Xcel Energy Reviews
A link has directed you to this review. Its location on this page may change next time you visit.
- 4,242,460 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
- We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
- We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
- Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
My father died a year ago and was a customer of Xcel Energy. Despite 12 months of arguing with your company, I am still being charged $35.00 each month for utilities, on a house I sold a year ago. I am FURIOUS that this process has been so terrible and heartbreaking. As if it's not hard enough to deal with the death of a parent, this company is being malicious at this time, still making me pay money for an account of a deceased after I have submitted all paperwork on numerous occasions to have it canceled.
Again, I have been trying to cancel this account for the past year. When I initially called, they told me I had to set up an account in my name, which I did because I was told it was the only way to cancel the payment for my father. So then I had TWO accounts, one for me (which I was told I had to do, for one dead person). But whoever took the information down misspelled my name and information, so then I had THREE accounts- my DEAD father, my real name, and the inaccurate spelling of my information (not me). So I was paying THREE TIMES for an account that was supposed to be canceled, on a house no longer owned by my family. I eventually was told that the accounts were all canceled, I received confirmation that all accounts were canceled, and I am STILL being charged every month. I am at my wits' end as to how to resolve this.
Up here in Fargo, ND XCEL ENERGY’S infrastructure equipment is old and needs major upgrades! We have a lot of outages!!! Some of the problems are also the fault of city and state government! Not enough oversight by our PSC!!!
Well I only use Xcel Energy for my natural gas. I used to have them for my electricity as well. The customer service leave something to be desired. Trying to open a new account with the same name to a previous account made it a nightmare to get it straightened out. For the most part I give them 3 out of 5 stars because I have had issues with their customer service for the last decade. They seem like they have not been trained well. Lots of hold time and didn't resolve the issues right away. Took months to get straightened out.
Xcel customer service was very helpful when I called regarding my autopay issue. The representative was pleasant on the phone and explained clearly how the rebate process for the yearly overcharge worked. Rather than having me change my auto payment online, she volunteered to assist in doing it for me. I felt valued as a customer.
I closed my account with Xcel and then a month later I found out that I had a bill from them. The mobile app did not work so it did not actually close my account and I had to close it again. I then called and emailed xcel MANY times to try to resolve this. They never returned my calls or my emails. Eventually, months later, I reached a person who said they would contact a supervisor. The supervisor was supposed to call me back within the next day, however, they would not leave a phone number so if I missed the call then I would have to start the process all over again! A absolutely terrible system! Fortunately, I was free when they called and they said they would review my account and get back to me. They never called me back and I started the process of calling and emailing again... I finally got a hold of a customer service rep who said I was supposed to be sent to collections two days ago.
Very confusing since no one ever called me back. I got a hold of a supervisor again and they told me that I did not cancel it when I said I did and I need to pay the whole amount or I will be sent to collections by the end of the month. This company has been conflicting and confusing to work with. Their customer service is horrific and their communication is abysmal!
I am severely hearing impaired. I called Customer Service to pay a bill. The customer service gal that helped me talked so fast that I had to tell her. "Please talk slower and clearly." I could understand her better then. I explained that I could not hear on the automated system to pay the bill. I told her I needed to have a real person take my Visa information to pay the bill. She said I couldn't pay my bill that way and it can only be done on the automated system. I asked to speak to her supervisor which I did. The supervisor was even harder to understand and would not help me at all. I explained that being severely hearing impaired and trying to hear the automated system is extremely difficult and would she please take my Visa information and do it for me. She refused and hung up on me! Worst customer I have ever experienced! I have been an Xcel customer for 46 years! I was on the phone for 42 minutes to try and get help to no avail!
I have been with Xcel Energy for 4 or 5 years now. I have always paid my bill online via their website. For several months now when I try to pay my bill it just takes me to a blank white page that says URL not found. I have called and emailed MULTIPLE times about this issue but have never even been contacted or responded to. I finally got the website to take me to some new platform called KUBRA EZ PAY and made my payment. I certainly hope this is legit or I'm going to be really pissed off. If they changed the way you make payments online it would have been nice to be notified or at least given some other method by which to pay. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!
