Green Mountain Energy - Company Information

“  I have been a green mountain customer for over 4 years. What is the point in having a customer service department if nobody answers the phone or the email. I have sent numerous emails over the past year complaining about their payment system on the Web that looses payments. I even get an email confirming payment. Then several days later I receive a threatening email to pay or disconnect. So then I receive a bill with late charges and disconnection fees. I have attempted to call but I work long days and don't have time to wait more than an hour on hold. I have even tried first thing in the morning, but after 40 minutes I have to hang up because I have s job, just like their employees do. I have tried emailing, but nobody takes the time to respond. All I ever receive is an automated reply that they will respond within 48 hours. Well that's a joke because one year later they still have not responded. So I suck it up, pay the bill again and the late fees because the alternative is they will disconnect. This company is a joke and nothing more than a scam to get more money by simply ignoring you. I even sent them a snail mail letter about six months ago, no response. How does one dispute charges if you cannot reach anyone. Getting service was easy. They answer their phones. When I tried that ti get to someone, I was put on hold saying I had the wrong department. I waited over an hour listening to garbage. I will not renew when this contract is up in July. ”

“  I stayed away from Green Mountain for years because their field sales staff TRASH every other electric provider including those that offer green/renewable energy. I finally went with them when they had a great offer on Texas' "Power To Choose" website. I also stopped seeing their field sales people. Had GM changed to an honest green energy provider? So,they had a great rate last year, and I went with them. In April 2015 my one year contract was about to expire, so I contacted GM to renew another year. I was told of a great rate, but they couldn't provide the Energy Facts Label until AFTER I signed up. That should have been a red flag for me. Believing the sales rep's cost per kWh, I renewed another year. A few days later I could see the Energy Facts Label for the renewed plan in my GM online account. It was nothing like the rep told me... MUCH more expensive. DECEPTIVE! I immediately called GM. Still in my "open enrollment" phase, I cancelled the new plan and will go with another company. I'll NEVER go back to Green Mountain! Since the time Texas opened up electricity competition I've been with about 5 different companies, and none of them were this sneaky! ”

“  Don't make the mistake of letting your bill go past due. GME's computer will automatically turn the service off, but for some reason, immediately paying the bill through the computer doesn't turn the service back on. So having a "smart meter" seems more of an advantage to the company than to me.I've had the service for 4 years, and will be considering other providers. Why? Like most conpanies, GMEis more interested in getting newcustomers than servicing their old ones. ”

“  I am so sick of dealing with their accounting department that I am switching providers. Every month they claim that they didn't receive my payment for electricity at my business no matter if I paid with my bank's bill pay or sent them a check. I get a notice saying they are going to cut off my electricity. I call them and they tell me they received the payment but it was late. They told me that the problem was that my bank's bill pay doesn't send out the check until the day it's due. I tried sending the check myself. I mailed the check in Fort Worth a week before the bill was due in Dallas. They still claimed it was late and charged me a late fee. When I call their customer service, they are usually uncaring and sometimes rude. I have used Green Mountain at my residence for years and, as long as I remember to sign up for a new contract before the old one expires, they are fine. ”

“  First complaint is that they continue to advertise being "green," yet refuse to put my account on paperless billing. They offer it repeatedly, and I repeatedly tried to sign up for it, yet never ceased to receive paper bills. So long, trees!Second is that when contract expires we are thrown to a much higher rate. This may be standard practice, but it certainly does not inspire loyalty. Being willing to look past these issues, we requested a new contract and were refused the rates on Power to Choose. They started with over 12 cents/kwh, then when we said we'd just switch they said 11something, then again we refused (the online price was 9.3) and they offered high 10. Why not immediately give loyal customers of many years your best rate? They started out trying to screw us and never would come down to the advertised rate. So, we got the advertised rate of 9.7 from one of their competitors. Loyalty is for suckers, fellow customers! This company will screw you if they can, so be prepared to shop around every time your contact comes up and be willing to jump ship. ”

