Direct Energy Services
Reviews and Complaints

It's incredibly difficult to understand, how a billion dollar company like Direct Energy, can cut off a customer who has kids for $365. I phoned to extend my time to pay by a week and got NO HELP! It makes me sick to know you consider yourself a customer related company, when it's apparent your a dollar related company. It's difficult times in the economy and it makes it more difficult when providers refuse to understand and help provide.

In the middle of June 2016 I went online and completed a moving form to transfer my gas services through Direct Energy to my new address for July 1st. I did not receive a bill from them, so I assumed that they weren't providing for that area and that my services were being held by Enmax. Having been very ill for quite a while I didn't have the energy or ability to check things as I was exhausted all of the time. I assumed that the Enmax bill that was being emailed to me included my gas charge and I never checked it. Again, this was my responsibility, but due to health reasons I was barely able to get through my work day and not get anything else done. So, on Sunday my landlord finally opened one of the monthly letters that she had been receiving from DE and it contained a bill for nearly $1000. She contacted DE Regulated Services and they had been charging her all along without either of us knowing it. So...she came to my house and posted an eviction notice for non-compliance with paying the household bills. I spent 3 hours on the phone with both companies to try and figure out what the heck had happened. Well, of course, they have no record of my address change and so the utilities went to Direct Energy R.S. instead of reverting to Enmax and me as I had assumed. Now I am in a bitter conflict with my landlord due to DE not processing my change of address and from me being so ill. There was no help or compensation from DE when I told them this. I will never deal with this company again. Ever!

In October, a broker came to my store and told me that direct energy business had a cheaper price to offer and asked me to sign a contract. I did not know the details of the bill, but in December, the first time I received my bill, the price shocked me, not only not cheap, but more expensive. I immediately called to cancel the service, when I cancel the service the third day, a phone call to me that I need to pay more than 3, 000 US dollars in contract damages. can u believe it ? it happen three days later.And, they only give me other three days to consider. I called them the second day, but they told me that the contract has been canceled, I have to pay liquidated damages. This is exactly a liar company.

I am venkatesh. Me and my wife moved to pa from ct 1.3yrs ago. After a month of moving, a sales man from direct energy came to our house when I wasnt even there at home. They said to my wife, like they spoke to my friends in next apartments. They just signed for this and you can also sign for this wonderful service, where you can pay very less (Aprox $40 difference) from what you are paying. My wife initially said I am not at home please come back later. But that sales guy didnt go and started talking about your friends from nearby apartments already signed for this and getting this advantage. Please dont miss this opportunity. And finally they confused her to make her sign an agreement. And it seems they called a number and asked her to say 'ok' for everything the person in other side ask. She is new to us and she didnt understand what exactly they spoke.
After that sales man went, we received 2 nest devices for adjusting temperature. I called them immediately and asked, we are not going to use this direct energy. Please take it from us. They said, it is just a service we are offering, since you accepted direct energy. Its completely free of cost. Then after multiple calls I left arguing with those guys. After 1.2yrs we moved to some other community due to project change, where they dont have peco and direct energy services. Immediately in a month, we received a mail from collection department, such as I need to pay $400 for the 2 devices, since I broke the contract of 2 yrs. And I am getting continuous calls from these collection agency, stating you need to pay $400 for 2 devices, since there is a 3yr agreement I signed and I disconnected in the middle.
This is totally ridiculous and direct energy is money minded scam. I see difference in communication between them. Some stating 2 yrs agreement and in call, they are saying 3 yrs agreement.
I am definitely going to raise it to next level. This is the starting step.

When we moved from a townhouse to our current duplex in the same town we were charged a $500 deposit for electricity and a $385 deposit for gas with Direct Energy Regulated Services. My husband was laid off work in February and I only work part time so we have been having a hard time keeping up with all our bills. My husband has just found a new job, but doesn't get paid until June 17th. Today I got home from work to find that our power has been disconnected. When I called to see if I could get it reconnected I was told that I have to pay the bill in full in order to get our power turned back on. We have small children at home, 1 of whom is on medication that needs refrigeration. The person I talked to on the phone was not concerned that my husband had been out of work or that we are unable to make a payment until June 17 when we both get paid from work. She told me that my power will not be restored until my bill is paid in full. My bill is $1129 now because of the $500 deposit and the mounting monthly charges. The late charges were $803 from previous bill, so that means new charges are over $300 for 1 month! I am angry and frustrated with Direct Energy Regulated Services!

