This company is a complete fraud and convince unsuspecting consumers into purchasing a fixed rate contract so that your heating or gas bills will not go up. This is a total farce. When faced with our new heating bill, we discovered that the hydro bills had doubled. We immediately went to Hydro, and the clerk there took one look at our bill, and said 'there is your problem, right there, you signed a contract with Universal Energy, and their rates are double from what the actual rates are.' We were shocked.

My son, a young man, purchased his first home, and in an attempt to save money, believed these, so called salesmen (and I use that term loosely). In an attempt to cancel the contract, we were told by Universal Energy that we would have to pay a $614.00 penalty. This convinced me that in fact, this was a total scam. Upon more research, I also found out the Hydro rates had not even gone up since 2002, and even if they went up in the near future, it would never go high enough to cover the costs incurred by my son.

This company is a poor excuse for a business, and in my opinion should be shut down. Be aware!!! They will show up at your door, or phone, you, and they are good. They will make this sound so good, that it is hard to turn down. But trust me, when the Hydro companies are telling you that this is a ripoff, then that is what this is. If I can only save a few consumers from getting caught up in this scam, then this is worth it for me.

My situation:

The original application was signed by someone who was not on my lease, not on my hydro bill, and not my spouse.

She was misled into signing this thing by someone she thought represented the government, and was told to check "spouse" on the application.

They called 10 days later, and heeding this persons advice that the deal was good, I gave my verbal consent.

Now, clearly I was wrong for trusting this person without reading the agreement. But is this even accepatable under canadian law? When agreeing over the phone, I had absolutely zero knowledge of a 5 year term or that I was even binding myself in any way (I had never even seen any paperwork before).

Now I'm stuck with these fools. I'm considering just paying the cancellation fee and making it my life's quest to tear this company down, but I'm wondering if anyone can advise on my options.

Thanks