Cirro Energy

Trying to talk to a human being about multiple bills

New plan without averaging and lower rates since I have added natural gas in my heating

How would you define the problem?

Why should you care?

The circumstances were an Electric Utility company, Cirro Energy, (parent company is NRG [U.S. Retailers L.L.C.] which is the largest retail electric provider in Texas with subsidiaries Reliant Energy, Green Mountain, and Pennywise), bought out another electric company that I had a contract with, Pioneer Energy. In the Houston Chronicle in the Energy section on August 1, 2018, they quoted spokeswoman Pat Hammond, “Cirro will honor the contract terms including the price of energy for the duration of the contracts.” On August 21st, 2018, Cirro took over my electric services and on that same date, I received an email telling me I was now enrolled in a Cirro plan called “Smart Simple 36” that after talking to Cirro customer service representatives, was told consisted of 12.9 cents per kWh for three years rather than my Pioneer contract that is one year at 8.34 cents per kWh. I was told repeatedly for over a month by Cirro representatives that Pioneer Energy had submitted my contract information that showed that my contract was 12.9 cents kWh for 3 years. This was in spite of my submitting by email to: service@***.cirroenergy.com, my copies of Pioneer’s Electricity Facts Label, Terms of Service and Rights as a Customer. Also I was told by Pioneer that they had submitted the correct paperwork and to wait and see if they bill me correctly. I was billed according to the Pioneer contract but on the bill, it still showed my plan as “Smart Secure 36”. During this time, the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) was involved. Then on September 20, 2018, Cirro emailed me a copy of my contract that was supposed to have been revised but it STILL showed 12.9 cents per kWh for 3 years. The following day, I received a phone call from Cirro’s headquarters in Plano, TX, who again told me that my former company, Pioneer Energy, had sent my contract information to Cirro, that showed it to be 12.9 cents per kWh for 3 years. Then after I showed the PUC the most recent contract sent by Cirro, Cirro’s management told the PUC that they had “accidentally” sent the wrong contract! Cirro sent another contract but it STILL shows the length of the contract for 3 years. The Texas PUC closed out the complaint anyway, just citing them only for “inconsistencies with the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) Terms disclosure” and recommended Cirro provide me with a corrected EFL that shows the correct terms. This Texas PUC report was written on 9/24/2018 and I also requested a corrected EFL, but I am still waiting for the Electricity Facts Label that reflects my actual Pioneer Energy terms! I do not understand how a legal contract that is to be honored and specifically written into the terms of the buyout, is not cause for regulatory agencies like the Texas PUC to take more definitive action to protect consumer rights. I was in this complaint process for over a month with the Texas PUC and Cirro, but instead of Cirro immediately sending the corrected contract that very first day of the complaint, I waited over a full month to finally get a slightly modified contract that STILL was not corrected to the terms of my previous contract with Pioneer!

And still the Texas PUC closed it out! Also a fair warning to everyone: whenever you sign up for any electricity service, it is imperative that you save a copy of your Electricity Facts Label as this is your legal contract with that company and without it, unethical companies like NRG and their subsidiaries can, at will, tell customers that the contract information received by the former electricity company is more costly and for longer lengths than what your actual contract terms actually were, and trap you into contracts that are not legal if you don’t protect yourself. So, in closing, how would you define the problem? Would you define it like the Texas PUC, as only an inconsistency by Cirro Energy to disclose what my contract terms were after the buyout? Why should you care? Because it appears that consumers don’t really have much in the way of actual consumer protections, even from State and Federal agencies, as legislation gets passed that takes away regulatory clout, financed with political contributions by businesses and corporations to allow them to pursue profit over people, even when it involves breaking legitimate contracts.

Cirro Energy bought out my former electric provider Pioneer Energy and informed everyone involved that Pioneer’s contact terms would remain the same. Then Cirro turned around and sent me a contract with terms completely different from Pioneer’s contract terms immediately after the buyout on August 21st, 2018, that were almost double in cost and an increase of two more additional years to the contract.

When I would call in, Cirro’s customer service would tell me my contract rate was 12.9 cents per kWh for 3 years rather than my Pioneer contract of .0834 cents per kWh for 1 year. I sent in my copy of Pioneer’s Electricity Facts Label with the correct information via email and Cirro would turn around and tell me they never received the information from me and would tell me that the paperwork that Pioneer Energy submitted showed my contract to be the higher rate and longer term. When I filed complaints with the Texas PUC, I documented everything very carefully and found there is NO customer or consumer protections at the State or Federal levels left, as legislation has completely gutted all regulatory power from these agencies. Even with this third party observing, my contract still is NOT corrected to my former Pioneer Energy terms!

And I have copies of ALL the contract terms from Pioneer Energy including the Pioneer Electricity Facts Label! Cirro does not honor your former contract’s terms as stated during company buyouts and they are not honoring legal contracts that were to be legal and binding as part of the buyout terms.

I received a disconnection notice from Cirro Energy for almost $200 and was forced to get assistance from an agency who paid the bill. The disconnection notice gave me very little time to find an agency, schedule an appointment and fill out their paperwork.

Today, as opposed to a normal bill, I once again have received a disconnection notice that states the amount of $171.62 has to be paid no later than June 13th. Again, I am unable to pay. I live on a fixed income and Cirro refuses to work with me to accept a lower and extended payment date. I have been put on a deferred payment plan, and still have no idea or explanation how I seemingly got this far behind.

My address is in Dallas, but I now live in Collin County. Can you please give me the names and phone numbers of someone who will help me pay this bill?

I renewed my contract with Kinetic Energy on 1/25/12 and have e-mail confirmation. On 2/10/12, billing was moved to Cirro energy.

I have an e-mail from Kinetic dated 1/5/12 saying that the change was going to happen but that I did not need to do anything because my contract would remain in place. On 6/14/12 I went online to change my form of payment and there was a note that said my contract had expired. I called Cirro and spoke to Jessica who had terrible customer service skills and basically just kept repeating that it was not their fault because Kinetic had given them the wrong information. I asked to speak to a Supervisor and she said that they would tell me the same thing.

I insisted on speaking to someone and she put me on hold for a very long time only to come back on and say there was nobody I could talk to and she would send them a message to call me but they had 24-48 hours to call me back, but no one ever called me. I also have confirmation that I was on average billing with Kinetic but she said they had no record of that, so my bill is $70.00 higher than what I pay every month. I was a Kinetic customer for 3 years and got nothing but wonderful service from their customer service department the few times I did have to call. This customer service was unbelievably awful!

I am a Customer Service Manager and it is just unbelievable the people can act this way towards their customer! I did not ask for Kinetic to move to Cirro and had I known they had such terrible service and would not honor my contract, I never would have renewed with Kinetic, but I have the e-mail saying that I did not need to do anything as my contract would remain the same.

They are crooks!