CPL Retail Energy Customer Reviews

We've been collecting customer reviews for CPL Retail Energy so you can get the inside scoop on what it's like to be a customer.

If you want to know our take, check out our CPL Retail Energy Ratings page.

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CPL Retail Energy's Customer Reviews Summary

CPL Retail Energy Scores and Ratings:

Texas Electricity Ratings Overall Score for CPL Retail Energy

2.4 / 5

CPL Retail Energy Reviews

52 Reviews for CPL Retail Energy

52

total reviews

Compare to CPL Retail Energy Electricity Rates

Recent Good Review from Diana

Overall Rating
Great Service
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

I have never had any problems with this company. I have been with CPL for many years.

Diana from Corpus Christi, TX on June 25th, 2021
Hello Diana. Thank you so much for this great rating and feedback! We are really happy to have you as a part of our big family for many years, we totally appreciate your trust and loyalty! We will continue working hard to meet your high expectations and to continue as your trusted electricity supplier for a long time to come! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you! Be safe! - Sophie / Digital Care
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Changed price of kilowatt usage
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Very helpful caring personal who explained to me different plans to help customer lower price

Helpful Towards Customer Needs from Laredo, TX on August 15th, 2018
This is a great experience to hear about! We are so happy that our Customer Service Agents could assist and really help you lower your price and overall. If you have any questions in the future, please don' hesitate to reach out to us by phone! Have a wonderful weekend - Kate
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Good company
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

You can depend on CPL

Martine from Corpus Christi, TX on August 15th, 2018
Thank you so much for the wonderful review! Knowing that you believe in our company and have come to depend on us for your Electricity needs is a huge compliment for us. We appreciate you taking the time to tell others about your wonderful experience and we look forward to serving you more in the future! Have a wonderful weekend! - Kate
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Satisfied
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Great website good prices good service.

Great Website Good Prices Good Service. from Port Isabel, TX on June 28th, 2018
Thank you! We appreciate you letting us know how your experience has been with us!
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
GREAT Service.
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Needed a lower monthly bill...as a retiree. ..CPL was most accommodating with a lower monthly plan. THANKS

Rockport Strong from Fulton, TX on June 14th, 2018
It is our pleasure! We try to ensure that our customers maintain lower rates and are educated on ways to decrease their usage as much as possible. Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review!
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Great customer service
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Customer service worked really hard to get us connected in our new house. They made it easy and we had power in just a couple of days after making the initial inquiry.

Tomtefco from Poteet, TX on April 26th, 2018
That is great to hear, Tom! We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review about your experience with us!
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
10 star award
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Over the years going to other providers I found that even though prices all over have gone up every where. CPL has continued to provide low prices at times when I thought I was going to see higher prices.

Paul O. Hughes from Corpus Christi, TX on April 26th, 2018
We are happy to hear that you have been pleased with the service! Please let us know if there is ever anything we can do to assist.
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Cpl energy
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Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Connected fast and great price love it!

Deborah Aleman from Pharr, TX on April 26th, 2018
Thank you for taking a moment to leave us a review about your experience, Deborah!
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Its ok not the best
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Account Management
Likely to recommend

Not the cheapest

Frmtz from Laredo on June 28th, 2009
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Confusing Policy leads to confused customer service
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Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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.

Qabel from Laredo on February 11th, 2016
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Meh
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Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Everything customer service wise was a hassle, but the price was pretty good

Blanca Canales from Corpus Christi on July 18th, 2015
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
No Follow Thru
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

CS Reps are nice - but there is no follow through for the promises made. It takes me about 5 calls in order to connect with a supervisor as I keep getting hung up on each and every month. I am trying to correct a mistake in my plan which goes back to June.

Bob from Spi on October 22nd, 2014
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Neighborhood Blackout
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

I wouldn't recommend getting CPL as your electricity provider. They don't care about their customers. Their electricity goes out at least 6 times a year, sometimes for 10 hour straight, just like today. Oh there's a hurricane coming? One that's going to miss the city completely and bring about 10 mph wind? Here, have 3 days without electricity. They have these new RF meters they installed that reports back usage/diagnostics wireless like when the electricity goes out. Looks like it doesn't do it any good. What's the point of having it if your electricity goes out, while your front neighbors with a different electricity company still have theirs on? Brownsville, Texas.

