Our Analysis of CPL Retail Energy

I have had several different accounts with CPL for years. Lately they have appllied the wrong checks to the wrong accounts repeatedlty, Lost multiple checks for 2 or 3 weeks and then "Found" them, Their customer service people have gottern rude and arrogant, and their prices on electricity just suck. While trying to clean up a misapplied check they posted to someone elses account, both my wife and I were treated as if we were idiots, told we needed to show our bill to our accountant and treated BAD. After I ordered a change in provider to Reliant I called them to again try to resolve their misapplication of a check. Over a 2 week period we faxed the front and back of the check 6 times. They now admit they have misapplied the check but still have not corrected the problem. 1 day before my electricity was to be switched, with them admitting they had misapplied the check, they disconnected. CSR's are uninformed, Unempowered and RUDE. Rates also dropped by about half after switch.

Customer service told me to pay separately because automatic deductions do not apply to final bill (I had sold my home). Well, I did just that and what happened? Of course, they also deducted the same amount automatically. Now they tell me that it would take 4 to 6 weeks to return my money. FOUR TO SIX weels... Wow.
If you are delinquent for that period they will charge you interest. They claim that is their policy. My reply: change your policy. CPL customer service is horrible.

My family and I have been with CPL for over 40 years. Weve never thought about shopping around for a better price. We have stayed true to CPL. Our bills are outrageous during the summer months, and of course we thought it was our home, older home poor insulation. Last summer I questioned their meter reading and they gave me a better kilowatt rate, but I had to agree to an extended contract with them for 1 year. Rarely do I look at my statements, I look at my bill online and pay it. But this time I took a look at my statement and found such a laughable bogus charge collection recovery fee of 29.95. I called them and asked them what that fee was about. I was told that when my account goes into disconnection status that they charge 29.95 for a disconnection fee. I was outraged! I paid my bill 5 days after it became due and on the website I had to option to split my payment for my next pay period. I got a reference I.D. number for both payments and that was that. So if arrangements were made, both given payment references, I asked why am I still incurring this bogus disconnection fee. Customer service was the worst! I couldnt get a straight answer from them. I was told that someone would be calling me to explain this charge. How can they explain away such a charge? My actual bill was not that high, but the additional charges and taxes were well over 100.00 dollars added onto my bill. I cant wait to get out from underneath these thieves! I wish someone state or federal would review how they are charging their customers. Now I question everything with CPL. I never thought I would. I do feel foolish it took so long to see their shady practices. They could care less about their customers as long as they can line their pockets with as many fees as they can tack onto each bill they send out. I will give a follow-up review of my conversation with the supervisor that is supposed to explain this charge, but that is giving them the benefit of the doubt that the call will actually be made. I would rate in the negative if I could.

CPL has lied to me for years i was told that i had the same compeny for 30 years wrong its direct enerrgy why cant they just say the compeny real name stay away why hide from the truth

I always kept CPL because of their service, but a recent experience has changed my mind. Trying to get an error and its repercussions fixed has taken me over a month and many hours on the telephone. It is still not fixed and I have had too many people tell me they can not help me and not pass me to someone who can. Understandably I am looking for a new supplier.

I had a renter move out of my house and went to get the electric switched to my name, they set me up with a new enrollment and ran credit check...came back saying i needed a 50 dollar deposit, i said ok, they charged my bank card 50 dollars...4 hours i got a call from them and they said i wasnt enrolled that i had to do it all over again and that my 50 dollar deposit i couldnt get credited, i ended up losing 50 dollars....they are rude, didnt care to help even though the first person i spoke to said i was enrolled and got email confirmation saying i was good to go and payment went through....i will never use them again...and for all others out there.....STAY AWAY from CPL

Customer service ice pitched me a 6 month plan yet didn't have the patience to explain it. Maybe he was not educated himself. He later told me in the conversation that his rate was different than the one online with my account and it was my responsibility. I asked him where online can I educate my self on my responsibilities he turned rude. Management needs to clearly define their role to sell a product along with courtesy. I'm not one to raise my voice, I did come close.

