ComplaintsforXcel Energy

• Initial Complaint

  01/25/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Excel is obviously taking advantage of its customers! How does my energy bill continue to rise EVERY FEW MONTHS?! Im going to be contacting my state representative to make sure they know how greedy and inconsiderate this company is, considering the fact that everyone is experiencing the hike in prices for food, and other items necessary for survival. This is completely unacceptable!

  Business response

  02/20/2024

  The account was reviewed, and bill copies were supplied to the customer, as requested. Meter tests were completed for both the electric and gas meters at both addresses. Each meter was tested and found to be well within compliance. Meters essentially work as odometers and can only communicate what amount of usage is pulled thru them, they are not designed to track where the usage goes once it has been pulled. The meters are functioning correctly.

  The customer was advised about the option of doing a breaker test in regard to the electric meter to attempt to narrow down the electric use and potentially contacting a service technician in regard to his gas usage. The customer has the Advocates contact information.

• Initial Complaint

  01/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My Xcel bill is sitting $50 higher than usual for the 2nd month. I have had zero help from the useless customer advocate out of ** outside of phone tag and 2 emails she sent w/gaps in follow up asking me to create a password to review, which I will NOT do. I live in 705 sq ft. I keep my heat at 68 at night, 70 in the day or it's turned off as I have the sun 11am to 2pm and it makes the temp in the apt at 74/75 degrees. I have the tv on and one light at night. Xcel has offered zero suggestions when I have called for why the drastic increase. Brilliant answers like gee we're in winter, oh and do you have an electric car plugged in? My laundry is done on Sat nights in cold water, with a dryer timed for 30 minutes. $140 for the 2nd month is outrageous. I do NOT wish to hear from the useless customer advocate again. I guess I'll try going to the local news problem solvers, like a story I saw in the last year, of a woman who had them investigate to find that the meter charges belonged to another tenant in the bldg, not hers. I have friends who live in **** sq ft homes who have a bill $30 higher than mine. I'm one person being charged $140 a month since Dec 2023. Look at the account history, I realize winter months but the bill has NEVER been higher than $103.

  Business response

  02/06/2024

  A review has been conducted in reference to the ******************************* complaint regarding a high bill  issue at the service address. **************** started electrical and natural gas service effective September 26, 2016.
  Xcel Energy company records indicate that actual readings have been received for the property and believe the billing is correct. It is important to note that the monthly electric usage graph on the Xcel Energy billing statements are averages and not per kWh totals.
  For the December 2022 Statement the home had used 395 kWh over 31 days an average of 12.74kWh per day. That same December 2022 Statement had an average per day of usage cost $1.92 per day (not per kWh).
  
  For the December 2023 Statement the home had used 752 kWh over 33 days an average of ***** kWh per day. That same December 2023 Statement had an amount owed of $105.93, which means an average per day of usage cost $3.21per day (not per kWh).
  
  The charges outlined above are only for electric usage. The customer has natural gas provided to them as well. The amount due for electric on the December 19, 2022 statement is $103.84. The amount due for natural gas is $34.87. The total amount due on the December 19, 2023 statement is $140.80.
  If the Customer would like to be on the Average Monthly Payment,the amount would be $91.00 for a 12 month cycle. There may a true up amount owed, or a credit applied at the end of that billing cycle.
  To ensure that electric meter is operating accurately, a meter test was conducted on ( ) . The meter test was found to be registering at ( )on a full load and ( ) on a light load. These results are well within industry standards.
  The Customer Advocate provided 12 month meter reading history for each utility that Xcel Energy provides to ****************. In addition bills from December 2022 and December 2023 were also provided with dates of service highlighted on each. Due to the nature of information, anything sent from Xcel Energy containing customer information must be sent via an encrypted email to ensure customer privacy protection.
  
  Usage at this location is shown in actual meter reads. The same usage information can be seen through the My Account portal. The information for usage breakdown, is as follows:64% of usage is Consumer Electronics, 24% of usage is shown as Kitchen appliances, Lighting reflects 11% of usage at the location.
  
  Through the portal usage can be tracked by month, by day, or by hour. Usage further breaks down into 30 minute and 15 minute  segments.
  
  Xcel Energy is unable to advise on any internal maintenance issue concerns which may or may not be attributing to how the home is consuming electricity.
  
  There is an option available to the customer to opt out of the *** meter, and have a non-communicating meter installed at the location. Non-communicating meter will require an Xcel Energy meter reader to enter your yard and manually probe the meter each month to obtain the data needed to produce your bill. 
  