Evan Stephen from Brownsville on August 6th, 2012
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Quick to disconnect--Slow to reconnect
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

I switched to Direct Energy when a


representative came to the door at a time that
I was displeased with TXU. I was offered a $200
gift card that was never received. My billing
date was set immediately before my monthly pay
date. With 3 kids in college and a due date
three days before my monthly pay check, I
sometimes did not have the entire amount by the
due date. I tried to change my billing date,
but it couldn't be done. When I tried to
negotiate payments, I could never reach a
representative. I was disconnected twice. Once
was a week after my due date and
the other time was immediately after the due
date. Each day it was near 100 degrees when the
power was disconnected while I was at work.
When I called upon arriving home, the Canadian
service representatives said that service could
not be restored before two business days, even
though I had paid in full. Oncor could not act
until the order was eventually received from
Direct Energy.

Lori from Mesquite on August 10th, 2011
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
My Scary Bill
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Turn off the lights to save energy,I told somebody. "Mom the bill is here,someone yelled. Lets see the price. What! 400.00 dollars! How much?. Four hundred dollars plus tax,I yelled back.We better change company,I told them.

Lucero Nava from Mission on March 2nd, 2010
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Loyal customers for 45 years sadly disappointed about unauthorized cancelation of service
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Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

Sad and disappointed about unauthorized cancelation of service. We have been loyal customers since 1975. That is 45 years of being a loyal customer. We have never had issues with CPL . Outages and yard lights fixed in prompt manner. Service people friendly and knowledgeable but the phone customer care sadly not the same. Our issues are of late. Waiting for our bill and due date days away I called for info of bill payment to pay by phone( we always pay with paper not liking online nor by phone payments).. Only to be informed that some unknown ,unauthorized "entity" called and informed them, CPL, to cancel our service. Unbeknown to us(authorized account holders) I was informed of this and so I informed them we did not authorize it as we live there. I do not know how this unknown, unauthorized "entity" was given permission by them, since a person needs to give personal info, pins and such when trying to call and speak with an operator from CPL which I did not authorize nor give permission nor know the identity of such "person". And so I called yet again and they fervently said that we had to cancel our new "provider " first??? I asked which one since only we have had you since we built the house in 1975... and so they went ahead and did some clicking away and informed and gave a work order number. When we called nothing happened. I called yet again and given yet another work order number was given. Electricity was turned off a wk ago. Food was spoiled, my son I am having to take to a relative since school is virtual so he cannot use laptop nor our internet since it is down due to CPL turning off our electricity without our authorized request, water heater not working as electricity is off. And so it has been hard and stressful aside from worrying about the pandemic and all. We have or I should say" had" two accounts and I am just wondering and thinking if they will also do the same to that account being that it is a church. Very sad and disappointed and stressed out. Thankfully no one is on a medical machine at this time or it would be an even more tragic situation. Hoping I can find a solution to this unforeseen situation.

Disappointed 45 Years Of Loyalty Customer from Alamo, TX on November 10th, 2020
Good afternoon. We are terribly sorry for the bad experience you have had. We would love the opportunity to take a closer look at your account and help in any way we can. Please feel free to connect with our Facebook or Twitter team, or you can also contact us by phone or through our Live Chat department. We care for you and we appreciate your trust and loyalty, so we will do our best to provide you a solution. We look forward to hearing from you soon. - Sophie / Digital Care
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Trying to trick people into switching back to CPL
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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.

Eddie G. from Corpus Christi, TX on June 9th, 2019
Hi Eddie,

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We certainly do not want you to feel uncomfortable and taken advantage of. Feel free to reach out to us by phone or live chat to have your address added to our internal Do Not Visit list. Please be advised it may take up to 30 days for all solicitation activity to cease once this has been submitted. We look forward to hearing from you, have a pleasant day!
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Rip off
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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

David from Corpus Christi, TX on March 19th, 2019
Hi David,

We are working diligently to improve processes within our company to ensure that we have consistently great customer satisfaction. We wanted to take a moment to apologize that your experience has been less than exceptional and would like to assist you in properly addressing your concerns. The $29.95 collection recovery fee is applied to the account each time a disconnection notice is generated and mailed. This fee is explained on the disconnection notice as well as in the terms and conditions documentation.
In reference to the free weekend plans, the free coverage applies from 6pm CST Friday until 1159pm CST Sunday. This is a great plan, if most of your household usage is consumed during this specific timeframe. The rate is higher at all other timeframes.
A great way to manage your usage is in your online portal under the Usage and Insights tab. In addition, here is a link for reducing your electricity usage: https://www.directenergy.com/learning-center/energy-efficiency Please feel free to contact customer care should you have additional questions and concerns, thank you and have a wonderful day!

-Marie
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Terrible Service with their terrible technical online payment issues.
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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.