I am now on month 6 of billing. When I setup the account I gave them a credit card to run each month. They told me the card was a problem, so I gave them 2 more. It is weird they can't seem to run a card correctly, and I keep getting late fees, etc. This last time I gave them my Amex card which alerts me to charges. My bill says, DO NOT PAY, Auto Debit will be processed on 9/5. Of course it wasn't and I verified with Amex that they haven't even tried. What a poor excuse for a business. Every time I call they have the excuse their "system is being upgraded" please call back.

had a very hard time to disconnect to build new home now having a hard time trying to connect for new service

I HAVE NEVER POSTED A REVIEW ON THE INTERNET BEFORE BT I AM MOTIVATED BY THE OUTRAGUS EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD WITH THIS BUSINESS.
CPL is not honoring the term of our contract. I have spent many hours over the phone with them without a reasonable conclusion. I have provided them with the written proof of terms agreed to (I am a CPA so I keep Proof of everything I do... a good habit when dealing with those that can not be trusted) Even with the written proof they have been unwilling to honor the terms.... "someone put the wrong code into their system"... "they don't see that kind of plan was offered at the time I signed up"...it goes on and on... I sent them a copy of the letter I received in the mail from them and the detailed terms discussed over the phone with their employee. ... they are still not billing me according to those terms. THIS IS NOT THE CPL COMPANY WE GROW UP KNOWING. BEWARE AND FIND A MORE REPUTABLE ELETRIC PROVIDER THAT WILL ABIDE BY TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT!!!!

This has been the worst experience with a service provider. There was an inadvertent switch on our account whereby another energy company took over our account. Not sure how this happened, but was told by CPL in April that I would need to contact AEP to find out who. Upon calling AEP they said that CPL would need to take our bill back over. I worked with CPL from April until July trying to get our account reinstated. They eventually cancelled it saying that I waited too long. They told me I would need to set up a new account. I tried to do this but there was an error. I then received an email from them requesting me to call within 24 hours. When I did this the customer service rep had no idea why I was calling and didn't see my order for a new account. They told me I should actually connect this account to my other account. When this didn't work either, the rep told me someone would contact me in 24 hours. Same scenario. When I called back they didn't' know what the error was or how to fix it. They said it seemed like a credit issue. I asked to be transferred to their credit department but they only had an email address. I emailed the credit department and finally heard from someone who apologized for all the trouble but didn't have an answer. She promised to call back the next day. When the person called back they said my account was being set up as a residential account but needed to be set up as a business account and would transfer me to the business department and explain the situation. Upon transfer, the person thought I had called them and had no knowledge of my issue. When they looked up my account they did not see any orders and suggested I try again to set up a new account. They said I would need a separate account and not to add on to my existing account because they were different types of services. This is what I had originally tried to do! Supposedly the order is in place and will go thru this time. I'm not holding my breath. This has been the worst and hardest experience trying to request service. If it weren't' for our contract on our other account, I would choose someone else in an instant.

...or lack there of...incompetent employees... high prices and hidden fees...

I signed up with this company a year ago, from the beginning they seemed disorganized and confused. For example, the terms of the contract I signed up for was never applied and instead I received and different contract terms. I was about to contact them and perhaps the authorities to make them abide by their original contract but when I received the first bill I saw that the calculated TDU fees were in fact far less than the contract terms (about $0.012/KWh), this is in direct contrast to every single contract terms I have read on all energy company websites, and all of them say the TDU fees are not marked up and directly passed to customer!! However I took the discount and was happy with until the end of my when suddenly the fees shut up and it did not make sense any more to stay with them. I called and spoke to their customer service in INDIA but could not understand adequately what they say (sorry nothing against Indians but very very difficult to comprehend the accent) more over, they were fully uniformed about the process and could not provide any sane logical explanation. So their customer service appear just a cheap front facade to fool the requirements. Yet when the billing time comes around they are quick to charge you a 5% for paying ONE day late, happened to me twice. At best I would say they cannot explain what the charges are and how it is calculated, thus I am signing off with them and would go to try another-- hopefully a better un-confused company with English speaking customer service. I would say that the price was good for a while, and if they put their act together and clarify the charges they may have some success, but not under current circumstances. Every thing that I did and worked was online, never placed a request or order change through phone- the online stuff worked.

