Someone from Pearland Texas used the word “prolonged” to say that the customer service call took too long with Constellation Energy. She waited online which I am assuming means the customer was using the Constellation Energy online chat for customer service.
The customer also claims that Constellation never answered the phone after waiting more than an hour. She was an existing customer and must have been calling in to report a problem but the customer service representatives were not able to pick up the call to handle her issue.
The customer goes on to say they deeply regret “joining” Constellation but does not give a reason why other than they are mainly disappointed that no one answered the call. This review was left this month (October 2022).
The internet seems to be made for ranting and this is definitely an example of that. If you are like me, once you have been on the phone over an hour all bets are off if I am going to leave a rant about the company on the internet. The long wait time on the phone is always a huge frustration.
The next review comes from San Francisco. I assume this person moved to Texas from San Francisco California and ordered electric service with Constellation. They reported this complaint in September of 2022 and were also complaining about their customer service. This customer went on to explain that they are continuing to billed even after they have switched to a new electric provider.
Leave a Review of Constellation Energy on Facebook
Can You Be Billed Twice By Two Different Electric Companies?
The reality is that you can’t actually be billed by two electric companies at the same time. The way Texas has setup their electric service transfer process everything is controlled by ERCOT through the pole and wires company as far as switches go.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT starts off the switch by routing through to the pole and wires company. They look at the meter number and move the switch off the current retail electric provider and on to the new one. The old electric provider no longer has control over that meter to even measure or know the electrical usage.
The only way your old electric company could still be billing you while your new provider is also billing you is if you have two electric meters and you forgot about one of those meters and only switched one meter to the new electric company. You would then be being billed by your old electric company and by your new electric company on two separate electricity meters.
If you are a residential account you most likely have one electric meter as that is typically the norm but on occasion a residence may have two or more meters. ERCOT does a great job to make sure you are never double billed.
So why does this customer believe they are being double billed? The electric bill can be 45 days out from when electric usage first started. When you switch electric companies you could get as many as two more electric bills depending on when you switched your provider.
The new electric company may just be billing you for a very small portion of the usage while the old electric company is sending you a bill for the remainder of the electric usage while you were still with them.
Pay close attention to what the dates say regarding the measured electric usage and see if they are the exact same dates or if they are for dates that look similar but not the same. If I was a betting man I would bet they are not for the same dates but measurements on different dates. In this situation the customer would not be being double billed but would want to clear things up with a customer service representative.
Donny Eisenbach
Donny has been writing about the deregulated energy markets since early 2007. His knowledge has helped consumers lower their electricity cost.
Leave a Reply