I signed up summer of 2015, the condo I was renting was sold in November of 2015. I called and cancelled and on 12/2/15 got my first and only cancellation fee bill from Direct Energy. I was told to fax them documents, I did, called back and was told to fax more different documents. Meantime they have now sent me to collections while I am still trying to resolve the issue. This company sends you in circles, promises unrealized savings, promised a $50.00 restaurant coupon that was never received and then when I was forced to move promptly charged me $200. This has been the worst consumer experience that I have ever had in 30 years of being an active consumer. I have followed this up today with a complaint to the Attorney General's office of Ohio. Please I beg you heed my warning and don't ever deal with this company, I promise you will regret it.

Date of occurrence: 01/16/2015 Area: Canton, MI Couple of agents of Direct energy came to my house on Saturday evening and asked if I had any wrong energy recovery charges on my bills( which are actually a legitimate charge I came to know later)? and then asked me to give them my account number to report it back to the company and get it taken care of. After they left I though it might be a scam, so I checked online and it was. They fool people this way and switch them over without telling them or letting them know. They don't even ask for any signature or anything. They just switch you over. Now when I am trying to stop it, they are telling me they don't have any records till now but I am afraid that they will drag the case till the termination time is over and then charge me with the termination fees.

December 2014 a Direct Energy representative came to the door and I mistakenly signed up for their Comfort and Control (?) plan. I realized the mistake the next day and called to cancel; the law requires a 10 day "cooling off" period to allow customers to cancel registration to a utility plan without consequence. They claimed to have cancelled my plan; I called again in about 4 days to confirm that it was cancelled, and they said it was. Come January my other gas and electric providers sent me my "final" bill; Direct Energy had cancelled my other services and taken over as my provider. I cancelled the service and returned to my previous providers; then another month later Direct Energy sent me the Nest thermostat that was part of the plan I had cancelled, so I returned it. another 4 months later they send me a bill for the service for that 15 day period that they were my provider. Another 6 months later I get the "Device Recovery Fee" bill for the Nest thermostat. This company thrives on fraudulent business practices and scamming customers.

To anyone considering using Direct Energy beware of the "invisible" contract they will have with you for 2 to 3 years! I never signed anything saying such a thing & when I found out their rate was much higher than my regular electric supplier I cancelled them. At that time or no other was I told I would be charged $100 if I did so. Now they have my perfect credit messed up. Do I have any recourse against these kind of charges? I refuse to pay it!

Switched from direct energy, ever since they call every day, twice a day. I told them I am not switching back, they continue to call, once it was 2am which was frightening, thinking something happened to family members. This is a disgrace and there should be a way to stop them or fine them.
Why is this allowed.

September 17, 2015 - Mississauga Ontario and am reporting that a man knocked on my door and advised that he was from Direct Energy and needed to inspect the pipe for my water heater to ensure that it is the proper equipment for today's standards. I did not let him in. I do agree with sending people door to door requesting entrance.

Many people have submitted there problems with this company so I'll just add mine as well.

Spoke with Alex ID#51125 who was in Guatemala. Any legal company would have given me their address but Alex would not do this. Gotta be a scam.

But this Direct Energy company wasn't the Direct Energy company I was supposed to be speaking with. There are 2 companies with the same name! How can this be?

So I then spoke with Lucy ID#51083. I cancelled this account for what should now be obvious reasons if have read even a few of the posts here. Apparently I have a $5.84 credit with them. Yet I cancelled this account 2 months ago.

You'll like this part: They weren't going to send me a cheque unless and until I asked for it! So I asked Lucy that of the amount was $5000 they would just keep the money for themselves? YES. They keep the client's money! Unbelievable.

The only difference between this company and a scam is that this company actually provides you with a product so you won't realize what they're doing.

Wait. Maybe they're magicians? Misdirecting your attention while they have their hand in your pocket.

Bottom line I suppose is: How can their be 2 companies with the same name?

