Freedom Power appears to be the fifth Texas electric company going under according to this recent comment. I called Freedom Power and asked them if they are going out of business. The lady on the phone didn’t seem too surprised by the question but said, “No, we are just working through some kinks in the Centerpoint area.” We have had a few more comments by Freedom Power customers of these customers being disconnected without notice. I called the Public Utility Commission about this and this is the first time they have heard of this so far.
If any other Freedom Power customer’s are having an issue reaching Freedom Power please let the PUCT and us know about it. A Texas electric provider needs enough capital for the hottest summer and the coldest winter or they will go out of business. You just can’t enter the Texas market with $100,000 and no more capital then that and expect to stay in business. An electric company like this exposes themselves to way too much market exposure and volatility.
If you would like to file a complaint with the Public Utility Commission of Texas you can do so here: File a Complaint!
I am skeptacle that Freedom Power has gone under simply because someones power was turned off as ERCOT is supposed to transition these energy customers to the Provider of Last Resort in such a circumstance. Take this comment with a grain of salt as this may not be true. Freedom Power could be cancelling their customers contracts without proper notice to avoid going under. To me, this seems like a more propable reason for the disconnection. Maybe the hardship is less to pay ERCOT penalty fees by cancelling customer contracts without notice then getting to the point that you can’t meet ERCOT’s financial obligation and are forced out of business.
My upstairs neighbor is (Was?) a Freedom Power customer. Their power just got cut-off. They have been on hold for almost an hour now. Is it possible that Freedom failed to pay the upstream provider for the power they are reselling and the upstream provider issued the disconnects? Sounds like the rats have already left the ship, and it is their customers that are screwed. Now my neighbors will have to get a new provider immediately, pay a new deposit, and join the inevitiable class-action suit to get their money back (which they will never see).
Customers would like their REP License Revoked
There is a Petition to the Public Utility Commission of Texas to Revoke Retail Electric Provider Certificate No. 10078 of Freedom Group, LLC d/b/a Freedom Power.
Lawsuits in the Works
There are electric customers of Freedom Power in settlement discussions. If anyone has information on what Freedom Power may have done to their electric customers we would like to know. Please feel free to leave a comment on the status of the lawsuit with Freedom Power, a Texas electric provider.
Freedom Power Office Location and Phone Number
Agent: Peter J Grosso
Address: 401 B Ferris Avenue, Waxahachie TX 75165
MARVIN E SINGLETON III DIRECTOR PO BOX 560803 DALLAS, TX 75356-0803
PETER J GROSSE DIRECTOR PO BOX 560803 DALLAS, TX 75356-0803
PENI BARFIELD SECRETARY PO BOX 560803 DALLAS, TX 75356-0803
PENI BARFIELD TREASURER PO BOX 560803 DALLAS, TX 75356-0803
KEN WEAVER PRESIDENT PO BOX 560803 DALLAS, TX 75356-0803
Assumed Company Names
Freedom Power
La Raza Electridad
16 users commented in " Freedom Power, are they a Good Electric Provider? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackMy upstairs neighbor is (Was?) a Freedom Power customer. Their power just got cut-off. They have been on hold for almost an hour now. Is it possible that Freedom failed to pay the upstream provider for the power they are reselling and the upstream provider issued the disconnects? Sounds like the rats have already left the ship, and it is their customers that are screwed. Now my neighbors will have to get a new provider immediately, pay a new deposit, and join the inevitiable class-action suit to get their money back (which they will never see).
Company: FREEDOM GROUP, LLC
Website:
Service Area: Entire Texas
Customer Type:
Track No: EL040027
Type: Limited Liability Company, L.L.C Status: Active
Note:
Mailing Address
——————————————————————————–
Primary: Company / Physical
SCOTT EVANS
9720 BEECHNUT
SUITE 200
HOUSTON, TX 77036
Main: 800-910-7864
Alt: —
Fax: 800-910-7906
Email: regulatory@freedom-group.net
Associated Names
——————————————————————————–
Primary: FREEDOM GROUP
FREEDOM POWER
Filing Number: 800317214 Entity Type: Domestic Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Original Date of Filing: March 15, 2004 Entity Status: In existence
Formation Date: N/A
Tax ID: 12009361242 FEIN:
Duration: Perpetual
Name: FREEDOM GROUP, L.L.C.
