Welcome to Upromise Community

[patrick1979]

I would like to make a complaint about the offer Upromise sent to me about switching to Energy Plus Holdings as my electric supplier. It sounded like a great deal and promised savings. So I did switch to Energy Plus Holdings only to receive my first bill with and addtional charge of $49.47 making it the highest electric bill I have had! I see there are a lot of Upromise members that posted similar cases in your community section. Many people are taking the bate for a promise in savings only to find out they will be paying more and then when you call to cancel it won't take effect until the next billing period. So now I have 2 months of outrageous electric bills to pay!

[EPSupervisor]

Hello "patrick1979",

I am an Energy Plus Supervisor was very concerned to hear about your experience. We have reviewed your situation in detail and will be contacting you shortly to discuss further. We do offer a market-rate product whereby we buy electricity every day at the best possible price and use that price to set our rate. We cannot speak to why the utility companies sometimes have lower rates than ours. Rates also vary across the state of New York so one customer's experience is not indicative of all regions. We do not charge cancellation fees nor lock customers into a contract so that they can try our service and cancel at any time without penalty. Given the utility company's rule about not interrupting a billing cycle (this is true when you being service too), we will do our best to rectify your situation as we take customer satisfaction very seriously.  Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we'll be in touch.

[Supercomputers]

To make a long story short they ripped me off for a year before I put the whole thing together and realized what was going on. I was able to get my money back from them already if you can beleive it they sent me a check for what they stole over "1200.00+" from me within a few days. However I still want to go after them. Them sending my money back is proof they are steeling from thousands of people out there and dont want a loud mouth like me to stir the pot. Looking at the best way to go about this if you want to be part of it. Send me your Name, Address and number and how many months you were with them and the aprox amount of the fraud. I am going to do my best to pull this all together and at the least get peoples money back for them or show them how. Have spoken to a few lawyers and we are going to go after them.

Thanks
Dave Prince
Supercomputers90@aol.com

[EPSupervisor]

We are sorry that Mr. Prince had an unsatisfying experience with Energy Plus. We certainly endeavor to make our customers' experiences with us positive and his was not the typical customer's experience. We have thousands of satisfied customers across the four states where we currently offer service.

We are among several energy providers that offer a variable rate product and as such, any individual customer may receive a price which is higher than, lower than, or the same as their local utility company in any given period, as indicated in our Terms of Service. Currently, we have rates below the utility companies in over 80% of the areas we serve.

As part of our commitment to customer satisfaction, we provide the opportunity to cancel service any time with no penalty. 

If any customer has an issue or question about their service, I encourage you to contact Energy Plus directly at 1-877-320-0356 (toll-free).  In the meantime, we hope our satisfied customers continue to enjoy the Upromise savings that our program provides.

[sge411]

Response to EP supervisor,

Your response is patronizing and ignores the simple fact that you claim to offer competitive prices for energy within the markets you serve but offer no information about what your rates are. One only has to look at any of the many complaint boards to see that you have customers from every deregulated market you operate in, screaming about your deceptive practices and overcharging. To suggest that you are just now reviewing the complaints over the last several months is laughable. You have a tsunami of complaints dating back to 2008, all with the same theme. Give rewards, promise competitive pricing without details and gouge until your found out. Once your found out give back some of the ill gotten gains, to quite the unhappy customer.

These complaints are from all the states in which you operate. A quick look at the companies such as yourself  that have a variable rate, shows that every company reviewed was higher than the local utility, Energy Plus had the distinction of being the highest "Market based product" out of all the companies and not by just a little. You were also the only "Market based product" company that doesn't publish historical rates.

I'm attaching a graph that shows in detail the rate you charged me over 22 months and the rate available from my local utility (National Grid). As you will see, the overcharging was not a random event. The first two months was similar to what was locally available and the next 20 months shows consistently excessive overcharging.