Do not go with direct energy! Save yourself money, time and frustration and shut the the door in the face of these door to door salesmen for this fraudulent american unnecessary middleman of a company! Edmonton. Said salesman had many claims at the door. I had to push for something in writting vs his sayso and he said, & was stated on the signed paperwork, sign up, read it and can cancel within 10 days at no penalty. Ok. Read it over and felt a number of aspects warned that cancelling this new direct energy and continuing as was was best. Called the next day (Well within 10 days) and got a verbal confirmation that account would be processed for cancellation. Done. We moved residence with canada post mail forewarding. Several months later I recieve a bill from direct energy for the old address I no longer live at. Paying someone else's utility bill with an account that was "in process for cacellation" the day after signing up (Months ago...) and well within the 10 day no penalty cancellation time frame. I called direct energy twice to try to resolve this, each followed with the promise of processing time then followed by a letter saying could not process pay up. Fraud! Do you not hear a notice that call will be recorded for xxx purposes. I'm sure they've deleted it by now. Straight up american fraud. I have now recieved a notice that my bill for someone elses residence is going to a collection agency! Infuriating! Do not go with the fraudulant american direct energy!

On April 14, 2015, an agent wearing a Direct Energy fleece and ID badge showed up at my door. He offered to consolidate my gas and electric bills (with no charge), which would save me administration costs. For the record, my regular energy provider is "Direct Energy Regulated Services, " and therefore, I thought I was working with the same company. In any case, the agent offered to do this consolidation if I signed their five year contract. I signed on under the premises that I could cancel within 10 days, and also under the assumption that my bills would be cheaper.

The next day, after some digging, I realized that Direct Energy and Direct Energy Regulated are in fact two different companies, and therefore I was deceived in signing up with a different energy provider entirely. On this same day, I contacted the Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA) in Alberta to file a complaint. I explained the story, and they said that they would forward my complaint and also cancel the contract on my behalf (interestingly enough, Direct Energy was charged by the government to stop this kind of deception in 2009). I also contact Direct Energy directly to revoke the contract, and they agreed. Finally, later in the afternoon, a representative from Direct Energy contacted me via phone and asked if I wanted to continue with the contract (since they are legally supposed to check with me anyways), and I told them that I would not since I was intentionally deceived.

It is now June 28, 2015. Just last Friday I received a bill from Direct Energy charging me for their services. Although on THREE separate, I had requested that my contract with them be terminated with one being an actual complaint to the government, Direct Energy still had the gall to charge me anyways.

Direct Energy, in their interaction with me, is clearly conducting illegal business practices. I am complaining here for now, although on Monday, I will proceed to make yet another complaint to the UCA about this. Furthermore, I hope to expose Direct Energy to the media if this issue is not resolved immediately.

Consumers beware. If Direct Energy shows up at your door, it would be in your best interest to report this to the police. Do not do business at the door.

I bought a house and inherited a hot water heater from Direct Energy (rental) We started experiencing the pilot light going out on a few occasions in a period of a week and we called for a technician to come out. He confirmed that the pilot light was going out and also the unit was leaking. He proceeded to tell us that we needed a new one and that it would be installed on the Saturday. There was no mention that we would be charged as this was a rental. We had the unit replaced and to our surprise the installer told us we could be charged and I told him that I refused to pay as it leaking and the pilot light was going out. He noted this on the work order that client refuses to pay any charges related to installing the unit. I got a bill from Direct Energy a few months later stating that I owed them money...I called them and they told me that it was a loan that I took out, replied NOPE didn't happen, they finally told me that it was a charge for turning the hot water heater ... HELLO IT WAS REPLACED... The whole idea of renting the unit is that I do not have to worry about and costs. I have been getting calls daily and I have tried to resolve this every time I called, but with NO LUCK. I finally call the last time on Friday May 15th and asked to talk with supervisor. There was no supervisor available at that time I was told, but they would get back to me within 12 - 48 hours and I'm still waiting. I'm still getting daily calls.

Verbal discussion on phone over 2 years ago for heating protection plan was to be able to cancel any time. Called to cancel in early April as heating protection plan no longer needed since new furnace and AC to be installed mid April. Informed unable to cancel plan as contract that automatically renewed in November with no telephone call or notification would not expire until November 27th. Claim that letter was mailed re renewal of plan but none received by us and no agreement verbal or written to renew heating protection plan. On the call customer was Informed "all of our plans are for 12 month". Offered to switch heating plan to plumbing plan for same fee 16.49 per month even through current promotion was for 9.99 per month for that plan. Any switch would have to be at the same 16.49 per month but instead of ending at the original contract date of November 27th would renew for another full year until May 2016. No option but to continue to pay for services not wanted and not needed. Extremely poor customer service. When asked manager to review tapes of original phone call she called back 2 weeks later saying that she refused to review tapes and repeated "mantra-we always say our contract auto renew and no signature required...we would not have said you could cancel any time" without listening to customers position on matter. Only choices we had were to continue to pay for the service we no longer needed for the 7.5 month (over $130) or switch to a plumbing service we also did not want for the same fee per month but have it run for over 12 months costing even more (over $225). That was not a real choice as either way you would be stuck paying for services you did not want or need. This type of negative billing with no signatures and assumptions of consumers being informed by mail that does not arrive at their homes is fraudulent behavior and is one of the main reasons we will not willingly ever have anything to do with Direct Energy or EnerCare ever again in our future.