Xcel customers track your billing statements and compare. 90% of the time they match but... There are times when it WON'T and it will be off by a lot and ALWAYS in their favor. I also suspect the wait times on the phones is because MANY CUSTOMERS question their billing practices. I've contacted Mn PUC & Mn Atty General who are BOTH investigating. So Xcel customers beware.
I set up autopay the previous month, but it didn't deduct on the day it was supposed to--instead it said my account was late and that autopay would deduct for two months next month. This isn't the only problem I've ever had with the website either, it never seems to want to load properly on computer or mobile and their account systems are all over the place. Can't even figure out why my bill is so high half the time.
We moved and had to sign up with Xcel Energy. We do everything online, so I signed up and they hooked up our power. So far so good. I signed up for the online account and that's when problems started. The sign up process worked, after I activated the security link in the email. For some reason after that I wasn't able to log in any more. When I entered my user/password it would say they were wrong. So I reset my password, and tried again. Still wrong.
I called customer service and they told me it shows in their system that I logged in fine. I convinced them that was not the case, so the only way to move forward was to delete my account and sign up again. After activating my account again, now when I log in, it accepts my password, but only shows a white page and then a "salesforce bad url error". I tried EVERYTHING from different computers (4 total) to different browsers (4 as well), deleting cookies and restarting. I even had my wife sign up (just in case I'm too dumb). ALL resulting in the same error. Customer service doesn't do anything. No call back, no answering of emails, nothing!
Hoping to change this review to more than 1 star however with lack of communication from Xcel, I feel like I have no choice but to warn others what type of company this is. My house is currently undergoing construction and amid a 30 degree day in the pandemic, it seems like an xcel employee noticed our construction and took it upon himself to remove our gas meter without notice. Our contractors failed in any attempt to get answers from the man removing our heat in the middle of the winter. When I called, I was met with more confusion from customer service about how I, the homeowner was not even notified after the meter was taken. I was promised a call back with answers and now a month has passed, I've heard from no one at the company and my home still does not have heat. Doesn't sound reasonable to me. If any of the details of my account are incorrect, that would be a result of xcel's lack of communication.
During the snowstorm on Wed evening, Oct 28, a large tree got into the power lines and knocked out power to two streets including our house. The service man showed up in less than an hour, and was up there in his bucket in windblown snow with a hand saw cutting the lines free. WOW What a trooper. He had us back up in less than 2 hrs. I was totally amazed and grateful. I just want to thank Him and all the other guys and girls that keep us all warm. Job well done!!!
Cannot set up, update or change Auto Pay without calling Customer Service. However, calling the Customer Service to resolve results in ridiculous wait times (I have been waiting for more than 35 minutes so far!). It is unbelievable that you have to wait for nearly 45 minutes or more just to pay Xcel Energy!!!
Since the whole coronavirus started, I was laid off from work. I could no longer pay with the normal bank debit card I had originally started the auto pay with. I was then forced to start using my unemployment card to make monthly payments. Still, their automated system has NO fail-safe to check if a payment was made and did NOT check to see if a payment was already made and kept charging my bank account and in turn put me into the negative with my bank even though I had already paid with my unemployment card.
I ended up with $300+ of overdraft fees plus fees from Xcel because the payments bounced forcing me to close my entire bank account. Xcel refused to accept the screenshots I still have as proof of payments already made and demand I pay regardless. I’m refused when I ask to speak to managers or if I do get to speak to one, they hide behind fine print policy. No company is allowed to double charge. POLICY DOES NOT TRUMP LAW!
My bill was 730 behind using the wonderful average monthly program. I pay on time every month and this is my 4th year in the row plenty of data to know what my Average bill should be.. I am sorry for anyone that gets stuck with this.. Now for several months I go from paying 250 a month to 408.. What a joke. Thanks Xcel. I hope you enjoy your Christmas bonuses. If I had another company to use I would!!
