Our Analysis of Tara Energy

I used Tara energy for a year as they were the least expensive the last time I signed up. I did not have any problems and payed all of my bills online. I never had to contact customer support so I cant speak to that. I am changing providers now simply because I can get a better deal. Overall I was satisfied with their service.

I've really had no problems with Tara - I love their flat rate and know I'm always getting what I pay for.

I originally signed on with Tara about a year plus ago for my apartment. The sign up for easy and once I setup the auto draft, i had no issue. I moved to a house and the transition from apartment to house was also smooth and easy. Never had an issue with service. I am only changing due to the fact my contract is up and I am interested in shopping for better rates. The rate i had was fixed at 10cents/kwh. It's a fair rate, but I see better rates so I am shopping around! I would recommend Tara.

I've been with Tara for over 5 years & they get worse by the MONTH. All promotions offered have strings attached.
Not the best customer service either.

I realize we live in an age where companies
force you to stay in business with them instead
of providing quality goods and services. I
wanted to stay with Tara Energy but wanted the
lower rate they were offering since I only had
1 month left on my contract. They would rather
me go with another company than renew my
contract one month early. I just thought I
would post because it seems so dumb. Anyways,
off to the next crooked energy company.

I just signed up with this company and I already regret it deeply. So far, I've spoken with 10 different reps (all very nice btw) that cannot seem to resolve my problem. They've charged me a $275 deposit (that I wasn't aware they would charge). I finally got someone on the phone that finally told me that I can send in my past 3 months, paid, on-time receipts from my old electric company and they would waive the deposit. So I did this...sent in my last 3 invoices. Well, they denied my request. No explanation.

I let them know that I'm not happy with the service so far and that I'll be canceling promptly after my contract term. I will go with my old company, Startex, after that as they did not require any deposit from me and they honored my history of on-time payments.

We just signed up with them last month because they were "recommended" by our new Apartment community and we already regret that decision!

If you don't pay your bill ON or before the EXACT date they decide it's due, they will IMMEDIATELY charge you another 5% AND send you a Disconnect Notice...even if you pay it a day later! AND, they refuse to work with you on the due date or give you ANY kind of a "grace" period.

We have to get by on SS Disability and are paid only once per month. The most recent bill is due on the 30th, and.we don't get paid this month until the NEXT DAY. Tried to explain this to them, but, besides being rude, THEY DIDN'T CARE and are going to charge us an "extra" $10.00+ "late fee" for ONE DAY!!

We have been with them for just 6 weeks and have already had THREE "WTF" run-ins with them. We are SUPPOSED to have a 1 year agreement with them, but I'll be surprised if we actually put up with their "crap" for that long.

Figured it out and, over the years, I've dealt with about a dozen different power companies in towns both big and small. TARA ENERGY IS BY FAR THE WORSTCOMPANY that I've EVER dealt with!! Don't just avoid them, RUN FAR AWAY!!

Worst electric company that I have EVER dealt with out of more than 12 electric companies (in both large and small towns) across the Country. RUDE customer "service", will charge you a late fee and send you a disconnect notice if paid even a DAY late...NO exceptions!! Don't care WHEN you get paid, they just want THEIR money!! My advice, don't just avoid doing business with them...RUN away from them!! We are supposed to have a 1 year agreement with them, but in the 6 weeks we've been with them, we have ALREADY had 3 "experiences" with them Doubt we will make it a year!! We may just take their $150 "early termination" charge and BE DONE fighting with them!! WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THESE PEOPLE TO MY WORST ENEMY!!

I have auto bill pay, but when my bank upgraded their system, many payments got dropped. I wasn't aware that Tara didn't get my payment until I received the disconnect notice in the mail. I was 5 days late in paying them (for a bank issue), after having never been late before and they were going to disconnect me over it. The hassle of getting off the disconnect list caused rippling effects which ended up costing me money and tons of hassle. Their customer service is also only open M-F during normal business hours (when I work) so it made it all that much more difficult to get it cleared up. When I finally got to talk with them about it, they said they have the right to disconnect if I'm ever late with a payment (even the first time, regardless of who is at fault). Nice. I'm switching as soon as my contract expires. 11 days and counting.

This is not the worst company I've ever dealt with, but their customer service and website are crap! You can't pay your bill online because the links are perpetually grayed out (I've tried every browser) and all of their CSRs are rude as heck. This company is only worth it if you have a bad track record with other companies; they don't make you pay a deposit.

Everything was relatively fine while receiving service, except for a few emails that were never replied to. At the end of my contract, the company automatically renewed and charged me for the upcoming month. By the time service was cancelled, 6 days of said month had passed. Prior to the expiration I received emails telling me to renew but none telling me to disconnect. The company is still trying to charge me $90 for the month of March when I received 6 days of service. I do not believe I am obligated to pay $90 for a month of electricity when no electricity was actually used (empty apartment) for the six days out of said month. I'll pay 1/5 of that price for customer error and that seems like a reasonable prorated amount. I have said so in an email but have again received no response.

