NRG pulls offers from online market after tactics blasted
A day after Texas regulators slammed retail electric providers for peddling “misleading” offers on PowertoChoose.org, the website run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the biggest electricity seller in Texas removed its attentiongetting offers from the site.
NRG Energy is no longer listing plans in Houston that cost $26 a month for 1,000 kilowatt hours, or 2.6 cents per kilowatt hour. Those plans were offered through one of NRG’s retail electricity companies, Pennywise Power. Consumers who signed up for one of the plans, the Wise Buy Complete, a 15-month utility contract, and used 1,001 kilowatt hours were also required to pay an extra monthly fee of $226 — which works out to 25.2 cents per kilowatt hour.
NRG, which is headquartered in Houston and Princeton, N.J., also owns Reliant, Cirro Energy and Green Mountain Energy.
On Thursday, DeAnn T. Walker, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said during a public meeting that the commission has received many complaints about multi-tiered pricing systems. She warned retail electric providers to make their too-goodto-be-true pricing plans easier to understand or regulators would do it for them.
NRG spokesman David B.
Knox said Pennywise Power offers electricity plans that appeal to customers who are highly knowledgeable about their monthly energy usage.
“We respect the Public Utility Commission’s recommendation and have removed some plans from Power to Choose as a result of the discussion yesterday,” he said.
Customers with questions about their plan can call Pennywise for help, he said.
Walker asked commission staff to launch a speedy inquiry into the rate structures of plans offered on Power to Choose. Some charge 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour for consumers who use up to 1,000 kilowatt hours of power each month, according to a recent study by the commission, but then spike to more than 20 cents per kilowatt hour if consumers exceed 1,000 kilowatt hours a month — even by a single kilowatt.