“  I switched to GME from Direct Energy thinking I was getting a good deal. I called Jan 2nd 2014 to set up for Jan 27 2014. It is currently March 5th and just now learned that my apartment complex main office got a bill from GME for my unit. I called GME to ask what was going on and they cant even find that my account existed. If doesnt exist, how do I have an account number and email confirmation stating that my service has been set up? Because of this, I am incurring penalties in the amount of $50. The new cycle has started again, which means I will get hit with another $50 all because I was under the impression GME set up my account PROPERLY. A quote from email confirmation states:"Dear XXXXXXXX,Thank you for your commitment to renewable energy. By powering your home with Green Mountain Energy electricity, you are helping to change the way power is made.Whats next?If you havent already, please register at My Account with your new account number: 42369638. Remember to use the last name and phone number you provided during enrollment.Enroll in Tree Free billing - it..."I called and total talk time so far has been 2.5 hours and still nobody knows why. ”

“  I was late by a couple of days because I had signed up for ebilling but no one sent me an ebill. I called to try and get this figured out but there was no getting out of the $20 disconnection notice and the $4 charge. I'm looking for a new energy company right now. It really pisses me off when companies jerk you around like this. ”

“  Green Mountain Energy only sells the same 'dirty energy' available to the rest of the power grid - absolutely NO effort is made by Green Mountain to actually delivery any 'green energy' to anyone's home. You might wonder why your neighbor and you have power from the same lines going into both your homes and somehow you have 'green energy' and they don't...At the end of the year they purchase something called a Renewable Energy Credit (REC) which represents that at some time in the last two years some green energy was produced somewhere in Texas but does not represent that even a single electron actually made it into your home and would still have been produced whether you signed up or not for higher electric rates. These REC's are dirt cheap right now costing a fraction of a cent per kilowatt hour and resold at very large markups to those thinking they are actually helping protect the environment. ”

“  I have had Green Mountain Energy for the past 5+ years at two different addresses. Up until recently everything had been great. My recent experiences have been terrible, extremely long hold times for customer care 20+ minutes. They changed the online portal and the function to reset your password doesn't work. Something must have happened....wish I knew what it was. Had to change service providers due to this shabby performance - wouldn't recommend unless they can return to service levels of the past. ”

“  For such a high rate like 18.9 cents a kilowat you would think I would get better service. I scheduled a simple on/off service call and was told over and over again on the day that I had scheduled the service for that they had no account of me making the appt. The service rep finally called ONCOR and ONCOR had the appt on file. ”

“  My history is 4 mos into 6 mo. contract with GM.I believe they LIE! They Scam by pushing you so close to the due date to collect their $20.00 for a disconnect letter. They tell you they send the bills out on 10/13/ & you get it in the mail 16 days later with the due date 2 days after that. I live in Houston..Duh... they are in Austin & they blame it on the mail system. If you write a check it takes them 14 days to process...bingo $20.00 disconnect letter. But the TX Utilities Comm. is to blame also for them getting away with this. Beware they all do it. Glad I can pay online, but what about those without online access...this is just WRONG! ”

“  Green Mountain's customer service is there for nothing they do not solve any problems. I own solar panels and we are experiencing high increases in our monthly bill. Four months had passed and we're still facing the same problem. My bill is now over $400 dollars because we are disputing the high prices. What really happened was that they failed to remove the so-called "average billing" from our monthly bill and used all the energy our panels produce without giving us any credit whatsoever. After 4 months of dealing with the situation and many phone calls, they finally switch us to the right plan but deny giving us the credits for the previous months. Customer service representatives didn't do anything to help us they just blame us and used the most ridiculous excuses like: "some customers prefer to continue with the average billing"... Really? People decide to pay more and give away the energy their solar panels produce. I'm really upset. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH GREEN MOUNTAIN ENERGY ”