I have been a customer for about 5 years. I pay my bills using my online banking. When I pay every other account I NEVER have an issue with them processing the payment. With TARA I have to make sure the payment gets there before the due date because it can take them 4-5 days to process the payment. During my last incident. Payment was due on 4th. On the 8th they generated a disconnect letter which I received on the 9th. When I called asking about it, the rep told me payment was posted on the 5th, but it was finished processing until the 8th. Their practice is to generate disconnect letters automatically 4 days after the due date even if payment is recd prior to then. So, we are supposed to give them 4 -5 days to process my payment, but they won't give me any time before they decide to threaten to disconnect service.
Totally confused, I asked why I still got the letter even though my payment was processed before the end of the 4th day. She just repeated that they have to process the payment to make sure I have funds for it. So essentially, they SEND you the letter the morning of the 4th day. Seems like they could save a lot of $ by waiting longer for them to process payments.
NO OTHER company (phone, cell, cable, gas, water, credit card...) that I using online banking with has this sort of practice. In the 5 years that I have been a customer. my payments have been late 2x by one day because of online banking.
My advice is - if you want to use this company, pay with cash or auto bill pay through them, otherwise make sure your payment is there 4-5 before it is due. I assume if you pay with a check it would need to go thru processing issue as well.
I am currently looking to switch.

Every month for the last 4 months, I have some problem with paying my bill. Whether they forget to send me a bill, mess up charging my card or get my card shut off, there is always some kind of hassle. They also raise your rate by a lot if you try to reup your contract. I cannot wait to stop having them as my electric company.

Late last year, I received a call from Tara Energy, my REP, offering a "free" SmartStat thermostat as an introductory offer. I agreed and the unit was installed on January 7, 2013. I was assured the unit would pay for itself in saving me money and WAS TRANSFERABLE should I decide to change Retail Electrical Provider (REP).

At the end of June 2013, my contract with Tara was expiring and I signed up with Summer Energy as their rates were lower. Today, I received a final bill from Tara for $662, which included a $495 charge for "breaking" my SmartStat contract because Summer is not SmartStat compatible. I was not informed by either company - Tara or Summer - that Summer was not compatible or that by switching to a non-compatible energy company I was breaking the contract.

I am absolutely livid over this and have thusfar received no acceptable assistance from Tara. A Customer Service representative told us we had the option of having the unit removed for $100, but when attempting to "verify" this with their manager, we're then told removal is not an option and we are subject to the $495 payment no matter what. Requests to speak to upper management are met with vague explanations of them "not being available" but empty promises that someone will call us back.

No one in their right mind would knowingly "break" their contract to the tune of $495. My argument is not that Tara charges $495 for terminating the contract. I agree this is on fine print on the back. My argument is that I HAD NO IDEA I WAS BREAKING THE CONTRACT BY SWITCHING TO A NON-COMPATIBLE REP.

In my disgust and frustration, I have since contacted several consumer watchdog groups (including the Dallas Morning News Consumer Advocate Dave Lieber) regarding this matter and will continue to do so until I am satisfied with the resolution and when Tara is exposed for their poor treatment of customers. I've also filed an informal complaint against Tara Energy with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas

I have been with Tara now about a year an one month an looking to switch. They don't try to help you if you need your due. Date pushed back they only give you a day after when its due I have never heard are seen in other light company that do that at least. They give you. A week. Are maybe 3 days but one day this is poor I. Would never tell anyone to go to this company ...

Truly unsatisfied

They survive only by fraud and over charging the costumer.Be care they most expensive and lots of hidden fees be careful and three times to sign the contract with this company.
They will take your credit card or Bank Acct so don't hand over your acct to these thieves.

I have tara energy from almost two yrs now... Recently, i moved and transferred their service to my new apartment.. But for some reason they charged me an early termination fee... I have called them 4 times already to get that 250 refunded.. Every single time they say that they took care of it and i will see the credit in 3-5 business days, BUT ITS A LIE SO FAR. I still have their service and i have been going through this hassle more than a month now. They have horrible customer service... Tara energy sucks! As soon my contract expires, ill be going to TXU or Reliant.. I rather pay little more for a reliable company than going through this hassle.. Also, when i requested the service transfer to my new apartment and disconnect service at that current location at the end of the month they didn't waited till the end they just disconnect at the same day and we had to live in a motel that night... Can you imaging living without electricity in Texas? We tried calling their emergency hotline numbers... But they did no good... It was all automated system... It was seriously frustrating! DO NOT GET TARA!

