Advertising gets edgy in fiercely competitive retail power industry
Retail electricity sellers have tried to distinguish themselves in the market in oh-so genteel ways, focusing on customer service, their ties to Houston’s sports teams and their offerings of “free” nights and weekends.
The age of gentility is over. Griddy, a startup from California aiming to disrupt the Texas electricity market, posted a billboard recently along I-10 just outside of downtown that blared, “WTF Reliant?” playing on the popular shortcut obscenity used in text messaging to express surprise and dismay and a range of other emotions. Griddy, which sells wholesale electricity directly to consumers, is taking direct aim at the biggest electricity seller in Texas with the billboard, which, if you read the smaller print, asks ‘Why The Fees.”
Of course, it’s hard to see that distinction driving along at highway speeds.
Another WTF billboard in Dallas targets TXU, the retail electricity provider owned by Vistra Energy in nearby Irving, asking drivers if they’re tired of the fees charged by TXU. A second billboard in Dallas asks drivers if they’re weary of retail electric “BS” (bill shock).
Griddy founder and CEO Greg Craig said the billboards are intended to poke fun at fees traditional retailers charge for terminating accounts early, not using enough power or using too much. “People will laugh,” Craig said.
But Reliant, TXU and others weren’t laughing. Griddy officials said they got a call this week from Outfront Media, the New York company that owns the billboard hovering over I-10 and Gregg Street, that it had received complaints and would remove the sign. Outfront did not respond to requests for comment.
Reliant officials said they didn’t com
plain, but were unhappy with what they call the “disingenuous” advertising. Reliant said consumers want fixed prices to avoid the shock of price spikes that can come with buying power on the wholesale market.
“We were disappointed to see Griddy, a Californiabased company with no ties to Houston, attack and mislead people about Reliant and other market participants rather than focus on their own products and services,” Reliant said in a statement.
Griddy officials said they also got a call from TXU’s lawyers complaining about the billboards and asking Griddy to be more civil in its advertising. TXU did not respond to requests for comment.
“It means we’re on to something,” said Griddy’s chief marketing officer Jason Huang.
Huang said the billboards in Houston and Dallas have generated an unusual spike in customer inquiries and sign-ups, even over the July Fourth holiday, which is not a typically busy time for electricity sales. Griddy, a privately held company, won’t reveal how many customers it has.
At the moment, Griddy is trying to come up with another billboard that is cheeky, but fun to replace the WTF ad.
“We’re not,” said Griddy vice president of business development Jeremy Zarowitz, “going to back down.”