This company sucks 15-16 dollars a day on prepaid electricity is insane it’s just me and my wife we are never home we both work we keep our lights off all day and night everything unplugged and yet we have spent at least 400 in a month in electricity we will be switching !!!
Response: Mr. Clay- To recap you are stating that being charged $15 to $16 per day even though you are never home and you unplug everything. I can see where something like that would be alarming, so I have done a quick review of your billing. While your daily charges occasionally are greater that $15 per day (this has happened twice in the last 30 days) they have not reached the $16 mark. They are high however, but this is not due to Payless Power’s rate being much higher than other options in your area. Your rate is very competitive with any Company out there, but you do have some things that add a couple of dollars per day to your charges. One is a daily payment plan deduction, and the other is due to making payments under the minimum $75 payment amount . If you can manage to make a payment of $75 you can avoid the minimum payment fee listed on your terms of service. Also please note that regardless of which provider you use, the meter read will be the same because AEP Texas owns the meter and performs the reads . For example, if Payless Power billing your tomorrow for 70 KWH, you would be billed for that same amount even if you had a competitor providing your service. If you log into your customer portal you can see a “usage insights’ graph at the bottom of the page that shows daily, hourly and monthly usage as well as high and low daily temperatures. Day by day what it is showing is lower usage at night and in the early morning with higher usage in the afternoon and early evening. This is pretty common at a Texas home in the summer and indicates HVAC use but of course only you would be able to tell what’s on in the home. If you want a more detailed breakdown, you can register at www.smartmetertexas.com and it can show you your usage in 15-minute increments. Published on July 17, 2024
I am completely unimpressed with this company and also feel as though I have been scammed. I have called in multiple times and they said they will do an internal review on the account. The quote I received when choosing which power company to use was $90. I have had service for 10 days and have already paid $70. This is for a very small vacant condo. I went and checked the condo when I saw the amount I was being charged. The only thing that even had the breaker turned on was the air conditioning which was set in the mid 70’s. I was told my two highest usage dates were the day I stopped there and turned the air up to 80 and also the 4th of July when it was vacant and not one person set foot on the premises. They did say I could break my contract but also just kept repeating that the meter readings are exact, and they do not believe anything is wrong. Based on these rates we can expect the monthly bill to be $333 or more once occupied.
Response: Ms. Spry- To recap your review states that you have concerns with the cost of your daily billing at your empty condo. I have done a quick review of your billing as I understand that this may be alarming. Your charges are high for an uninhabited property however, but this is not due to Payless Power’s rate being much higher than other options in your area. Your rate is very competitive with any Company out there. Please note though, that regardless of which provider you use, the meter read will be the same because Oncor owns the meter and performs the reads . For example, if Payless Power bills you for 70 KWH tomorrow, you would be billed for that same amount even if a competitor provided your service. If you log into your customer portal you can see a “usage insights’ graph at the bottom of the page that shows daily, hourly and monthly usage as well as high and low daily temperatures. If you select the hourly option this may provide some valuable visibility into when your property is using power. That in turn may reveal what is using the power. If you want a more detailed breakdown, you can register at www.smartmetertexas.com and it can show you your usage in 15-minute increments. If you are still not satisfied what’s happening at your property you do have the option of requesting a meter test. I suggest contacting Oncor directly to schedule this. If you have not had one at the property within the past 4 years its free. If you have had a test within the past 4 years and Oncor finds an issue , the test is also free. If you have had a test within the past four years and no problems are found each test would cost $50.00. We can also schedule this for you . Call us at 888 963 9363 for assistance. Published on July 17, 2024
I have been using them for two years now, I have been pretty happy with them up until Hurricane Berly hit. I am on a daily billing prepaid service and our whole city was down with power and I was still being charged as if I was using full power. Been calling to get this fixed and very hard to reach a person.