So sometimes in my statements I get charged extra fees for some reason, I then have to spend about a good hour of my time to get those random fees resolved. Afterwhich if I have to pay my account I have to get transferred to a different department and because I have many accounts under one Master when I pay they distribute the payment that I did so that some accounts will have a credit and then I end up having late charges on the other accounts that I have paid. Collection calls even though I paid my Total amount and it is their fault they distribute the amounts the way they want. When I ask questions about my billing and I call customer service no one knows why I have the fees I do and why my balance is different on the bills they send me and the balance that they have on file. They just transfer me from one person to the other and they end up telling me that I should get in contact with my agent? But they somehow do not even know who that guy is or how I can get in contact with him. It is very rare to find a representative that will take the time to figure out the bill and explain and maybe even if i'm lucky fix the issue. I do not trust the online bill payment because it does the same thing of disbursing the money in other accounts. I don't think their procedures work, at least for commercial accounts and employees have no idea what is happening with billing. I give each of these survey questions 1 bulb for at least answering the phone.

We used them for two years. In the final couple of months they failed to take payments twice. The first time, the first that we knew of it was when they wrote to threaten to cut our power off and the second, they neither issued nor collected our final bill but today (two years later) we received a letter from a debt collector. Lovely.

We auto paid all bills and received bills electronically, I'm not sure how this happened. We pay our bills on time and had we been notified that payment had not been received, would have immediately rectified. No attempts were made to call or write to us when bills were apparently overdue.

Can't complain about customer service in terms of the experience of calling Tara, the representatives are always courteous and helpful.

We had several commercial accounts with Tara Energy and recently they had switched to Tara Enery Resources and our accounts were switched to this also. They did not bill us for a few months and we were not aware that we were not getting billed and then we get a huge bill that they expected us to pay in full. I called accounts receivable and explained to them that it was their error for not billing each month and that I would not be able to pay the huge amount at one time. They made a payment arrangement for me to pay it in three payments and I gave our bank information so they could draft the first payment. The representative told me she would call me the following month so I could authorize the next payment. To my disbelief I find out the next day that the whole amount which was huge was debited from our account without authorization. No one was willing to take responsibility for the error. I was furious and have closed the account and have gone to a different energy company. We will not be doing any future business with Tara Energy and will not recommend them to anyone also

I have been having trouble,since returning to Canad,on April,5,1915.my bills were ok, but higher from the 2 year contract,I had with Tara engery.I have been getting higher bills when nobody is there then when I was there for 5 months..I think they must be reading my smart meter wrong..My place is only 350 square feet .Last year when back in Canada,my largest bill was no larger then $19.00 ,my last bill was $60.00 plus dollars.I will be looking for a cheaper provider .I will never recommend this company to anyone.Tara Engery is gouging me.

This morning I paid a bill for 3,891.53 to a lady named Naghmana at Tara Energy. She charge my Company card $38,910.53. As soon as I received the e-mail Confirmation of the payment, I realized that the lady had charged way too much. I called Tara Energy again, and after a hold for a long time, I was told by the other lady that Naghmana was not available, then I demanded to speak to a supervisor, then again I had to wait a very long time, then the supervisor finally came over the phone. When my supervisor explained to her about the overcharge, she promised that the charge will be reversed. It is 3.43 PM, and the charge is still not reversed. Our card was overcharged by the amount of $35,019.00. This is a very bad Company. I had very bad experience with this Company several times in the past also.

If a client has a commercial account then put that number on the bill or make that number readily available. Just wasted 4 hours of my only day off trying to sign in and pay a bill online which wont let me because its a commercial account then i call for help and get a call be 1 hour later and am told that they need to call me back again. I am changing companies and willing to pay for for good prompt customer service.

Do NOT use this company. I have never done an online review and they are so horrible I had to do this. I moved and I called to get electricity shut off in one week. I was very clear on the date. They shut it off immediately. Got it back the next day but was hot overnight. Called the day I moved to have it shut off immediately and it is still on a month later and I just found out because they sent a bill so i am on the phone trying to get it shut off. have been on hold 30 minutes while they work on it. Stunningly poor customer service.

I want to take the time to share my story and experience that I had with Tara energy . I have been a loyal customer in there for many years paying my bill on time and never having issues. In the past year my bill and always stayed around 142 $160 a month But this past summer they decided to go to $.20 a kilowatt and not tell me my contract was up and let this go for several days and then decided to call me to renew my contract with them . All the while very convenient for them I now have a $500 electrical bill if theyre not willing to forgive or even come down on cost.
I feel it was very convenient for them to charge me more than triple the cost In July In Texas. I will never use this electrical company again I will do my best to warn others to go elsewhere .

one day I left my apartment in Houston and I got charge 250$ on my bank account without any explanation or letter. so what happened they say that I recived a machine or device to save electricity and I don't!
I chancel the charge and since that day they are calling me 3 time in a day and sending me collection emails.
I never in my life all for this machine that they say that I ask or got! every time I'm calling I'm waiting over 20 min on the line because there is no manger. shame on you. if you will not take care of this we will meet at the court.


the worst company ever !!!! be careful. its always better to pay more for better service