You state in your previous email that ,and I quote " we want to be very clear about the fact that our product is variable and therefore may change on each month’s bill.  We encourage all of our customers to review their rate and compare it to other offers to decide if it works for them.  If at any time it is not favorable, please contact us and you may cancel at any time without any kind of penalty." This statement and other similar statements that your company makes in posting such as this and on your website is presumably how you stay out of legal trouble.

For those of you reading this response please Google Energy Plus Scam and you will see the many, many complaints from all seven states in which Energy Plus operates. Also you will see two web sites come up with this address, EnergyPlusScam.com.  These websites are actually operated by Energy Plus and provides a so called education about energy deregulation and why it’s not a scam. They recently put up these websites so they could have some control over the "Energy Plus Scam" search results. They make no mention in the body of the website who they are. They welcome comments but oddly they did not post any of my comments.

I'm not sure how the graph is going to turn out on this, so here in print is the monthly rates that EP charged me per KWH and what National Grid was charging at the same (the national Grid rate is available on their  web site). Also I've included the Energy Plus, percentage overcharge.

                                        March 2009    NG rate   .0477                   EP rate .0488         2%  EP  overcharge     

                                        April 2009       NG rate    .0392                   EP rate .0488         24% EP  overcharge

                                        May 2009        NG rate    .0418                   EP rate .0887         112%EP  overcharge

                                       June 2009      NG rate    .0438                   EP rate ,1194         172%EP overcharge

                                       July 2009        NG rate    .0440                   EP rate .1179         168%EP overcharge

                                       August 2009  NG rate     .0435                   EP rate .1194        178%EP overcharge

                                       Sept. 2009      NG rate    .0443                   EP rate  .1178        166%EP overcharge

                                       Oct. 2009        NG rate     .0447                   EP rate  .1240        177%EP overcharge

                                       Nov. 2009       NG rate     .0491                   EP rate  .1193        143%EP overcharge

                                       Dec. 2010      NG rate     .0441                   EP rate .1222         177%EP overcharge

                                       Jan 2010        NG rate     .0567                   EP rate  .1271        124%EP overcharge

                                       Feb. 2010       NG rate     .0541                   EP rate  .1216        125%EP overcharge

                                       March 2010    NG rate     .0458                   EP rate   .1121         144%EPovercharge

                                       April 2010       NG rate     .0443                  EP rate   .1186          168%EP overcharge

                                       May 2010         NG rate     .0509                 EP rate    .1234         142%EP overcharge

                                       June 2010       NG rate     .0542                 EP rate    .1264         133%EP overcharge

                                       July 2010         NG rate     .0634                  EP rate   .1507         138%EP overcharge

                                       August 201    NG rate      .0694                  EP rate   .1456         110%EP overcharge 

                                        Sept. 2010       NG rate     .0765                  EP rate    .1366        127%EP overcharge

                                       Oct. 2010          NG rate     .0525                 EP rate    .1366         127%EP overcharge

                                       Nov 2010          NG rate     .0457                 EP rate    .1122         145%EP overcharge

                                       Dec 2010          NG rate     .0445                 EP rate    .1215         173%EP overcharge

                                       Jan 2011           NG rate     .0522                 EP rate    .1417         171%EP overcharge

Now to be fair, Energy Plus was giving me 3% back into my Upromise account and when I complained of this overcharging to Energy Plus they told me they had also not charged me a nominal tax that National Grid would have if I had been with them. But all-in-all I'd say that Energy Plus pretty much ripped me off. I would be very interested in your response, EP supervisor. If you choose to dispute any of my numbers, I'd be glad to post the evidence.

 As I said in an earlier posting, I will be filing a complaint with the Public Service Commission as 80 other people did in 2010 and the NYS attorney general. The relief I seek, is to have Energy Plus stop doing business in New York State. I encourage anybody who has been taken advantage of by this company to do the same, even if they got their money back. 

 This last statement from the EP is the most insulting of all, "Our goal is to provide a valuable service so please know that we are listening and adjusting our program in response to your feedback. "  Mr. EPsupervisor, please do tell what possible "vauable service" your company provides? As for adjusting your program in response to our feedback, try not laying out one misleading statement after another as to the competiveness of your energy product.

