Posted by
Bill Cherry on Friday, July 04, 2008 3:34:27 PM
Texans’ arms were seriously twisted and they gave into the idea that deregulating the state electricity providers would bring better rates and better service than they were used to with the single, state-regulated franchise method.
I recall sitting in a Rotary Club meeting of 200. The guest speaker was trying to convince us deregulation would be a good thing. When he finished, I stood up and asked for a show of hands of the members who agreed. Not one hand went up.
As it turns out, apparently just as the Rotary members speculated, rates and service have gone in the opposite direction. Since January 2008, the state utility commission reports that it has processed 3,168 customer complaints.
There are some thirty-seven providers with TXU having the most customers. The commission shows that it has received 1,037 about it and its practices. Texas Power is fifteenth on the list, and the commission has heard from forty-one of its customers. I don't know what this means except that apparently a lot of people were dissatisfied enough to write the state a complaint letter.
Because my wife and I were dissatisfied with TXU, we decided to support one of KSKY-AM’s advertisers and change our service to Texas Power. We’ve been dealing with them for about six months, and since I’m the bill payer of our family, I am ready to dump them.
Texas Power uses a bank box located in Dallas. Most businesses that have large numbers of payments coming to it through the mail use a bank box. The idea is quite simple. The post office box where you mail your check and payment stub is emptied everyday by the bank. For a fee to the vendor, the bank updates your account with the vendor's customer, and clears your check.
Three months in a row, I mailed our check to the DAllas bank box the day after we got the bill from Texas Power. Three months in a row, the check was apparently not processed by the bank until after the delinquency date. We're talking about two weeks or so. My checks to other vendors at their lock boxes cleared quickly. Not Texas Power's/
But it gets even more perplexing. Three months in a row, my check to them had cleared my account at my bank, so Texas Power was paid, yet a day or two afterwards, they sent me a letter threatening to turn off the service.
So this month, our bill jumped about 63% over the previous month. No explanation. It just did. My wife called to ask that we be transferred to an accounting that would allow us to pay an average year around.
“Nope, can’t do that until you’ve been a customer for a year,” the person said, even though our payment records with both TXU and Texas Power are easily available.
So Texans are putting pressure on their legislators to go back to individual franchises and regulated rates. And these birds don’t seem to understand that not staying on top of service to their customers is nailing their coffins shut.
Next week, I'm going to move our account from Texas Power to another company. I doubt it will help. You see, it is unhealthy for any business to be a menopoly or a member of a subset of a menopoly