M.g from Eagle Pass, TX on July 31st, 2018
We would like to look into the issue you were having with paying your bill online. We want to ensure that you are given the ability to pay your bill in an easy manner, and if there were issues, we would like to make sure they are corrected. We do give estimates of 2-4 hours for any reconnect, since once we submit the approval it then goes to the utility to be processed and we can't guarantee how quickly that will be processed. If you have a smart meter it is generally much quicker. If you would like to discuss the issues you had with paying online, please email us at dedigitalcare@directenergy.com and provide your account number and a detailed description of the issue you encountered. -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
NOT how to treat 30+yr Loyal Customers
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Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

30+yr Loyal Customer LEAVING CPL from Edinburg, TX on July 10th, 2018
This is definitely not the experience that we want for any of our customers, but definitely not our loyal customers that have been with us for so long. Without having your account information, I can only go off the information above, but we should be able to assist you in getting back onto the best fixed rate plan for your specific needs, and then look to see what we can do about the time period that you were moved to a variable. We do try to email reminders when your fixed plan is expiring, but we understand that sometimes these are missed in your inbox. If you would like to discuss options, please email us at dedigitalcare@directenergy.com with your account number and a brief explanation of the situation and we will work on resolving this for you. Also, I am sorry if my previous messages came across as uncaring. -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Will never use or recc
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Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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.

TIFFANY FALCON from Corpus Christi, TX on October 19th, 2017
Tiffany, we sincerely apologize for the experience. According to the activity on your account today,10/20/2017, I see that our agent was able to help you with your request. If you have further questions please let us know by sending them to dedigitalcare@directenergy.com. We always look forward to resolving your concerns. Have a great weekend! ~ Lynnen
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Horrible experience
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Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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!!

Dissatisfied Customer from Port Isabel, TX on July 19th, 2017
We sincerely apologize for the kind of experience you had recently. We would like to review this further. Please email us at dedigitalcare@directenergy.com with your account number, full address and a good phone number. Thank you. -Jane
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Awful
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

I believe the company is a total rip off i called to discuss my charges and know one could give me a clear answer on what i was being charged or why the person i spoke to did not speak english well and hung up on me im very great a math and started add up my charges i used 62 kwh at 0.099 a daily charge of 0.33 ( which no one could explain) and a charge of 2.79 transmission and distribution if you do the math it adds up to 9.26 i was charged 9.60 i understand its not alot but i looked back and this happened everyday trust me it adds up. I started to think about it and i belive its just taxes if that is the case then why couldnt the three people i talked to just tell me that and it should show on the statement how much im paying for taxes needless to say im very dissatisfied with the company and have already scheduled to transfer to a different company

Angela from Victoria on September 20th, 2016
Hi Angela. We sincerely apologize for the poor experience thus far, and we want to make sure that we provide you with complete transparency regarding your bill. If you would like you may email your account number and address to us at dedigitalcare@directenergy.com, and we will investigate these charges and provide you with a full explanation. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, - Henry
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Horrible customer service...horrible interaction...just horrible!
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Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

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.

Jerry House from Mcallen on July 12th, 2016
Good Morning Jerry, we apologize for the experience you have had with us. Could you please send us an email at dedigitalcare@directenergy.com so we can investigate this further for you? We would be more than happy to help resolve this or other concerns you may have. Thank you - Kate
— CPL Retail Energy
Overall Rating
Horrible
Plans & Pricing
Order Experience
Customer Service
Account Management
Likely to recommend

My husband and I bought a new home, we were scheduled to close on March 1st. Approximately 1 week prior to our closing I used the online system to schedule our move, I scheduled to have the power turned on at the new house on the first, and off at the old house on the 31st. Well we close on our home, we go there, the power is on great!! We are thrilled. We began to move to our new home on March 4th, at approximately 2:30pm The lights went out. Well I get on the phone to CPL, and am told there is a power outage in my area, ok that's acceptable.... An hour later at 3:30 pm I noticed that all of my neighbors had power, so I get on the phone with CPL again....This time I was told there was some sort of computer glitch that caused the transfer to not happen...I am very annoyed after being on the phone for 45 mins, and the end result was they were going to prioritize my power switch and I'd have lights by either midnight that night or the next morning... Not happy but at least there's an answer. Here's the real kick in the behind from CPL, at 5:30 the same afternoon they called me back to tell me that they couldn't turn on my power at all because the meter is owned by a different light company....well this is 5:30pm on Friday afternoon, the other company doesn't open till Monday at 8 am, so my move is in a huge mess, and I have no power all weekend--thanks CPL!!!



Perhaps you should train your people to do their jobs--I could have resolved this had you told me at 2:30 there was a problem, or even at 3:30--but I guess since your loosing a customer, you had to be Nasty about it.....

Julie N from Corpus Christi on March 5th, 2016
We are sorry that we did not see your post until now. We appreciate feedback and are always willing to help with any issue that may need resolution. We can be contacted at DEdigitalcare@directenergy.com anytime! -Eden
— CPL Retail Energy