[sge411]

Posted below is the E-mail response from Upromise regarding and email I sent them, expressing deep concern over their association with Energy Plus as a partner and my response back to Upromise asking them to reconsider their association with Energy Plus

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the difficulty you
experienced with Energy Plus.

Energy Plus has been carefully reviewing all of the feedback posted over
the past few months. They are disappointed that they have not been able
to provide a positive experience for everyone in the program and because
of your concerns have been actively reviewing our pricing, particularly
across the six different utility regions in New York.   

As a market-based product, they have unfortunately had high costs in New
York and therefore New York customers’ bills increased to higher levels
than anticipated, and for that they apologized.  Their costs have
recently decreased by 20-30% and they are lowering rates accordingly, to
be reflected on next month’s bills if not already on current bills. 
They have also decided to lower rates an additional 20-30% as of the
next billing cycle to provide further relief.   

Despite these efforts, they want to be very clear about the fact that
their product is variable and therefore may change on each month’s bill.
We encourage all of our customers to review their rate and compare it to
other offers to decide if it works for them.  If at any time it is not
favorable, we suggest that members contact Energy Plus. They may cancel
at any time without any penalty. 

It has become clear to us at Upromise that Energy Plus is not for
everyone. With that said, Energy Plus has awarded over $1 million in
Upromise savings to members and has provided lower energy costs to many.
Again, we are truly sorry that your experience with Energy Plus was not
a positive one. We have added a $10 courtesy adjustment to your Upromise
account. While this amount may not make up for the loss savings you
would have received with another energy provider, We are hopeful that it
will help ease your frustration.

If you have further questions, please contact us at (888) 434-9111.  We
are available to assist you from Monday through Friday 9:00 A.M. to 9:00
P.M. EST.

For more information about the Upromise service, please visit us at
www.upromise.com

Sincerely,

The Upromise Customer Care Team
www.upromise.com

PLEASE! forward this email to the Upromise Department that deals directly with this partner(Energy Plus)

Dear Upromise Customer Care,

Thank you for taking Energy Plus's posted response to the avalanche of complaints against them and changing a couple of their words in the post to make it sound like you are responding to my concerns in a thoughtful way.

I want to make it very clear, your comment "It has become clear to us at Upromise that Energy Plus is not for everyone" is an understatement at best. This product is clearly a ripoff to all that sign up through Upromise. Energy Plus's deceptive tactics and overcharging are well documented . They are allowed to continue this deception through associations with seemingly reputable companies such as yourself. The fact that you are aware of this deception and extreme member dissatisfaction through your own menber posts and don't curtail your association with this Company is appalling.

I ask you again as a member that cares about what Upromise stands for to please reconsider disassociating your self from Energy Plus. They are hurting your members, please take this seriously.

Below is a response I posted to Upromise's community billboard regarding the Energy Plus response you copied and pasted in your email response to me. Also I've attached a chart that clearly shows the consistent overcharging that Energy Plus perpetrated on me. This overcharging is a repeated story by your members.

Response to EP supervisor,

Your response is patronizing and ignores the simple fact that you claim to offer competitive prices for energy within the markets you serve but offer no information about what your rates are. One only has to look at any of the many complaint boards to see that you have customers from every deregulated market you operate in, screaming about your deceptive practices and overcharging. To suggest that you are just now reviewing the complaints over the last several months is laughable. You have a tsunami of complaints dating back to 2008, all with the same theme. Give rewards, promise competitive pricing without details and gouge until your found out. Once your found out give back some of the ill gotten gains, to quite the unhappy customer.

These complaints are from all the states in which you operate. A quick look at the companies such as yourself  that have a variable rate, shows that every company reviewed was higher than the local utility, Energy Plus had the distinction of being the highest "Market based product" out of all the companies and not by just a little. You were also the only "Market based product" company that doesn't publish historical rates.