“  At first Green Mountain was honest. Now they change their terms and dont buy your electricity and steal any over production from your solar panels. DO NOT RECOMMEND ”

“  Owned a large home in Houston and monthly average was $130. In the summer. Moved to Lufkin and bought a small condo. My bills now average $470 in the winter. Switched to Gexas 24 plan. Excited to save over $300 a month!Wendy ”

“  I installed a photo voltaic solar panel system on my roof this past May. Not many choices for an energy co. to buy my solar production in DFW. Was misled by many people apparently. My system has been up and running since late May, yet they are not giving me credit for producing my solar power. I have made more power than I have consumed and yet they still continue to send me monthly bills. Their rate is 12.9 cents per kwhr which is absurdly high in this market (they are supposed to pay me that rate whether they buy my solar power or I use more power than my system produces in a day; I am charged that rate, too). I have spoken to various people at Green Mountain and all they do is say "you'll get credit for those kwhrs (kilowatt hrs) on your next bill - and I never get a credit. My system has produced more hours than I have used - I track my production versus consumption daily on a spreadsheet. I am still in the black on production - yet I receive bills instead of credits.RUN DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AS FAST AS YOU CAN is the most honest advice I can give anyone that might be considering switching to them. Don't regret it like I do. ”

“  I was a Green Mountain Energy customer for 2 years, from 2015-2017. I never missed a payment, and was always on time. Today, I was denied a loan with low interest rates because my credit score indicated a collection agency was after me. Stunned, I became even more so when I found out the agency was sent by Green Mountain Energy for a $37 bill I never even knew I owed - from 2017! Two years later, without any emails or letters from Green Mountain OR the collection agency, my credit score took a hit. It's one thing to send an agency for $37, especially to a customer who made all his payments on time, but it's another thing entirely to not communicate it at ALL before sending a collection agency, which also didn't communicate. The representatives I spoke with were friendly, but unhelpful. Extremely unprofessional practice, and though this might be a unique occurrence, avoid yourself a headache and go with Constellation. I doubt they'd send a collection agency after you 2 years later without even an email. ”