I live in 600 sq ft, they charged me 30-40 a month for just electricity. Then one day it went to over 100 and I called about it and they essentially said, "You figure out what's going on and if you don't pay we will shut you off." I couldn't and they did.
I got a little behind due to COVID-19 so I called in to make a payment, and set up an arrangement to pay the balance. Rep gave me wrong balance amount prior to me making a $50 payment with her so I told her to process another payment for the same amount, with both payments totaling $100...and set up the arrangement for the balance.
She, the rep, supposedly processed my requests but forgot to give me my reference #'s so I called back and learned that both payments were set up for $100 each instead of $50 each...that would have caused serious damage to my bank account, and I believe Xcel would not have returned it either! The 2nd rep corrected it as there was still time, however, she changed the arrangement amount from $100 to $50 for an auto pay on 7/24/20. When I received the successful payment notification I called in to correct it to $100...I got the run around, and was NEVER able to correct it, and make the additional payment of $50.
I even had a rep that placed me on hold after I requested a supervisor - he came back on the line, and he said he was a supervisor. I told him he was the same guy, and asked him for his employee ID# as I always document dates, times, and names of the reps I speak with at any company I call; because documentation is everything. I called back again, and requested a supervisor. I was told that a supervisors; supervisor will call me back within a couple of days, and as of this date I have not heard back from anyone at Xcel - Not even to take another payment. I guess they don't want my money.
Another issue: One of the reps I spoke with admitted they are slowly returning to work, but most are still working from home. I have a problem with this because they have access to our social security numbers, date of birth, address...all information they need to steal our identities...! NOT OK!!!! Since this is an election year, I am reaching out to our local politicians to change some laws on how these companies collect & share our information, they're hiring, and training procedures, company rules, regulations, and guidelines.
Our identities are at risk with employees that are obviously far less than capable of taking a $50 payment, and setting up payment arrangements correctly especially in the midst of all this chaotic COVID-19 pandemic...I am unemployed like most, and I cannot afford to have more than one rep at Xcel to make detrimental financial mistakes on my bank, and energy accounts (plural)...especially during the COVID-19 pandemic! They need to hire people who can comprehend what they hear, and read. I went through several reps, and they still couldn't get my payment amounts correct! I am at a total loss here.
Moved to a smaller apartment and my bill doubled, when I tried to explain and talk to a manager I got absolutely no help. She wouldn't listen.. Manager was unprofessional and rude!. No respect for customer. I will make all the the Federal Utilities!
My bank was charged via autopay, but for an amount OVER the amount my bill was supposed to be. Checking my online bill, they issued the overcharged amount for a credit on next month's bill. Normally this would be fine, but I lost my job due to Coronavirus and every little bit counts today, tomorrow, next week. I can't have money taken and held onto that I didn't owe in the first place, even if I'll get it deducted from next month's bill.
To add insult to injury (literally) I called the billing dept and spoke with a man who consistently talked down to me (a woman) as if I'm an idiot and need help with basic math. He kept repeating the same phrases over and over, obfuscating the issue, as if he was trying to overwhelm me with multiple billing dates and amounts from months ago that were already paid months ago. My only questions to him were (1) Why was I over-charged if it was determined back in June that I was owed a credit? and (2) Why can they not correct the mistake and put the money back in my account today? (Or why didn't they correct the error right when it happened instead of holding onto my money without saying anything?)
They've told me they can have a higher authority review my account and they might issue me a check in the mail. Which is ridiculous because every other company is able to issue refunds right into the bank account.. And the postal service is so unreliable right now, I may not get that check until next month anyway. This is maddening.
I know this company has a monopoly on the power here in the mountains, but the level of incompetency is incredible. I am an electrical contractor and need to let some know they have become nearly totally incompetent. Long story short I have spent over a month trying to make a service change with Xcel. For 1 underground upgrade, we have had to deal with 3 different entities within Xcel to try and complete the installation. First was Q3 for design which actually had the only person with any intelligence. Then Sturgeon Electric for the install who did not complete their install correctly, leaving it in our hands to complete their job to their specification only to have an person from Xcel come out and decline the install after cutting the existing power to the home.