I'm attaching a graph that shows in detail the rate you charged me over 22 months and the rate available from my local utility (National Grid). As you will see, the overcharging was not a random event. The first two months was similar to what was locally available and the next 20 months shows consistently excessive overcharging.

You state in your previous email that ,and I quote " we want to be very clear about the fact that our product is variable and therefore may change on each month’s bill.  We encourage all of our customers to review their rate and compare it to other offers to decide if it works for them.  If at any time it is not favorable, please contact us and you may cancel at any time without any kind of penalty." This statement and other similar statements that your company makes in posting such as this and on your website is presumably how you stay out of legal trouble.

For those of you reading this response please Google Energy Plus Scam and you will see the many, many complaints from all seven states in which Energy Plus operates. Also you will see two web sites come up with this address, EnergyPlusScam.com.  These websites are actually operated by Energy Plus and provides a so called education about energy deregulation and why it’s not a scam. They recently put up these websites so they could have some control over the "Energy Plus Scam" search results. They make no mention in the body of the website who they are. They welcome comments but oddly they did not post any of my comments.

I'm not sure how the graph is going to turn out on this, so here in print is the monthly rates that EP charged me per KWH and what National Grid was charging at the same (the national Grid rate is available on their  web site). Also I've included the Energy Plus, percentage overcharge.

 March 2009    NG rate   .0477   EP rate .0488 2%  EP  overcharge    

 April 2009    NG rate  .0392    EP rate .0488 24% EP  overcharge

 May 2009      NG rate  .0418    EP rate .0887 112%EP  overcharge

 June 2009     NG rate  .0438    EP rate ,1194 172%EP overcharge

 July 2009    NG rate  .0440    EP rate .1179 168%EP overcharge

 August 2009  NG rate   .0435   EP rate .1194 178%EP overcharge

 Sept. 2009   NG rate   .0443   EP rate .1178 166%EP overcharge

 Oct. 2009    NG rate   .0447   EP rate .1240 177%EP overcharge

 Nov. 2009    NG rate   .0491   EP rate .1193 143%EP overcharge

 Dec. 2009   NG rate   .0441   EP rate .1222 177%EP overcharge

 Jan 2010     NG rate   .0567   EP rate .1271 124%EP overcharge

 Feb. 2010    NG rate   .0541   EP rate .1216 125%EP overcharge

 March 2010   NG rate   .0458   EP rate .1121 144%EPovercharge

 April 2010   NG rate   .0443   EP rate .1186 168%EP overcharge

 May 2010     NG rate   .0509   EP rate .1234 142%EP overcharge

 June 2010    NG rate   .0542   EP rate .1264 133%EP overcharge

 July 2010    NG rate   .0634   EP rate .1507 138%EP overcharge

 August 201   NG rate   .0694   EP rate .1456 110%EP overcharge

 Sept. 2010   NG rate   .0601   EP rate .1366 127%EP overcharge

 Oct. 2010    NG rate   .0525   EP rate .1192 127%EP overcharge

 Nov 2010     NG rate   .0457   EP rate .1122 145%EP overcharge

 Dec 2010     NG rate   .0445   EP rate .1215 173%EP overcharge

 Jan 2011     NG rate   .0522   EP rate .1417 171%EP overcharge

Now to be fair, Energy Plus was giving me 3% back into my Upromise account and when I complained of this overcharging to Energy Plus they told me they had also not charged me a nominal tax that National Grid would have if I had been with them. But all-in-all I'd say that Energy Plus pretty much ripped me off. I would be very interested in your response, EP supervisor. If you choose to dispute any of my numbers, I'd be glad to post the evidence.

 As I said in an earlier posting, I will be filing a complaint with the Public Service Commission as 80 other people did in 2010 and the NYS attorney general. The relief I seek, is to have Energy Plus stop doing business in New York State. I encourage anybody who has been taken advantage of by this company to do the same, even if they got their money back. 

