. I could not make payment on the website so it cause me a 30.00 late fee. When I called them to inform them of this I was just told to pay it. They had me locked in with a 2 year contract and a 295.00 cancallation fee if cancelled. However, the service was so poor I was willing to pay the cancellation fee after just two months of service.

I have had an account with Direct Energy for 8 years now and parted ways with them in February. Direct Energy wouldn't mail my bills (not sure if it was incompetence or their unwilling to meet my requests), nor could I get e-mail notifications with regards to my billing statements. However, I sure started getting letters in the mail that said I missed my bill, and my services would be cut off or I could be faced collections.

They want to renew after being a long time customer at a much higher rate. Called Customer service and after 8 different phone calls given to me to cancel with very RUDE customer service I finally was able to cancel 1 hour later. I will never sign up with the crap company again,.

Beware! We had a one time contract with Direct Energy. It expired, was automatically renewed without our knowledge and then again with fraudulent contracts by Broker Online Exchange and Powerhouse Energy, Jenna Nearhouse. Fake emails, e-signed documents, and HUGE charges over what Comed would have charged us for supply. We are a small business and this has been devastating to discover. Their highly unprofessional response has left us with no other choice than to hire an attorney to file formal complaints. Really astounding that such a large company can get away with fraud.

Sales people came to my door, and were very pushy and not honest about how to fill out the paperwork. I was told to answer "yes" to all questions, including whether they had already left. They told me I would not be switching energy companies/suppliers and that they were from the City. But they still had me answer yes to the question on an automated call. These were lies. Even if the rate for my gas was better, I do not feel comfortable doing business with this company. Avoid this company and its services.

My 91 year old mother is sitting at home with no electricity. Because of a billing dispute. Direct Energy wants people to use wireless billing. But she has always gotten a paper bill and she keeps her records in order. Her lights were turned off for non payment. After going through her bills we found that not only had she paid the bill but a week later she paid an extra $400 on that bill. Now Direct Energy is telling us she going to have to go without power for a few days until they can review there files. Who does that to the elderly.

Very bad experience. The phone rep kept going in and on about some eco program when all I wanted to do was to get my power hooked up so I could cook. They then stated that it would take two WEEKs to have power - this was after being on hold at various points for an hour or more. Save yourself any trouble and go elsewhere!

I have used Direct Energy for many years in the winter as a winter Texan. But this year I was overcharged for the month of November. My usage spiked way high for some unknown reason. I'm by myself so there is no reason that it happened. All other months are normal. They sent someone out to check the meter and they said it was fine. I tried to contest it but they would just shut off my electricity. Which they did today I was forced to pay. There no justification for why my bill was so high that month. This will be the final year I ever use this company.

Senior citizen with limited income, my bills are late, but paid. Recently asked for deferred and/or extension and was told NO because I had to many previous issues. Well damn any company will give you at least one month behind.

Direct Energy is the worst company I have ever experienced!!! Their customer service includes long wait times, rude reps, people who are hard to understand and it is hard for them to understand what you may be talking about. If you want someone higher than a manager, forget that they will never let you talk to one. I had a rep come to my door and list a certain price but it was a lie. They charged me a higher price and never fixed it. I decided to go to a different energy company. Direct energy is now making me pay a full cancellation fee even though I was lied to about the price. This company does not care about its customers. You will be charged so much money that it is ridiculous.

Tonight 2 gentlemen from Direct Energy came to my door saying my gas and electric bills have been rising and they have tried contacting us my mail and phone to renew our Direct Energy agreement. I have never used Direct Energy but I let him continue. He asked did I get my gas and electric bills by mail or email and then stated they could wait while I got my paper copy or my cell phone to access it online. He said it would only take a minute to process to keep my rates low. This was a slamming tactic to see my bill and get my account number. I said I wasn't interested, he was insistent that it would just take a minute or they could return in a hour if that would be easier. Again I'm not interested and went inside. Beware, they try to make you think you're already a customer and are trying to get access to your account number. Deceptive practices.

I switched to Direct and from the first bill there were extra charges and they always blamed me. Last month there were $87.00 extra charges and when I talked to them they would blame it on me and told me that it was not coming off. I told them I was leaving and they said ok So I switch to another company that I had great service with from the past. After I switched Direct kept calling me and trying to get me to come back and offered to reimburse some fees if I came back. But if not they wanted to put an early cancellation fee of $295 for two months left for switching. I switched and will never use them again. I prefer to spend extra money on my kids than to give it to a company that won't fix issues unless you come back to them.

Very bad experience after paying balanced billing settlement, I didn’t save a dime using Direct Energy. Avoid this company! They never explained why I owed them a 377 dollar billing settlement one month after I paid 100 dollars for a balanced billing charge. Trying to save a little money with them certainly didn’t work out.

Changed over to their so called service in October. My bill went from 140 to 512 in 3 months. 2 people, same house, no new appliances, no explanation. Predictable monthly bill. Not this company. They like to bill you when they tell you they're going to disconnect the power if you don't pay the bill. They like to throw fees out there.

Direct Energy will send someone to and in your home that they would not let into their own. They sent somebody to my house who told me they could save me money. He was wearing a Reliant jacket and said Direct Energy was a sister company of Reliant. And that Direct Energy could save me money. All retail electric companies have two charges per kWh. One is Energy charge per kWh, and one is average price per kWh. Knowing this their agent pointed or points out the higher of the two (average) and compares it to the lower. For example, $0.08 and $0.14 verses $0.14 and $0.16. In fact, Direct Energy is charging way more per kWh on the low end, and slightly higher on the high end. All of it combines together to increase, not decrease, your energy bill.

These people keep showing up to my home. I have called customer service to have them stop... they still show up insisting to see my bill... I have cussed... fussed... and have asked to be on the no knock list. My next step is to press charges on the company for harassment. The next one that show up I'm calling the cops.

For your sanity, do not establish service with Direct Energy if you don't have to. Like myself and the others, we have warned you. The amount of complaints is out of this world, my goodness. For the past year, I have asked for a due date change. I've only had one issue with a payment, but that's it; I didn't update my banking before the due date, and that was my error. Every time I ask for a due date change, they tell me my account isn't eligible for a change. I've been with them for several years and have, NEVER, asked to change my due date. For a year, you've been telling me my account isn't eligible. When speaking to an agent this evening, she said it wasn't eligible because I did not have to pay a deposit. Excuse me, but I can't change the due date because I didn't pay a deposit, one your company did not require. That's something I'm being penalized for? Interesting.

SCAM!!! WOULD GIVE NEGATIVE STARS!!! Extremely shady business practices. Sales reps from UES (United Energy Services) going door-to-door and misleading about what they're doing (They said they work with Comed multiple times during the conversation and pretend you may have billing errors with ComEd). They want to see your bill - warning: to fraudulently register you for their service! This happened at my job. I told them I'm just an employee and don't have the authority to sign contracts or anything that would make changes for my company and they would have to reach out to corporate management for legal things like that. But they said "it's ok, we already went to a few of your other stores and did the same thing so management already knows about us". This was all a lie.

WARNING ⚠️ DO NOT GO HERE. DO NOT! If I could give this company a 0 I would. The only thing good about this company is nothing besides a few good workers that had good customer service. Average billing is a joke. Before I went to this company I was with another company and they were amazing but my two years was up. Because I'm a loyal customer I stay all the way until the end. I decided to try something new because this company talked me into going with them. It sounded good while it lasted but then once I got with the company everything started going wrong. It's like they were just throwing prices out there. $400 here then $600 here then $800 then average billing took off $100 but that's still your balance the $800. It was crazy.