Horrible customer service, don't listen, charge you for services you've already paid for, tack on "extra" "disconnect" charges, even though you did not choose to tx to another provider. Point the blame at the customer even though the customer was not the company that called to disconnect service.

my power was disconnected, come to find out I had been paying CPL for five months without knowing it. so I tried to reinstall service was told three different amounts to reinstall service by several different people after the fourth person they blacklisted my account. Said that I could not get service and that I could not even speak to anybody. Insisted I'd have to wait 3-5 for them to call me or pay $600. Then every person that answered my phone call was just plain rude! Five minutes later I got an account with TXU with a better rate nicer customer service and people who I could actually understand. I do not recommend CPL at all. I have been with them for over 10 years and had several problems!!

I would never recommend cp&l to anyone. In August I called to c about making payment arrangements, I was approved. I was to pay 95.00 each month till I was caught up. In September during hurricane Harvey I contacted cpl again, I was still having trouble paying my bill. The gentleman I talked to at cpl told me to pay the 95.00 plus I told him I could make a 100 dollar payment on my regular bill. So I paid 195.00. I was told by cpl that I had not made my monthly bill so I defaulted according to them. When I called twice to try to fix the problem I was told both times I had to pay something immediately if they were even going to try to help me. I received a disconnect notice today for Monday the 23rd. When I called cpl the woman I talked to was rude and no help at all. My bill says I owe 765.00 when I called I was told I owed over 8 hundred dollars and that I had to pay the full amount or my bill could not be turned back on. Cpl also has a switch hold on my name and property, which means cpl would rather my family be without power rather than help me try to pay my bill.

I've been a loyal customer for several yearz onlynfor them to shutboff my service after having troublr paying online. I eork ling uours and long days. I dont have time to contact anyone by phone to pay my bill.
So frustrating to come home from work after a long night of working to find the powers off. I contacted them by phone and the person who spoke to me said he would have the restoration in 2 to 4 hours but it depends on how the technicians feel. IT DEPENDS ON THEM ON HOW SOON THEY WILL TURN THE POWER ON. no one has time to be waiting on that. Terrible terrible.

I switched to CPL from a Just energy..they explained kw rate 0.137 free weekends starting Friday evening until Monday am..kids in school from 7am to 6pm..adults work out of town from 7am to 6pm Mom through Friday..yet my current bill $253.61. Saved $55.79..woopty do..cant believe we at home all evening Fri..all day Sat n Sun..do shit load of laundry and drying on weekend since its free..and only save average about $8.50 a day on weekends? Hasnt been cold or hot all month of Feb so havent used ac..our stove is broken so no 220volt items being used...AGAIN..rip.off...STAY AWAY from CPL and only been with them x 3 months..and a $29.95 recovery fee? WTF

I have had to deal with block walkers who try to trick customers around my block to switch back to CPL from other companies by asking only permission to verify their meter on their properties. Multiple neighbors have complained and I have talked to the CPL workers walking the blocks trying to trick the people by the way of possible future shutdowns being reported to CPL since CPL runs the system. They use the same excuse with every neighbor I have spoken with until I verified that all they wanted to do was verify the meter on the property to switch the customer from whatever company they had prior to CPL and that's when they quickly held their hands and said good night when just a few days prior my neighbor to the left couldn't get them to leave her alone. That is a bad practice CPL for getting your old customers back. Shame on you.