Jason Godard of Cedar Hill fell for one of the most common deceptions in what The Watchdog calls the Lone Scam State of Texas.
His electricity contract was about to expire, and he went shopping.
He started the correct way. Check out the government website — www.PowerToChoose.org — and get a feel for current electricity prices, which constantly change.
He typed “power to choose” into the search bar on Google. But the first four websites to pop up were not the government site. They turned out to be electricity brokers, collecting leads for electricity companies.
They find their way to the top of the search results by buying advertising and using “power to choose” as keywords. That pushes the government site down lower in search results.
Godard called a number on the site and was connected with a broker from SaveOnEnergy of South Carolina. Godard told me later in interviews that he thought he was still on the government site.
The broker sold him on a plan that gave him an 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour rate, plus a $100 bill credit if he hit monthly usage targets. The broker promised his bill would be lower.
All was well.
Then the first bill came.
$250 for the first two weeks.
He looked at the bill and saw a 16.7 cents kWh charge,
‘A nightmare’
Most people would get angry, contact the electricity provider and also the broker who found the lead and closed the deal. They’d raise a fuss and maybe get their rate lowered or a credit to keep the customer happy.
Godard did all that and much more. He filed a formal complaint with the Public Utility Commission, traveled to Austin to argue his case in front of an administrative law judge and attended a failed mediation session.
Still to come, he says, is another Austin hearing and then possibly filing a claim in district court.
“You have to put your foot down,” he told The Watchdog. “It’s been a nightmare.”
SaveOnEnergy lawyer Stephanie Green released a statement to The Watchdog: “Thank you for reaching out. As per our company policy, we do not comment on ongoing legal matters. SaveOnEnergy remains dedicated to regulatory compliance and delivering best-in-class customer service.”
In legal papers filed by SaveOnEnergy, the company insists it did nothing wrong with the sales phone call. All of Godard’s allegations are false, the company says. He was given accurate information about the kWh rate and the monthly bill credit.
With all his work Godard told me, “I’ve become quite the expert.” The Texas retail electricity system “is based on deception, and they’re taking advantage of the fact that people don’t understand how this works.”
His opinions match results of a survey I recently reported on that found Texans are likely paying too much for their electricity.
Rep’s honesty?
Maybe the worst part of this story is that Godard says he asked the SaveOnEnergy rep if he worked at PowerToChoose.org and the rep falsely said yes.
I’m not able to listen to the phone call recording to verify this because the company won’t release it until Godard signs a nondisclosure agreement. He won’t.
Godard challenged me to call SaveOnEnergy and test it myself.
In the first call, I asked the rep, “Is this the PowerToChoose.org website?”
“That is also our website,” she replied. “That is our … (she paused and repeated) website. That is correct, so I can also assist you.”
In a second test call I identified myself as a journalist writing about the company and asked the same question. He replied that it was not the PTC website.
When I told Godard what happened, he laughed triumphantly. “See?”
Rob Cantrell, chief executive of Flagship Power, the provider who bought the lead from SaveOnEnergy, calls Godard “a crusader.”
“He just seems like he’s out for blood,” the CEO said.
He said he wished “the call would have been a little better.”
Both the CEO and the chief financial officer called Godard later and asked, “Hey, what can we do to make you happy?”
Godard wants to teach SaveOnEnergy a lesson. He was offered refunds and credits, but he insists that part of the settlement involves retraining for phone reps. SaveOnEnergy refuses, Godard told me.
I checked with the PUC and learned that neither SaveOnEnergy nor Flagship Power have had any regulatory difficulties.
Godard stubbornly won’t budge. “Their name alone is misleading,” he says.
Fix the system
Godard, the self-described expert, has ideas to fix the system.
- Create regulations for termination fees. Now, the fees are all over the place and confusing to shoppers.
- Do the same with bill credits which are hard to understand.
- Ban electricity providers and brokers from using the words “power to choose” as keywords in search engines.
- Redo the three-tiered display of kWh rates as required by the state. Now they break it down into 500 kWh, 1,000 kWh and 2,000 kWh usage per month. That’s confusing to consumers.
