First Choice Power
Reviews and Complaints

When the company switched to reliant they mailed me a check and it had the wrong first name on it so I sent it a copy of my drivers license so they told me I would receive another check with the correct name on it then they said well we can’t change the name on an account will refund it back to your card on file I said okay I gave it 10 business days and I still haven’t received my refund and no one can tell me where my money is I’ve also confirmed it with my bank that I haven’t received my refund all I want is my money back I’m a single parent and money doesn’t grow on trees [protected]@gmail.com [protected]

First Choice Power permitted a fraudulent account to be opened in my name.

I am NOT a resident of Texas NOR have I ever been.

I received an alert from the credit bureaus regarding the collection account placed on my report. Thank goodness I receive alerts or I would have not known about this.

I called First Choice Power to inquire about this account and was asked so many questions for me to verify the account. Well, I can't provide information about the account because I'm not the person who opened the account.

I explained to the Rep that I have been a victim of identity theft and that I do not reside in Texas. The Rep continued to ask me questions to "verify the account"!

So unprofessional. I cannot verify something I have no knowledge of.

I faxed 7 documents to them to show I am not the person they opened the account for in January. I have lived in my current state for over 11 years. I provided sufficient documents to confirm this.

I was asked to provide a police report. Well I cannot provide a police report in my state for something that took place in Texas! Again, I don't have any information about the account that was opened because I did not open it.

A complete run around on this! I am still trying to get this fraudulent account removed from my credit report.

It appears the First Choice Power Reps are not familiar with how to handle these types of situations.

I'm very disappointed that additional security steps are not taken to ensure they are opening accounts for the right person.

I have a prepaid account. I get daily text messages that tell me usage and how much money came off my account that day.

Four days ago I received a text stating that Oncor (the actual provider of electricity) had misread my meter for a specific time period...to a higher number of KWH and put my account negative by taking a charge for the difference. Oncor is always the final word.

I went back through my daily messages be cause i knew I paid a lot for electricity...I had even complained to first choice power that I could have a defective meter. They were supposed to send a representative out to check it...and didn't show.

So my daily usage added up to 573 more KWH than oncor stated and had charged me (again apparently ) for.

First choice power offered me TEN DOLLARS as a "courtesy" and wouldn't even restore my service unless I forked out MORE money to do so. They owe me the equivalent of 583 kWh at the rate I paid and want to give me ten bucks and turn off my power? No.

I intend to pursue this...I'll call the local news stations...it's Christmas...they love special interest stories about some poor victimized single mom being preyed upon by greedy corporations.

They need to refund my money

Fraudulent advertising! Highest electric bills I have incurred! Supposed free weekends, but they more than make up for in billing! My bills have exceeded $300 plus over the last 4 months for a single person who works 12 plus hours a day and is home on supposedly "free weekends "! Pricing does not add up! Cheaper to break contract than being price gauged by this illegitimate company with terrible customer service.

I've been with this company for about 3 years now and everything was fine until it can time to renew my services. The bill doubled and I didnt understand why when the rate only changed by a few cent. And ill also state (that I was home the same amount of time which is about 6 pm til 7 am. I am working the rest of the time my central air DO NOT WORK AT ALL.) So I call and spoke with someone. she was very nice and told me she did think something was wrong didnt see why the bill would do that. she asked if I had any thing running while we were on the phone I checked everything and she set up a meter test which was going to take about 10 days. I was fine with that I new something was not righ. But, I get the next bill before the 10 days is up and was high as was higher then the first one. Then it coincidentally went really low after the 10 days. So I call back to see if I could get the results of the meter test because no one reached out. Also to see if the last balance could be prorated or removed since it seemed they found the issue. But NOOOOO when I call NO ONE COULD FIND MY METER TEST so I ask for another. This guy seen and thought it was an issue as well and he says for your trouble ill credit 50$ to your account which was nice but im like 700 in the whole 50$ wasnt going to make me happy. I was on a payment plan at this time because the bills where coming and they were to high for me to pay. (Note: 2nd 300$+ bill for a 2 bed room.) So I waited and waited weeks no one got back to me but the bills did get lower. This is now 2 about to be 3 months from the first meter test. I call once more to try and get the results. THE TEST WAS STOPPED FOR SOME APPARENT REASON UNKNOWN. I was pissed because by now I am half way done with the payment plan. So they run it once again. Comes April 13th 2018 I get a email stating that the meter test was reran on April 4 and was correct and there was nothing they could do for me. NOOO FREAKING DUH YOU GUYS FIXED BY NOW TO COVER THERE SELVES. I want to hear it fro someone not a email but the agent that I was speaking to thought something about my story was laughable so I ask for a manager or someone higher. which they got onto the for very defensive about there employee and state that everything is correct and that the last agent gave me 50$ credit to be nice not because something was wrong. TO ME HE WAS DEFENSIVE BECAUSE HE TOTALLY NEW THERE WAS AN ISSUE IN FEB. WHEN I FIRST ASK FOR THE TEST THEY FIXED IT AND DIDNT CARE TO TAKE CARE OF THERE CUSTOMER. now im trying to see if theres a legal option I can take.