Due to a error by Direct Energy, they sent Atco Gas to turn off gas service to my home on the morning of April 23. Direct Energy's database had 2 customers with my address. Several months ago I started receiving overdue bill notices for the other individual who is unknown to me. I marked "Return to Sender, not at this address" on the envelopes and returned them to Direct Energy. I also called their offices to advise that there was an address error. Eventually when this other individual didn't pay (one, because he doesn't live here, and two because he never received his mail) they turned off gas service. I spent most of the day on April 23 and April 24 on the phone trying to get this sorted out. All of Direct Energy's calls are routed through the Philippines and Guatamala and finding someone who could understand the situation was nearly impossible. By the end of the day on April 24, I found someone with the ability to send a reactivation request to Acto. Unfortunately, as this whole process took so long, Atco was unable to send a technician to my home until April 27. By that time I will have been without gas for 4 days. To put this in context, in our home we use gas for heating, hot water, and cooking. This is a HUGE inconvenience and Direct Energy isn't willing to make it right. The fact is that Atco Gas has emergency technicians that could come any time of the day or night if they wanted to. However, neither company seems to care.

Direct Energy file number: [protected] (they are charging me for a water tank that I never had)

So, I purchased my house on May 2012. I paid my Enbridge/Direct Energy bills until recently (Feb 2015) when I noticed a leak in boiling room. I called Direct Energy and as soon as their technician opened the boiler room door, he said, this tank is not for Direct Energy; it is for another company and it has been changed in 2011 (one year before I purchased the house). I told him, so why does Direct Energy charge me every month? He advised me to call Direct Energy Billing. A representative asked me to provide her with ROM (return of tank) form. I called the other company who had switched the tank; they said they cannot locate ROM form. I called back to Direct Energy and after clarifying that this has nothing to do with me since I have never had Direct Energy tank in my house when I purchased it, a representative asked me to send him the document that shows the purchase date of the house so that they refund the payments made over last 3 years. I emailed the title of my house last week. I followed up this week; they said in the system it shows I need to provide ROM form. So, I had to start over the loop; I asked her that I needed to talk to a supervisor. After a few more calls I could talk to a supervisor. I asked supervisor to provide me with a document that shows I am responsible for a tank that I have never had OR refund my payments. He said he cannot do anything; and my options are to buyout the tank (~$450) or pay monthly rents for the tank that I have never had when I purchased the house. Please note that there is nothing in the title of my house or purchase agreement about their water tank and I have never received anything (like renew form, terms and conditions, etc) from them and never signed anything with them. I said I will file a consumer complaint with the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Better Business Bureau, etc, and spread the story to internet and news and see you in the court.

Moved back home to Yellowknife paid bills for heat and power $500 closed account in Dec 15-2014 moved back and Yesterday receive a bill for 1200 for power and heat phoned in asked what the heck was going on i was told it was all good and up to date and account would be closed for new owners of home to take over. I phone company was told system was down for a few months and i wasn't billed for a few months of course not being aware of situation i was pissed off with them and how can you close an account then reopen it and say well we made an error oh well you have to pay for our mistakes and not sure how 2 months equal 1200 dollars 600 a month huh wtf is going on all i can say i called again and same answer sorry system was down and he kept repeating sorry sir system was down I don't see anyone else complaining of this event make you wonder not impressed with Direct energy poor practices

A man appeared at my door at 8:30 pm(black dark) and was wearing an ID badge and carrying a clipboard with "energy guide" information on it. I said I wasn't interested and he said "I have to talk to you to sign you off the list in your neighbourhood " and pointed to other houses in the vicinity. I insisted I was NOT interested and he pounded on my door. Stupidly, I opened it and spoke with him where he asked about my air conditioner /furnace. He asked to come in my house and see my furnace and made an attempt to see my "covered air conditioner". I told him I was not letting him in to my house but would get the information he was needing? but when I told him I used oil heating he abruptly turned and left...leaving me frightened and feeling very vulnerable...and stupid for opening the door. Never Again...