 This last statement from the EP is the most insulting of all, "Our goal is to provide a valuable service so please know that we are listening and adjusting our program in response to your feedback. "  Mr. EPsupervisor, please do tell what possible "vauable service" your company provides? As for adjusting your program in response to our feedback, try not laying out one misleading statement after another as to the competitiveness of your energy product.

[Supercomputers]

Energy Plus is a Scam and a Fraud.

Buyer Beware!

[sge411]

  For those of you still considering switching from your local electric supplier to resellers like Energy Plus, read this article about energy deregulated markets. Upromise, maybe now you will reconsider your association with Energy Plus. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/23/For-Many-Energy-DeReg-Was-a-Dismal-Failure.aspx#pa...

[sge411]

To all who are disgusted by Upromise vouching for Energy Plus and a plea to Upromise.

By Energy Plus's associating with Upromise they are given instant credibility. Upromise has been asked by many members and begged by me to stop their affiliation with Energy Plus.  Upromise's affiliation with Energy Plus is a revenue generator for them so that must be the reason  Upromise continues to defend them in the face of so much evidence of their misrepresentation and deceit.  Below is the Upromise advertisement for Energy Plus in case you haven't seen it lately.

It's become clear that Upromise is a willing partner in the defrauding of its own members. Amazingly, Upromise is in good company. The likes of Amtrak, United airlines, Continental airlines, Best Buy and Marriott to just to name a few are also complicit and well aware of the tsunami of complaints about this company but continue to lend their name because they get a piece of the action.

So, Upromise; it's never to late to do the right thing. Please , we the members, ask you to disassociate yourself from this despicable company called Energy Plus.Please choose pride over profit and do the right thing. 

Upromise members, feel free to add your voice to mine and insist that Upromise do the right thing.

Here is the current Upromise advertisement for Energy Plus on this very website

Earn 3% of your electricity supply bill foryour Upromise account.

Choose Energy Plus to supply your home with electricity and you can save for college every time you pay your bill. And if you're a new Energy Plus customer, you can also receive a $50 bonus for college savings.

Light up your home with Energy Plus.

Energy Plus is a competitive electricity supplier servicing residents throughout Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Here's how much you can save with Energy Plus: 1

1. 
   Get a $50 New Account Bonuswhen you select Energy Plus to supply your electricity 2
2. 
   Receive 3%of your electricity supply charges each month in your Upromise account 3

And college savings are just part of the story. You'll also benefit from choosing a superior service like Energy Plus.

• Energy Plus is one of the fastest-growing energy companies and is licensed by the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC), the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), New York Public Service Commission (PSC), the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT).
• When you choose Energy Plus to supply your electricity, your service will remain uninterrupted. That's because your existing utility company will continue to provide all transmission services, such as delivering your electricity, performing meter readings, and responding to emergencies.

» View program details

Upromise Savings Summary

• $50 Upromise account bonus for new Energy Plus
  customers2
• 3% earned per month for college3
• You're in control since you can cancel at any time without paying a termination fee
• Month-to-month rate plan where you are not locked in to a long-term commitment4

To receive your college savings with Energy Plus, » Click Here.

1Offer valid for CT, IL, MD, NJ, NY, PA and TX residents only, excluding areas not serviced by CL&P or UI (CT), areas not serviced by ComEd (IL), areas not serviced by BGE, Delmarva or Pepco (MD), areas not serviced by PECO, PPL Electric Utilities or Duquesne Light Company (PA) or areas serviced by the Long Island Power Authority (NY).

2Upromise members will earn a $50 bonus after two months of active service with Energy Plus. The bonus is only available to new Energy Plus customers. Additional terms and conditions apply.

3Allow 8-12 weeks for the initial college savings to appear in your Upromise account.

4The Energy Plus supply rate per kWh is variable and therefore subject to change during each billing cycle. Current and historical rates should not be taken as a guarantee of future rates and Energy Plus makes no warranty, express or implied, regarding specific savings.

[DonnyE]

Today Sanford Wittels & Heisler File a class action against Energy Plus in New Jersey... you can read more about it here http://pinterest.com/pin/229331805995304375/