I am g c garmany, 403 posthorn, houston, tx. 77015
I have elect service at a rental condo, #403, at 12905 woodforest blvd
The bill according to the girl who called me this morning and i do not have the account number. I want to pay the bill please. With a visa c. Card. How can i do that. Some of you people don't understand, i do not have the account number nor the amount to pay. I only have what i have noted above. Please help me.
G c garmany, [protected] g. [protected]@yahoo.Com

I have used first choice for almost 3 years. My fiance and I just moved to a new apartment and already set up utilities to be turned on the day we moved. Electric was on so we thought first choice did their job and everything was fine. I have lived her for almost a month, and about 4 days ago at 7 am my power went out. I was in the middle of warming my 6 month olds bottle. I called oncore to report a power outage and was told there was no outage and that first choice clearly had my utilities cut off. I called them to ask why due to the fact we have paid every bill well before it was due, and I was told that they didnt cut my service off. I got transfered to over 6 different people and NOBODY could give me an answer. I put my baby down for a nap and called again about an hour after that and I was still treated like crap. After a couple of hours of talking to basically everyone possible I could be transfered to I was told they made a mistake. I was told I would have power that next morning. The next morning still no power. I call again and the first lady I talk to tells me oh your on a service hold. I said what is that? She said the tenants who lived there before you never cancelled their electric service and you have been using their power. After their bill wasnt paid it got shut off. We never turned you on. I said howcome the exact day I moved in I wasnt notified that my meter was never turned on by First Choice? She said I dont know that part is our fault I apologize. I then said can you explain to me why a representative yesterday told me I would get my power turned back on today? Once again she said I dont know another mistake. No thats not a mistake. The woman was rude and nasty and wanted me off the phone so she lied to me.
Anyways I said okay so when can I have power. The lady told me I couldnt get power there until the service hold was removed and it would take 4 days to fax a piece of paper to oncore to release the hold. I said why does it take 4 days to fax a peice of paper? She said because she cant do it she had to have the managers do it and it would take that long. I told her I couldnt wait 4 days for power and I was in tears explaining that my baby wont eat her bottles unless they are warm and we couldnt pay for a hotel. She showed no remorse just kept saying I understand your upset about that its going to take 4 days. I asked to speak to someone higher up and she transfered me to a supervisor (so she says) who wouldnt do a damn thing for me.I was totally fed up so I called another electric company. They were able to fax a service hold form within ONLY 3 HOURS, and I had power that day.

With that being said First Choice DOES NOT run their business the right way and they dont care one bit about valued customers. This business is COLD HEARTED! This company made a HUGE mistake and left myself, my fiance, and my SIX MONTH OLD child without power and didnt do a damn thing to fix it! The representatives who work their in my opinion are also cold hearted. If I worked there and got a call from someone who had no power because of a mistake we made and they had a little baby at home I would be so upset. I would do anything in my power to resolve the issue. These people just didnt care. I must have repeated " I have a six month old daughter at home who wont eat unless her bottles are warm please help me" about 20 times. It was no use. I lost over 4 packages of frozen hamburger meat and 2 packages of frozen chicken. Every other thing in my fridge was ruined as well.

