Electricity complaints skyrocket under deregulation

RechargeTexas Quick-View Analysis

Complaints against electricity companies have skyrocketed under the Texas electric deregulation law — from fewer than 2,100 received each year by the state’s Public Utility Commission to an average of more than 12,000 under deregulation, according to this Quick-View analysis by RechargeTexas.com.


All told, Texans have lodged nine times the number of annual complaints against electric providers after retail deregulation, as compared to the number of complaints filed with the PUC before deregulation. The most common complaint relates to billing, although discontinuance and provision of service complaints also rank high, according to the analysis.

Under deregulation, Texans living in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and other areas can choose among a number of competing providers for electricity service. Texas deregulated those markets in 2002 after a brief deregulation pilot project the previous year. The dramatic uptick in complaints occurred after the pilot project and the market opening.

Although the exact reason for the surge in complaints is unknown, it is likely that customer confusion plays a role. Competitive providers increasingly employ special fees in their electricity contracts, which can be bewilderingly complex. The failure of several electric providers in 2008 also sent more than 40,000 Texans into expensive default service, and the percentage increase in electricity prices in general have outpaced the nationwide average increase since the adoption of the deregulation law. All these factors and others may have led to the outsized number of complaints under Texas electric deregulation.

This Quick-View examines complaints submitted to the PUC’s Office of Customer Protection, which was established in July 1997. All data are given for fiscal years, and has been obtained from the PUC under the Texas Open Records law, or extrapolated from publicly available PUC reports and newspaper accounts. Data for 1998, 1999 and 2000 are estimated figures. Texans unhappy with their electric service have a right to file complaints with the PUC, and the Office of Customer Protection is charged with investigating complaints within a specified period.


The Quick-View analysis finds:

  • Texans filed an average of 1,316.8 complaints during those fiscal years prior to deregulation, as compared to an average of 12013.6 complaints for fiscal years after deregulation.
  • In the 2002 fiscal year, the first year of retail deregulation, the PUC received more than 8,500 complaints relating to electricity. That’s in contrast to the previous fiscal year in which the PUC received fewer than 2,100 complaints. During the entire period of deregulation, complaints have never dipped to below 7,700 per fiscal year — which is more than five times the pre-deregulation average.
  • Complaints hit an all-time high of 17,250 in 2003. The second highest level of electricity complaints registered by the PUC came during the 2009 fiscal year, when it received nearly 16,000.
  • The plurality of complaints submitted to the PUC over the last two fiscal years relate to electric bills. For instance, in FY 2009, 43 percent of complaints related to billing while the next largest category of complaints — provision of service — amounted to 25 percent of complaints. In FY 2010, 44 percent related to billing.
  • More than 13,000 complaints against electric companies were filed with the PUC in FY 2010. That’s the third highest number on record, and outstrips the number received in FY 2008 (12,591) after the failure of several retail electric providers that year.
  • According to the most recent data published by the PUC, three retail electric providers — PenStar Power (formerly Freedom), DPI Energy and Mega Energy — lead all other REPs for highest customer compliant rates.

Texas Electricity Complaints 2009

Texas Electricity Complaints 2010

How to lodge a complaint with the PUC

Under the PUC’s complaint process, customers can file a complaint against a company with the agency. The PUC then makes an inquiry with the company, which has 21 days to respond. A PUC investigator evaluates the company’s response to determine whether it failed to follow the law.

Customers wishing to file complaints regarding their electric service can do so through the agency’s Office of Customer Protection, which can be reached at 1-888-782-8477, by email at customer@puc.state.tx.us, or online at http://puc.state.tx.us/consumer/complaint/Complaint.aspx.

Texans can also review specific complaint data for competitive electric providers at the powertochoose.com website. The complaint scorecards can be found at http://www.powertochoose.com/_content/_complaint/index.aspx.

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