Last July I requested information from a salesman from StarTex at a Food Service exposition in Dallas, TX. I told him I was very dissatisfied with the high rate at which my current energy company charged me just 1 month after a fixed rate guarantee had ended with them. I also told him I wanted to know if they had special rates for little businesses and he told me they did. The rate was at .0914 which seemed very reasonable. Additionally, I requested if there were any additional charges. He told me just a 7.99 service fee charge each month and also sales tax. NEVER did he mention the Texas Utility Commission charge which is added each month at the sum of about $180.00 – and this is not dependent on kw usage, only on supposed electric surges used to power appliances in the home and bakery. This fee was not mentioned and prior to switching to their company under a corporate account, I never had such a fee. It is robbery! Although they claim it is not, because this is a pass through fee that goes directly to the Texas Utility Commission. Even if they do not keep the money, they charge me for it every month and it is included in my utility bill. I found out that it is legal for them to not tell you about this fee even though it is deceitful (see this website for further details about our government giving them the right to lie to consumers prior to purchasing their service: http://www.electricitybid.com/electricity/index.p…

When I asked today how much it would cost for me to discontinue this 2 year contract with them, the service woman told me over $1,000. Again, if my service was regarded as a residential account the break in contract would amount to no more than 200 – and many only cost 100. The electric company should have never ordered my service as a corporate account without letting me know the full impact of such a switch. In fact, perhaps larger corporations get much larger kw usage charges and the fees may even themselves out, but for me it has amounted to so much it is devastating to me.

They took advantage of me, a small business owner, and delight in the fact that they were not legally bound to be up front to me about the exorbitant $180 monthly fee that adds no value to the service, and though it doesn’t add to their bottom line, they did not disclose this fee for a reason. Perhaps they get some sort of reward from the TUC (Texas Utility Commission) for signing up new corporate accounts. There must be some financial reason that this trickery is done.

If you know of other people with the same issue, I would appreciate getting in contact with them so that we may proceed with a class action law suit against StarTex and the TUC.

I would appreciate you not backing up their deceitful, unethical procedures in luring small business owners into 2 year contracts with exorbitantly high hidden fees that are approved and encouraged by TUC. I am so very angered.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Janet Baucom