I would rather have no electricity than pay this company one more penny! I am so glad I switched. PLEASE DONT USE FIRST CHOICE IT WILL BE THE MOST HORRIBLE CHOICE EVER! I hope my advice is taken and this doesnt happen to someone else .

I had first choice power as my electric provider for 2yrs... i lost my job and was forced to move out of my apartment on 7/23/2011. At this point my lights were already disconnected for none payment and then after i moved out for some strange reason first choice power decided to reconnect my lights on 8/3/2011. So i was billed a bill for 145.00 and i was not even present to use the electricity. And none of the customer service reps can seem to explain why they were reconnected after a dissconnect of none payment... Now they're telling me i have no choice but to pay a unexplained bill...NOT FAIR !

First Choice power had their solicitors out and about in my neighborhood. My wife answers the door and they offered what seemed to be a too good to be true offer. They wanted to see my current statement in order to compare and offer a lower rate. My wife showed them our statement and tried their best pitch to get us to switch. Instead of signing up or saying ok, my wife informed them that she needs to consult with me first and then decide later.

I come home that evening and looked up First choice power on a simple search.

I found their website as well as this one and decided to not switch after reading so many bad reviews.

A few days later, my current provider informs me that they will be sorry to be losing my business. WTF?! What happened? I find out that First Choice power switched me without my approval or consent in doing so. I didn't even call them or anything!

I called my current provider (Reliant) and told them that I did not do this and that they switched me without my consent. So then they took note and proceeded to stop the switch. But I had to call First Choice power and tell them to cancel the sign up. What a time I had with that! I was shuffled from person to person being put on hold at 20 minutes at a time for as many as 5 or 6 times (I lost count). It seemed as though no one could help me and knew what to do. I had to demand a supervisor to speak with and to terminate this account. I wound up getting a huge headache of this crap.

Stay away from First Choice power and definitely do not show them your billing statement!

I paid my bill of $240 and was short $20 so next thing i know my service was interrupted. when i called customer service they explained that anything over $20 is cause for interruption. the rep had the nerve to tell me that in reality if i would of been $19 short i would not of been interupted. so not only did i have to wait 3 days for service to be restored but i also hade to pay late charge along with a reconnection fee.

on top off all that they thanked me for being a loyal customer for over 6 years. yea where is their loyalty to customers, 6 years and they couldnt apply $20 to the next bill. Let FIRST CHOICE be your last choice!

We have been with FCP since 2008. At first our bills were ok when we were living in a small apartment, but once we moved into a house our bills became ridiculous. For the last 3 or 4 months are bills have been over $400. Then I realized that they were charging us for 2 months of service at a time. When I called and spoke to someone they said that they only bill when the techicians go out and read the meter and that is when they bill. So they were expecting me to pay 2 months of service in 1 months' time. Then after that happened 3 times in a row. I called again and the customer service rep had told me that the they were just estimating on the usage, because no one had gone out to read our meter, so basically they were charging me what they wanted, which I knew wasn't right because there was no way we were using more than $400 of electricity every month. We are gone all day and are are only home in the evening but still at we dont' use much light. I finally got tired of dealing with them and told them I was going to call the Texas Public Utilities Commisson and then they stated that they would send someone out to check our meter. I was angry and stated that they had just told me that someone was going out there and checking it and now they are saying no one has checked it. I still filed a complaint and finally switched to Champion Energy. THey are great.

Signed up w/ First Choice Power 8/14/09, paid $400 Deposit. Air & Heat stopped working 9/16/09. Landlord was not helpfull in fixing until the new year. All of that cold weather we stayed with family & friends. I recieved a $615.00 bill for the cycle bill of end of Dec/ Early Jan 2010. They will not reduce bill even with verification of not heat or air since September. All of my bills have been over $300 each month. I have registered a complaint with the Texas Utilities Commission.