“  Run. I selected Green Mountain in May of 2018. In December 2018, I took a new job with 6 days a week travel and would turn my heat down, everything electric off, while on the road. Despite the change, my bills kept going up. I thought I missed a payment or something because it was impossible for me to be using "more energy". This week while on the road, my neighbor had his electricity turned off. My neioghbor thought he had the best deal in electricity because his bills were so low and kept using more power (well that would explain something). The account that was turned off was mine, but the power went out in my neighbors unit. I called Green Mountain customer service and got a rep. The rep said I paid Oncor and had to call them. Green Mountain is Oncor's customer, not me. I asked him,"can you see my bank account?" Reps response was passive aggressive non-sense to waste my time. I interrupted,"do I pay Oncor?" 3 mins later the rep said,"Yes" I responded, "I am looking at my bill pay screen and Oncor is not on it. Green Mountain is. Do I pay Oncor?" Reps response is "yes". I followed up,"I just told you I do not pay Oncor, yet you said I do...you are lying". The reps response was more passive aggressive, not-related-to-the-issue-nonsense. Finally, I asked for someone that would not lie to me and would help me with my issue. It took 4 mins for him to write notes before he could transfer me and then it was 8 mins on hold.I finally get a "manager". I describe the problem where Green Mountain has been billing me for the wrong apartment. The Mgr's response is,"I am looking at your account and the meter number is correct". I tell him that Green Mountain interrupted my neighbors service so the meter is wrong. Mgr,"no, the meter number is right, I can see it right here". The Mgr proceeded to tell me,"I am not trying to call you dumb, but you are wrong...I can see here it is the right account". "I am not trying to call you stupid, but the account here clearly states its the right number". I responded,"If its the right meter number, than why did the power go out in the wrong apartment?" Mgr,"I am not saying you are stupid, but the meter number on your account is correct". At this point, I am longing for a 10-year-old that can add 1 + 1.I switched strategies and I went through the same conversation with the Mgr about having a relationship with Oncor as the Rep and guess what...the Mgr also said I paid Oncor. It took another 5 mins....because he had to get his passive aggressive banter to waste my time to instead of trying to address my problem...but finally he admitted,"well you pay us and we pay Oncor". Finally, Green Mountain admits that both the Mgr and Rep lied to me when they said I paid Oncor.But we are not done yet. Now the Mgr starts with,"I have to give you a warning because you are disrespecting me." Really! You got to be kidding me! So I said,"you lied about me paying Oncor, but I don't care. How do I get this fixed?" The Mgr's response was,"the account is correct". I was finally,"I don't want to call you stupid, but what should I call someone that doesn't understand that their system number and my actually apartment are not linked?"Finally, I was,"look...who do I need to call if, hypothetically, a meter is hooked up to the wrong unit?" Mgr,"you need to call Oncor." I asked,"Can I have that number please?" Mgr,"yes, but I don't want to have to give you a second warning for being disrespectful. If you would..." I had about had it at this point and decided what is good for the goose was good for the gander. I interrupted,"I don't mean to be disrespectful, but could you give me the number?" The Mgr starts up again and I interrupt,"I hope I am not wasting your time, but if it would not be too much trouble, could you please give me the number? I know it must be hard to tell me the number, but I would really appreciate your efforts in trying to tell me the number." He tried his passive aggressive nonsense a few more time only to be interrupted by me with the same passive aggressive, I-am-not-insulting-you-but-what-I-am-saying-is-actually-insulting-language. At this point, the Mgr was not having his fun anymore and he gave me the number to call at Oncor.I thanked him for the number but had to follow up. "I am in a Lyft getting a ride home and my driver just confirmed that I was very patient, use no demeaning language, and never cursed the whole time. Do you think that you are good at your job when you have to give a respectful customer 1 1/2 warnings and take 30+ minutes to give a customer a number to solve his problem?" Dead silence from the Mgr. I am not proud of that question, but given the silence, I hope it hit home and does some good to his future and future customer experience.In summary, do not do business with Green Mountain. The customer service get's its kicks by trying to piss you off with passive aggressive behavior. There are alternatives that are similarly priced...even green options. ”

“  It has been so long i had wiped this experience out of my memory - They had the worst customer service, jacked up accounting --would bill you for very litle then hit you with a bill so high that your whole monthly budget went to them. It was HORRIBLE. And to top it of that they were not even really environmentally friendly - that was supposed to be their deal and that is why we went with them. So we move on to TXU--have had perfect service - never a billing issue--never. Cut to today and some collection agency calls me with a bill from these idiots for a bill that we PAID!!!! Stay away from these ones--they are either really really stupid and disorganized or just corrupt. ”

“  In June 2014 I signed up with GME for a year's service. All was okay for that year. I called a year later to get current rates on electricity for a new annual contract and was given a highly deceptive quote. I renewed based on what I was told, but when I got the Electricity Facts Label in the mail I saw the cost per KWH for my selected plan was actually much higher than quoted. I had to file a complaint with the TxPUC to get it straightened out. Do yourself a favor --- pick another company. The Power To Choose website run by the TxPUC is another good source to check rates and complaints in addition to this site. Thanks, Tx Electricity Ratings. ”

“  Very simply, I called them to get electricity for my single family home, in a residential neighborhood with a residential electric meter. Apparently I called the wrong number and got the commercial department. The rate they charged me was 50% higher than the residential rate, plus additional taxes not charged on the residential rate.

Once I realized it in the second month I called it to their attention and they refused to back down. They kept repeating over and over again, "You signed the contract." Legally, they are right. Ethically, they are a company that ripped me off because their commercial department just wanted a quick sale. They could have easily said, "You called the wrong department. Let me transfer you." They chose not to.

I've cancelled my service and will NEVER use them again. Avoid them at all costs. ”