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Frustrated Long Time Customer
May 12, 2011
Deceptive Sales
I have been an Energy Plus customer for almost 3 years and I found out in the last 6 month I have been over paying by quite a lot. I found this site and it appears that I was not alone. As a poster has said here, they are extremely good at trying to resolve the problem at the end but they don't address the real root of the cause. They are just extremely over priced compared to Con Edison. What is the point of rebates if they over charge you and then give a little bit of it back to you. I wanted to believe I wasn't a sucker but after going back and forth about 4 times with their sales people I realized this is their business practice, to scam you nicely and pretend that they are not over charging you. They say please and thank you but they WILL charge you at least 20 to 30% more. They kept insisting I get the facts and check the "all-in" rate that they quote vs the low "not all in" rate that Con Ed doesn't charge. So after wasting more hours of my time they still ended up being at least 20% higher!
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sge411
February 13, 2011
Scam, over charges by 100 to 250%
Please read this if you are considering switching your electric supply company to Energy Plus.
Over two years ago I switched to Energy Plus after speaking to one of their sales people. They told me I should see and an average of 7% savings over my current suppliers charges in addition to getting 1% back into my son's Upromise account as well as a $25 signing bonus that would also go into the Upromise account. I believed Energy Plus's representation and I signed up. I now regret it and partially blame myself because my wife knew something was wrong. She pays the utility bills and on several occasions she had told me that the electric bills seemed really high as compared to the past. I dismissed her concerns with a statement like " energy is getting more expensive, don't worry we have a good deal". I now know, what an idiot I was not to listen to her. Last week my wife insisted I call to have the meter checked because of how high the bill was. I did, and was shocked when National Grid told me that in my most recent bill, I paid over 14 cents per KWH to Energy Plus when National Grid was charging a little over 5 cents. I immediately called Energy Plus and spoke to a supervisor, this is where it gets interesting. The supervisor was apologetic and explained, that recently their cost had spiked but generally speaking, over time everything averaged out and that they offered competitive electric supply rates. I now know, that this phrase "competitive rates " is a phrase they use a lot to cover their deception and presumably, walk the fine line of legality. Their idea and anybody else’s idea of competitive is quite different. The supervisor I spoke with did a quick review of my account and told me that indeed, over the last year I had paid a bit more than my original supplier would have charged but the year prior to that I had done well. He assured me that he would look at the last year of my bills and see if "some adjustment could be made".
While I was waiting for the supervisors call back, I did a bit of investigating myself. I googled "Energy Plus Scam" and was not surprised to see the page fill with complaints of over charging, then I took a detailed look at my last 23 months of Electric bills, noted the amount charged by Energy Plus for my energy supply and called National Grid (previous supplier) and got the amount they had been charging during the same period. The result of this simple check, dropped my jaw in disbelief. I had been taken to the cleaners. Over 23 months, Energy Plus overcharged me from 100% to over 200% more each month than what I would have been charged if I had stayed with National Grid. Most of the months the overcharge was between 140% to 200%. I called the Energy Plus supervisor back and asked him to look back a bit further than one year because his representation that the first year of their service, I had done well, was much like the original sales spiel, not true. The supervisor then told me that, I shouldn't forget, that all the while I had been benefiting from the 1% rebate back to my son's Upromise account and that their charge had been clearly stated on my bill. He went on to say that I could have canceled at anytime, free of charge and that as it turns out their company isn't as competitive (there's that word again) in my area as they are in other areas. The supervisor did get back to me that day, and offered me 600.00 and advised me that he didn't have to offer that. Six hundred dollars isn't close to what their overcharges amounted to. He went on to say that he was only able to go back one year in my account and that would be the best he could do.
I've severed my relationship with Energy Plus and am waiting for the check now. I fully expect the check to have some kind of statement below the endorsement area which will release them of any further liability. If that is the case I will not be signing it. Either way I will be filing a complaint with the NYS Public Service Commission (80 complaints so far ) and perhaps the NYS Attorney General in the coming weeks. It is indeed scary that a company like this can continue to do business in NYS. Why hasn't the NYS Public Service Commission shut them down. Why have the Energy Plus, executives not been prosecuted for fraud. I hope that Upromise has or is in the process of disassociating themselves from Energy Plus.
Bottom line, be very careful with these alternative energy companies. As it turns out, there are many predatory companies like Energy Plus out there. Some how they are allowed to continue to do business, this is truly a buyer beware industry.
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