Electricity Users Beware - First Choice should be your last choice for electricity. They charge way to much for electric and refuse to give any allowances to pay their outrageous (high) fees. There are two of us in a small two bedroom apt, we work all day, unplug everything, use applicances and lights sparingly, rarely use WD, heat or ac during the day or night and still have bills over $200 - $250 per month. we are locked into a bogus contract unless we move from the area. Something needs to be done about their prices, fees, and service. We're going broke just trying to keep our electric bill paid. And companies like this wonder why people break contractual agreements

I have been a customer of FCP for 2 years after switching from Reliant. My bill has been paid on time and in full nearly every month. I say nearly because I was short $15 one month and they disconnected my services immediately then charged an enormous reconnect fee. I was never late again after that experience. Recently my family lost everything we owned to a house fire. We just moved into a new house and 3 months ago just down the street from our old home and immediately hit with a $400 bill. After going thru all available channels for assistance I was forced to call FCP to setup a payment plan. I followed the steps exactly and they seemed very happy to assistance with the setup but I had to make a $90 payment in two payments on 2 separate days. Two days after making the payments I got a disconnect notice. After calling to find out why I received the notice I was told (very rudely) that the payments had to be made together and by the day prior to the date I actually made the second payment. (the second payment was made with an agent who understood it was to be applied to the $90 fee). After disputing this with the agent I was informed it wouldn't be until after my services were disconnected that they could verify the voice recordings and I would have no recourse other than to pay the bill in full. The agent then cut me off and asked if there was anything else she could help me with. I have never felt so helpless. I have 3 young children and a disabled wife. I have no idea how I will be able to explain to them why we don't have electricity during some of the hottest days of the summer when the temperatures meet and exceed 110 degrees. I will pay the bill but will never do business with them again. I will also advise everyone I know never to do business with them. This letter will be sent to the BBB and anyone else I can find that will listen.

First Choice Power “motto” is “The Customer comes first” that is a Lie and a Joke. Unfortuanly due to me being off work with disability and later laid off. I was unable to make two of my payments on time. In December 2008 I was out on disability from my job, it took a while for my full disability check to come in. I applied for assailants with the Food Stamp office they gave me a list of agencies that would help me with my electric bill, every agency that I called said they were unable to help because First Choice was not listed with them. I called First Choice and asked them if I could have an ext until the next week, they told me they couldn’t pass the extented date they gave me, so I had to do a check by phone, it returned once, by that Friday I paid the bill. The next time in May I had unemployment coming in. I asked customer service if I could get an ext until the next Tuesday, they told me no since I had a return check in December. I had to do a check by phone again, the next Tuesday I paid the bill in full. On both times Thank God my lights were not turned off! The company has since added a 400.00 deposit charge to my bill because of the two return checks. I know paying my bill is my responsibility! However, if the “Customer comes first“, you would think they would have some type of Hardship program or something if you were trying to pay your bill. CUSTOMER COMES FIRST! YEAH AT TXU, DIRECT ENERGY, RELIANT etc…..

First choice is nothing but a scamming company. All they do is scam people for large sums of money and small sums. This is a very desperate ### company. Charging people $2.25 cents for printing a disconnect notice. Then having the nerve to charge a $7.00 late charge when your bill was paid on time to the payment centers they have; but the payment center posted your payment late. I can't wait until September is here. I will be leaving this scamming ### company.

LaShunda Howze

First Choice isn't a power company, it's a billing company with a collections agency attached. We swiched to FC because they offered a much lower rate than Green Mountain. By the time we were able to get through to someone to switch, the rate had gone up. By the time the switch was completed and we got our first bill, we had moved from our apartment to a house (4 months later.) Then we kept getting bills for the apartment although we no longer lived there. While I was trying to resolve it with their customer service staff--"You need to send us a copy of your lease. You need to send the whole lease. The lease wasn't signed by the apartment management"-- we were getting letter from a collections agency. "If you've tried to get a loan, you know how important your credit rating is..." In other words, pay us for energy you didn't use or we'll ruin your credit rating. Nice.