Address: PO BOX 560803
DALLAS, TX 75356-0803 USA
1403 West Sixth Street
Austin, TX 78703 USA
Freedom Power turned off my power today 6/9/2008 without notice. I’ve been trying to contact them and they refuse to answer their phone. I can’t believe they disconnected service in this extreme heat condition. I also have a kid that’s on a breathing machine, which Freedom Power was fully aware of. I had their pay-as-you-go service and it appears that when I paid they went. I also noticed that my electric bill was getting higher and higher each month which was weird because I don’t spend that much time at home.
i’ve been with freedom power for almost a year and just had my services disconnected for a deposit they claim they requested last month.i have yet to see a notice requesting a deposit and now i’m forced to find another service provider.they waited to disconnect my services until my due date of my bill & refused to allow me to make payment arrangements.
I WAS WITH FREEDOM POWER AND THEM FOOLS CUT MY LIGHTS OFF I LIVE IN HOUSTON AND IT IS HOT HERE I GET VERY SICK IN THE HEAT AND HAD TO LEAVE MY FAMILY AND GO TO AN FRIENDS HOUSE CAUSE I CAN PASS OUT FROM THE HEAT IT SELF AND IT WAS NOT TIME FOR THEM TO CUT MY LIGHTS OFF
I’m writing for my daugter who is legally blind. Their lights were switched off June 9, 2008.She said their lights were disconnected without notice leaving her and her husband in Houston’s summer heat. Freedom Power claimed that they used too much wattage and charged a huge amount of 533.00. How were we supposed to know what the limit on wattage is? She and her husband is now in a tight squeeze to come up with 300.00 deposit to another company.
Freedom Power cut the electricity to my son’s apartment Monday June 16th. He confronted the technician who said he was sent by Encore (?) to disconnect the electricity. When asked to see paperwork authorizing the disconnect, the tech said that he had none.
When calling Freedom Power, my son was told that he owed a bill of $383!! He had just paid a $130 bill on June 12th which made him current with his account. He was told that his only option was to pay an $80 re-connect fee (which is ridiculous because he didn’t have a past due bill so should not have been disconnected in the first place). When asking to speak to a supervisor, he was told that the office he had reached was only for “incoming calls” and that a supervisor would have to call him back at home within 24 hours!! Needless to say, he hasn’t heard anything from them at all and now they aren’t answering their “incoming calls” line.
You may want to file a complaint with the PUCT if they disconnected your son without notice especially if he was current on his electric bill.
PUCT Complaint Form
On June 13, 2008 Freedom Power cut my lights off. Asking for an additional $300.00 deposit. My current billed had skyrocketed over $200.00 that month as well. My billed never been that high the 2 years I dealt with them. Now I get my next month bill and it’s even higher than the deposit was. It’s over $300.00. I am in an apartment complex. Needless to say they it’s ridiculous how they rip people off for they money. They need to be shutdown immediately!!!
My power was disconnected on June 23. My bill was current, but when I called they said an additional deposit of $240 was required. I really don’t want to pay it but need to get my power back on. I definitely will complain to the PUC, but now half my economic stimulus payment is going to these bastards and I’m sure I’ll never see it again.
For MoneyGreen:
I was reading over this on the PUC website about prohibited disconnections and I thought this was of particular interest to you:
Disconnection of ill and disabled.
No electric utility may disconnect service at a permanent, individually metered dwelling unit of a delinquent customer when that customer establishes that disconnection of service will cause some person residing at that residence to become seriously ill or more seriously ill.
(1) Each time a customer seeks to avoid disconnection of service under this subsection, the customer must accomplish all of the following by the stated date of disconnection:
(A) have the person’s attending physician (for purposes of this subsection, the term “physician” shall mean any public health official, including medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and any other similar public health official) call or contact the electric utility by the stated date of disconnection;
(B) have the person’s attending physician submit a written statement to the electric utility; and
(C) enter into a deferred payment plan.