Long story short Xcel has no idea what one hand is doing with the other! There is no accountability or responsibility within the company. NO supervisor to work the problem. Ken the Xcel employee comes out. Shuts down the service, pulls the meter, tells the site electrician it will not work as they had designed it and leaves! The story goes on but we have had so many experiences like this with Xcel I can no longer be quiet! Beware and get everything in writing and have all their personnel visit the site if there is any chance to get it right on their end. I wish we had options for service providers.
A couple months ago, my friend checked her bank account to see that Xcel had taken out money for her electric bill. The only problem was that she had paid online the week before. She called and told them of this error, only to be told rudely that she had made a second payment online when she didn’t. Okay fast forward to today: I did the same thing and got told the same thing. Why would I make a double payment on my account when I pay Xcel every other month? It literally makes no sense and the customer service person I talked to was rude when I asked her to reverse the charge. It’s only an electricity bill but it was super irritating to deal with, especially when it wasn’t my fault. If I could use someone else for electricity I would, but unfortunately I can’t.
If you can go with (have the option to) a different service please do. I got a random disconnection notice during the state shutdown and I was not even behind on my account. Actually I still had a week till the due date. Is Xcel in the business of now threatening people during a crisis? They say that during this time no disconnections will be made and yet they are sending them out to people that are up to date? Get your crap together. Nice fear tactic there. Sadly in my county I only have Xcel to get my service from. I am very disappointed with this company and how they are handling this time.
Had a damaged power line last summer, had Xcel send a repair tech who showed up angry he had to make the repair, he only did half the repair leaving the main ground still severed, two month of continuing electrical problems and melted cable wire the only ground wire still available, called xcel back again to finish. Same repair tech was furious. He had to come out again and threatened to permanently shut off our power for his mistake, found out the real problem was the wiring to the house is too small and will catch fire before the 200 amp breaker kicks off, a 4 gauge wire can only handle a max of 70 amps and it will dry at that point, it is impossible for my 200 amp breaker the trip before excess wires go up in flames, even their tech said the wiring was insufficient to handle more than 140 amps @ 240v, problem should have never happened and why did xcel get away with creating a fire hazard just to save money on using smaller wire?
Xcel Energy locked my account temporarily with no option to restore it on my own, I am left to contact them to unlock it now. IF I COULD!!!! As I am trying to go on chat because I am in a foreign country it shows me that they are sorry but they are currently experiencing high volume and a phone number that I can't call. What a joke of a company. Either aim for improvement or quit doing business because this is simply poor performance on your end.
I received an unsolicited phone call from one of their callers. When I tried to get my name removed from their list, the caller told me to calm down and became unprofessional. Considering I do not give out my phone number and they got my husband's name wrong, I'm fairly certain they used third party information to contact me. Do not trust this company and do your research on solar. They tell a lovely tale, but it's about their bottom line, not yours. They do not use honest techniques in my book.
Starting about 9:30 am and ending about 4:30 pm on 10/9/2019, Excel interrupted my service without any warning. After the outage started, they sent me an email which I could not receive because my router had no power. Similarly, I could not check their web site with my computer for the same reason. This appears to have been a scheduled repair involving several power poles and many workers and vehicles, yet Excel didn't include advance notification of affected houses in the planning. This lack of concern for their customers comes from a company that claims the City of Boulder could never achieve their level of service if it takes over power distribution. If this is an example of what they consider good service, save me from it.
I'm not one to leave rude reviews but I have never hated a company more than I hate Xcel. There is nothing quite like a company that refuses to replace old equipment that desperately needs to be replaced to the point where our power goes out at least 3 times a month for no weather related issues or anything other than the fact that our equipment is just way too old. I am currently writing this review at 4 in the morning. Our power went out an hour ago, woke the whole family up. It is such a common occurrence here that we are used to having no lights and AC and not being able to sleep because it is way too hot since none of our fans work either since the power is out. Not only this, but we can no longer rely on keeping our cars in our garage because our power goes out so frequently and we have had to throw out numerous amounts of food due to losing power for over 8 hours at once.