At this point First Choice Power is the worst electric company I have ever encountered. Their customer service is deplorable, their rates are ridiculous and their company as a whole has not flexibility to being customer centric.
I have received large bills of over $300 per month on average (for most months) from First Choice for almost 2 yrs. In the month of October I received a bill larger over $300 and with the economy; it was not in my budget to pay the entire bill as I would do in most cases. My pay period fall on the 15th and end of the month and my ususal due date is the 15th-16th of the month. So, thinking First Choice was a reputable company I paid 2/3 of the bill on the 16th and was going to pay the other 1/3 of the bill on my next pay day which was only 15 days away. At the same time we has a mail box problem at home and the mail man would not deliver (so i would have had no idea if a termination notice was sent the next day after the due date).
Well to make a long story short, on the 31st of October when I was calling from work to pay the remaining portion of my bill (in which the entire bill would have been paid during the same month, 2 weeks apart and without any previous service term issues) and at the same time the First Choice Power guy was out there terming my service. At the same time I was calling. They would not stop the guy at my home from killing the power, then they said i would have a disconnect fee $15, reconnect fee $15, deposit $280 plus, PLUS! the next month bill all rolled into on big fat bomb and just before the holidays. The service rep I spoke with before the call ended - Julia - employee # UAA015 stated she was a supervisor, she understands I've never missed or been late to the point of termination on a payment but, would not help me with all these fees. I asked for another supervisor and she declined to give me one. She told me she was the only supervisor there, i asked for her supervisor and she told be that she is the only supervisor they have. I as for anyone higher than her in the company and she told me she was *IT*. I asked for a VP, SVP, Pres or CEO of the company and she told me she was the only contact there that i could have.
Since then, Ive had a bill for more that $500 plus a laundry list of other problems. What was first thought to be a blessing when i needed them has now been realized to be an electric company spawned in the bowels of hell by the devil himself. They currently have me on a bogus contract with a rate of 0.187kWH and mind you my rate was 0.114kWh. I'm gone break this contract and get the hell on before i have to start selling off stuff just to keep my family warm.

We moved into our new trailer on 9/1/08 and were connected with FCP no problems. Our electricity was off due to Hurricane Ike from 9/13-20 and when we got our first bill on 10/10 it was for $540 for 3003 kwh. $540 for a month we were never home, have energy efficient lightbulbs everywhere, rarely run appliances, AND power off for 8 days due to hurricane?!?! The landlord said that the highest it had EVER been was $240. When we called to ask about it, a very nice lady said that the bill was due in 30 days and if we made payments it was fine, as long as we were paying. The next day, we got a pink disconnect notice and said that the bill was due on the 23rd of October, so we called back and a disgruntled man said that if its not paid in FULL by 11/3 it will be disconnected, no questions asked. Well, we didnt have the Full amt of money and no way to come up with it, so we switched our service to Spark Energy which is .04 cents cheaper anyways. Our power got switched over just fine and now that we are with Spark, I got a "Final Bill" in the mail from FCP yesterday saying that our acct had been credited the $540 and that we really had only used 810 kwh that month and 723 for Oct... So our 2 months COMBINED Plus the $150 disconnect fee was still $100 less than they were harrassing us to pay for just one month. It also states that "It appears that you overlooked paying last months bill" and that "Due to Hurricane Ike, we are not charging late fees and you may be qualified for deferred billing." Where were these advantages when we were dealing with the aftermath of the Hurricane? How is it ok and LEGAL for that matter for them to harrass us for a bill that was so OBVIOUSLY WRONG? I am filing a complaint with the BBB and will never recommend anyone to use FCP. I will also pay the sum of the 2 months bills, but I will never pay the disconnect fee. Seems to me that they were trying to scam us out of $400 initially and now that we disconnected, they are taking $150... either way, they get money that belongs to us that they are not entitled to.

We finally switched to TXU. My bills from First Choice would go from $200 to $400 to $300 and the last straw was a freakin' $557 bill that blew my mind. Not to mention had my power shut off once and had to fax them a copy of my canceled check to prove I'd paid my bill. I get sent to some lady that says my power shouldn't have been turned off and some 1, 500 people had had their bills screwed up. They'd have it on ASAP. The next freakin' afternoon my power still wasn't back on so I called her back. She says her records show my power was turned back on. "I'm standing here in the DARK. My power is not on!" She asks if I've checked my breakers. As if I don't know the difference. It took another few hours before my power is finally back on.

My first bill from TXU? $159. It's a no-brainer to me.