(2) The prohibition against service termination provided by this subsection shall last 63 days from the issuance of the electric utility bill or a shorter period agreed upon by the electric utility and the customer or physician.
For Shirley Ford:
I thought you might find this interesting too:
Disconnection during extreme weather. An electric utility cannot disconnect a customer anywhere in its service territory on a day when:
(1) the previous day’s highest temperature did not exceed 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature is predicted to remain at or below that level for the next 24 hours, according to the nearest National Weather Service (NWS) reports; or
§25.29(i) continued
(2) the NWS issues a heat advisory for any county in the electric utility’s service territory, or when such advisory has been issued on any one of the preceding two calendar days.
Of course, you will have to find out if the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory or not, but if they did, even TWO days prior, it was an illegal disconnection.
i’ve been with freedom power for 8 mos and just had my services disconnected for a deposit they claim they mailed 5 23rd. I’ve yet to see a notice requesting a deposit and now i’m forced to find another service provider AND they billed me for the next month though I have no service.they waited to disconnect my services until my due date of my bill & refused to allow me to make payment arrangements
FREEDOM POWER, INSIST ON MAY 23RD, THEY SENT ME A LETTER TELLING ME TO PAY A DEPOSIT OF $202. I NEVER GOT THAT LETTER.! THEY KEEP TELLING ME, THEY ARE SENDING A COPY TO ME, I NEVER GOT any of them. I WAS TOLD(VERBALLY) IF I DIDNT PAY THIS DEPOSIT BY JULY 2, MY POWER WILL BE OFF. I REFUSE TO BE BULLIED INTO PAYING A DEPOSIT.! MY POWER WILL BE CUT TOMORROW.! I DONT CARE.! I WILL NOT BE ROBBED BY FREEDOM POWER. I WILL BE A RELIANT CUSTOMER WITHIN MINUTES OF THE CUT OFF. FREEDOM POWER CAN KISS MY ASS.! I HAVE SENT A 3-4 PAGE COMPLAINT TO THE PUC. IF ANYONE WANTS AN EMAIL COPY, EMAIL ME. RoRoYaites@aol.com
I thought I might throw in my own two cents about Freedom Power. I have had their service for just over 6 months, my contract expired with them two days ago WHOO-HOO!!! anyway…I had the same thing happen to me about the deposit as you all have and when I called the company I asked them to provide me with something in writing about suddenly charging a deposit when none was required and none was requested until I am near the end of my contract with them. I live in a small 900 sq. ft. house and I have seen my electric bill climb higher and higher each month regardless of what I have done to decrease this amount. As I stated, the end of January was my first encounter with this power supplier and since then I have paid these people almost $1,800 for electric service. It was explained to me that since I have one or more late payments on my account (FYI my account is late EVERY month due to the billing cycle and my financial obligations) they chose at their discretion to charge me a deposit. Though my bill has been late, it has never, and I repeat NEVER been disconnected for non-payment, though I came very close last month.
I had to pay Freedom Power in excess of $650.00 in the scant space of three days in order to keep my services from being turned off. I ended up having to borrow money in order to make this a reality. I have spent countless hours on the phone with these people and have even once talked to a supervisor. I get the royal run around when I ask why I have never received a true up credit (except for once and boy let me tell you they were PROUD of the ONE time they had to give me a credit) and why continuously I am charged a True Up Charge generally equal to or slightly less than my actual bill. They report to me that they estimate the bill and use “historical usage” data to calculate the next month’s bill. Though they further try to explain to me that though they are charging me for my prepaid billing plan amount (currently this month due for August’s bill at $402.93) I have used this amount in addition, I have used an additional amount of $140.90 in electrical service (which they state dates back to an underpayment in April – they didn’t read the meter until May 11th) bringing my billed amount to $543.83. Add to this the Base Customer Charge of $9.99 and my Charge: Deposit Requirement $148.85 and you come up with a total of $702.67 for the month of August’s bill. These people talk out of both sides of their forked tongue and I don’t think anyone working there has the slightest idea of anything that is going on. I have had enough and I am going to sue them.
Leave A Reply