Response: Hello- Please note that as a pre-paid provider, our systems our systems are designed to take meter data as provided by Centerpoint, and calculate your daily charges based off that. Centerpoint’s metering systems are designed to assume that if a meter stops providing usage data, that it is actually working… just unable to submit the data. When a natural disaster such as Beryl hits, Centerpoint’s system will unfortunately assume that meters at homes affected by the event are actually still energized, and an estimate is generated. Centerpoint sends this estimated meter read to Payless Power, and we calculate charges based on this just like we do every day. This can be highly alarming to a customers …especially of they are without power for an extended period of time. The good news is that Centerpoint also has a mechanism to correct this. They will generate a monthly meter read at the end of a customer’s 30-day billing cycle and send it to Payless Power. If there is a difference between that monthly read and what you were billed daily, the system will make an automatic adjustment in the form of a credit. This same methodology applies to monthly billed post-paid service as well but its hardly ever noticed because everything is usually adjusted by the time the bill is mailed. However, with daily billed plans, it can be alarming and impactful. Rest assured, that any energy related charges billed to you during the storm outage should be automatically adjusted at the beginning of your next billing cycle. If you cannot wait for this to occur, call us ta 888 963 9363 and we can apply temporary solution until the new billing cycle begins. Published on July 17, 2024
You sent me a message at 8:11 am today (Sunday) telling me I have $4.27 Positive Balance, lasting approximately 1 day. Moments later you text me I have until 8pm tonight to make a payment or avoid disconnection. I have tried unsuccessfully to login online. And your phones and chat are not available until 9am Monday (I tried both). I WANT to make a payment but am unable to by your deadline. Since you are closed Sunday, customers should not be disconnected until they have a chance to make a payment when you reopen on Monday. Current policy is bad customer service.
Response: Hi Pamela- Your comments state that you received confusing and contradictory messaging which threated disconnection on a Sunday . We understand how alarming this would be and we can offer some clarification. First please note that we do not disconnect on Saturday or Sunday. Also, if you do need to reach us on Sunday you can do so by email between 11:00 AM and 8:00 Pm however our phone lines are closed on Sunday. Also, the alarming message you received is known as a low balance warning and we are required by the Public Utilities Commission to send these out if a customer is within a few days of depleting their balance. It reads as follows: “URGENT: Your balance is critically low and will only last 1 day or less. Please make sure your balance is positive to prevent service interruption. Request an extension online or by phone for additional time. If the extension is approved, you will have until 8PM to make a payment and avoid disconnection.” Even though you received this on a Sunday, what it is stating is that an extension can be requested through your portal or our automated phone system and if granted will be applied until 8:00 PM. Another tip… during the week, disconnection orders are not sent to AEP Central after 3:00 so a protection until 8:00 PM will protect you for the whole day. I hope this helps. Published on June 28, 2024
Watch out for this company! Payless Power will not honor a contract when rates go up between the time you sign up and when the contract begins. I received an email on 4/4/2024 stating that I needed to pay by June 27th at 6 pm for the contract to begin. I paid on 5/29/2024 and was sent a text on 6/03/2024 stating a refund is being processed . Called customer service, they are worthless, trying to talk over you, not listening, etc. I asked to speak to someone else. The next lady I spoke to was nice, though she gave me a new rate that was above the rate I had contracted. Then that rate was not an actual rate according to the sales person I spoke to. Below is a copy of the email I received stating when the payment needed to be made. Watch out, watch out, watch out! This place stinks. On Apr 4, 2024, at 8:32 AM, [email protected] wrote: Hello, Thank you for your inquiry. We understand this is an important matter. We show that the selected start date is 6/27. Please be advised that to ensure same day services, an initial payment must be made before 6:00 pm that day. Regards, Customer Care
Response: Mr Hummel- Your review states that Payless Power refused to honor the rates you signed up for . We can understand why this situation would be concerning to you and we’ve reviewed your account to see what occurred. Our records show that you enrolled for service at the beginning of April but did not make your payment to start service until the end of May. Please note that once the enrollment process has started for pre-paid service, the customer has 30 days to activate the account. This requires the initial payment. If the initial payment is not posted within 30 days of the enrollment process being started, the account will be cancelled. In this case your account was cancelled at the beginning of May. You posted a payment nearly a full month after the account had been cancelled so our system automatically generated a full refund to you. You are warmly invited to start a new account, but the rates would be at the current market price and not the rates offered the first week of April. Please visit www.paylesspower.com for current rates in your area. Published on June 28, 2024
always can’t login my account. this error massage pop out every time. Blocked for Fraud Prevention: Call 1-866-963-9353 for assistance. You have to call
Response: Hello- A supervisor will contact you to assist on this matter. Published on June 28, 2024
This is by far the worst experience I have ever had I have been without power since 9 pm last night it is now 8:00am, there is no way to contact anyone after 5 pm which is absurd! How are you running a business that way there should always be an emergency line for your customers from what I’ve read reconnection takes about 2 hours it’s been 9 hours in my case the balance is constantly going down I’m being charged almost $20 a day for electricity I choose this company because I need a no deposit option but it was clearly one of the worst decisions I’ve made you all should be ashamed charging these rates in this economy and providing horrible customer service!