Not to mention, we have contacted Xcel about the excessive loss of food and they told us they would reimburse us for what we lost since our power goes out so frequently. Months later and we still have yet to be paid back a dime. Every time our power goes out they tell us it will be restored by a certain time but this means absolutely nothing as we learned the company has not even come out to start working on the issue by the time they said it would be fixed. We actually called to ask why an outage that's supposed to be 2 hours keeps getting extended to 8 hours and the lady on the phone said they had not even begun working on fixing it but they know people will be annoyed if they tell them the real time it will be fixed so they just make up a time and then keep delaying it after that.
This particular time we called, the power went out in the middle of the night and Xcel said that it would be restored by 7:30. 7:30 rolled around and they all of a sudden extended it to 9:30. This kept happening until it was all of a sudden 5:00 at night before anybody was even in our area to fix the power. How in the world would the power be restored at 7:30 in the morning if nobody even starts working on it til 5? Right now, Xcel estimates our power will be restored by 6:30 in the morning but we all know that it is just going to keep getting extended. It is currently August 21st and we are without power. 6 days ago, our power went out as well. We cannot even make it a full week without losing power again.
All of the houses around our neighborhood of 120 customers constantly have power. We are just the lucky 120 who get to put up with this because our equipment is old. I get that power goes out in the dead of winter and that's understandable but it does not matter what time of year it is or what time of day, our power goes out at all hours and all seasons but especially summer, the hottest time of the year. What's even worse is that one of my neighbors has to be hooked up on oxygen 24/7. He does have a backup for the many times the power goes out resulting in his tank no longer working but we keep saying what if his backup were to fail?
It is absolutely ridiculous every time we lose power and Xcel is an absolute pain to deal with. They do not care at all that the equipment needs to be replaced, they don't care we are frequently without power, they are nasty on the phone and get mad at us when we are just trying to be able to have power, and they lie to us and say they will fix it by a certain time just to, "avoid customers getting upset because the people haven't even come out to start working on it". One particular employee I talked to was literally going off about how one time we only lost power for 2 hours so it can't be that bad and completely ignored all of the many more times that outweigh this time where we lost power for 6-8 hours at a time which is honestly quite common here, all because they keep coming up with excuses to not fix our equipment.
Needless to say, after 2 years of putting up with this, we have finally just realized that our power going out for long periods of time multiple times a month is STILL not enough to qualify for this to be a problem, according to Xcel. Since they won't do anything, we are finally just moving. If we could have switched to a different company, we would have been the first ones to switch but of course, Xcel is a monopoly so that's not an option. And because they're a monopoly, they can treat their customers however they want because they don't have to worry about people leaving for another company. As the title says, this is hands down the absolute worst company I have ever dealt with.
Another bad experience with the electric utility company. They don't have smart meters and so meters are read by physical meter reader personnel in MN. Our first and initial reading was way off (I took pictures of both electric and gas meters to make sure we had no gas leaks or stray electrical drains prior to moving in). First bill was enormous based on the wrong first reading. Customer service on the phone was very rude, unaccommodating, and uninformed to say the least. If you have options, I would look elsewhere.
I'm being charged electric on a place I've already moved out of over a month ago. I asked them to stop and they were less than polite in telling me they wouldn't help me, and they will continue to charge me, and not refund me. It should not take an army to stop being billed for something I'm no longer using. You're better off buying solar panels and getting your own electricity than using this company. Shady business practices and zero accountability, and they have a monopoly so they can do whatever they please.
My electric got cut off like 3 days ago _ I paid it 3 days ago & they still haven't came to turn it on...it's so very hot for my children & they still haven't came out.. What gets me is that it don't take them long to come out & shut it off but to reconnect it. It's ridiculous. What can I do?
Xcel Energy Company Information
- Company Name:
- Xcel Energy
- Website:
- www.xcelenergy.com
You’re signed up
We’ll start sending you the news you need delivered straight to you. We value your privacy. Unsubscribe easily.