Response: Hello- Your comments stated that you were without power but could not contact anyone after 5:00 PM. You also feel that your rates are excessive. Being without power can definitely be frustrating and upsetting so your reaction is understandable. Please note that while our Customer Care department closes at 5:00 PM, we do offer email support for emergency situations until 9:00 PM Mon-Fri and from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM on Sundays. It is also important to note that per your “Your Rights as a Customer” document that was provided in the welcome kit that you received upon enrollment, outages can be reported 24/7 either to Centerpoiint directly or by being transferred to Centerpoint by calling the automated phone system . Any maintenance and repairs needed to polls, lines, meters etc would be handled by Centerpoint, the owner of the grid. In relation to your rates, your rate is actually very competitive compared to what is available in your area presently ( competitors are currently charging about 14.5 cents ). This is based on plans displayed for your address on powertochoose.org. You do use a lot of energy though which has caused your daily charges to be pretty high . This is not a new trend at your address though. Historical usage over the year prior to when you started with Payless Power also shows very high usage for an apartment. You may want to reach out your property manager to have them check your HVAC system or thermostat. 888-963-9363. Published on June 28, 2024
Trash Company these people are thieves I did a payment on May 17 of 55.00 on the 20 of this month my balance was was 34.88 then on the 21 my balance is 2.00 they told me cause of the reconciliations usage first of all I had no power at all due to the storm we had a pole fell in my neighborhood I dint get power to Sunday afternoon makes no sense how they charge you when you don’t have power at all it shows what kind of trash company this is
Response: Ramiro- You review states that you were upset because you were charged for usage during the time that you had no power during the storm. Please note that Centerpoint generates estimates each day that a meter does not report usage back because their system assumes that power is being used but not reported. This happens even during outages due to weather etc. This can be very impactful to pre-paid customers who are billed daily instead of once per month so when this occurs we have options for customers until Centerpoint makes the usage adjustments at the end of your monthly billing cycle. In this case, account protections were in place for extended periods of time . I can also see that you received a credit on the account die to this on 6/20/24. This adjustment covered any overbilling that occurred between 5/13/24 and 6/12/24. Published on June 28, 2024
We have been without service from a tornado. Haven’t had power since may16th and it is now 20th. I’m still being charged daily. Which makes me think how many times have they added charges or made up the meter because we have no power at all on the block and I getting emails that’s 34kwh is being used . Also I had my wife call to try to figure it out the lady was so rude and wouldn’t help my wife because she’s not on the acct. I’m really considering changing light company’s. 4 days without power and water and there reps are so rude to there customers.
Response: Mr. Ramirez- your review states that you were without power in May due to the tornadoes and storms that struck the Cypress/Houston area, and you were still being charged daily even though you were without power for a week. First let me say how sorry we are that you have been impacted by the severe spring weather that hit Texas. We also acknowledge how concerning the continued daily billing is for customers in these types of scenarios . Please note that if the electric grid in an area is damaged, Centerpoint‘s systems are programmed to act as if power is still consumed but the meter is just failing to report the usage. Due to this , estimates are generated, and our system generates charges due to this. This sounds alarming but this does not mean that your money is being taken from you. There are also safeguards programmed into Centerpoint’s system to adjust your usage at the end of your billing cycle which would result in a credit back to your account . Based on how long it is until your next monthly meter read, we will either place a temporary credit on the account until your adjustments post, or we will place an extension until the adjustment posts. Either way you will receive relief until the billing is able to be corrected , I hope this helps. Published on June 28, 2024
I’m enjoying the rate very. Manageable. Rate
Response: Thank you Miguel for the 5 star review! Published on May 17, 2024