   There will be a $46 charge to install a non-communicating meter, as well as a monthly charge of $11.84 for manual meter reading. A meter reader will need to enter your yard and physically access the meter each month. 
  
  Xcel Energy believes it has carefully reviewed and addressed the issue raised by the Customer.

  Business response

  02/06/2024

  A review has been conducted in reference to the ******************************* complaint regarding a high bill  issue at the service address. **************** started electrical and natural gas service effective September 26, 2016.
  Xcel Energy company records indicate that actual readings have been received for the property and believe the billing is correct. It is important to note that the monthly electric usage graph on the Xcel Energy billing statements are averages and not per kWh totals.
  For the December 2022 Statement the home had used 395 kWh over 31 days an average of 12.74kWh per day. That same December 2022 Statement had an average per day of usage cost $1.92 per day (not per kWh).For the December 2023 Statement the home had used 752 kWh over 33 days an average of ***** kWh per day. That same December 2023 Statement had an amount owed of $105.93, which means an average per day of usage cost $3.21per day (not per kWh).The charges outlined above are only for electric usage. The customer has natural gas provided to them as well. The amount due for electric on the December 19, 2022 statement is $103.84. The amount due for natural gas is $34.87. The total amount due on the December 19, 2023 statement is $140.80.
  If the Customer would like to be on the Average Monthly Payment, the amount would be $91.00 for a 12 month cycle. There may a true up amount owed, or a credit applied at the end of that billing cycle.
  The Customer Advocate provided 12 month meter reading history for each utility that Xcel Energy provides to ******************* addition bills from December 2022 and December 2023 were also provided with dates of service highlighted on each. Due to the nature of information,anything sent from Xcel Energy containing customer information must be sent via an encrypted email to ensure customer privacy protection.
  
  Usage at this location is shown in actual meter reads. The same usage information can be seen through the My Account portal. The information for usage breakdown, is as follows: 64% of usage is Consumer Electronics, 24% of usage is shown as Kitchen appliances, Lighting reflects 11% of usage at the location.
  
  Through the portal usage can be tracked by month, by day, or by hour. Usage further breaks down into 30 minute and 15 minute  segments.
  
  Xcel Energy is unable to advise on any internal maintenance issue concerns which may or may not be attributing to how the home is consuming electricity.
  
  There is an option available to the customer to opt out of the *** meter, and have a non-communicating meter installed at the location. Non-communicating meter will require an Xcel Energy meter reader to enter your yard and manually probe the meter each month to obtain the data needed to produce your bill. 
  
   There will be a $46 charge to install a non-communicating meter, as well as a monthly charge of $11.84 for manual meter reading. A meter reader will need to enter your yard and physically access the meter each month. 
  
  Xcel Energy believes it has carefully reviewed and addressed the issue raised by the Customer.

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The description is below, $50 increase in a electric/gas bill for the first time in 7 years at this address, never has my bill been this high. $140.10 due 1/10/24 for a 705 sq ft apartment with only one resident. I am supposedly on the flat rate plan. I wash my laundry in cold water on Sat nights. I do not run my dishwasher. I don't even use the flipping bathtub to help save on my water bill. I called twice re this and got nothing but year at this time you used x amount of kilowatts and this time you used this amount. No tech goes to read the smart meters as they are never wrong, but oh a tech came and read the meter on 12/17/23. I've seen the news stories of apartment complexes and Xcel confusing/combining more than one tenants bill to another. No suggestions were applicable to me re not having this occur again.

  Business response

  01/17/2024

  A review has been conducted in reference to the ******************************* complaint regarding a high bill  issue at the service address . **************** started electrical and natural gas service effective September 26, 2016.
  
  Xcel Energy company records indicate that actual readings have been received for the property and believe the billing is correct.
  
  The Customer Advocate provided 12 month meter reading history for each utility that Xcel Energy provides to ******************* addition bills from December 2022 and December 2023 were also provided with dates of service highlighted on each.
  
  Xcel Energy is unable to advise on any internal maintenance issue concerns which may or may not be attributing to how the home is consuming gas and electric. **************** declined to answer questions raised by the Customer Advocate concerning consumption at her location.
  Xcel Energy believes it has carefully reviewed and addressed the issue raised by the Customer.

• Initial Complaint

  12/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have consistently been paying my excel Energy bill.They're bills are jumping all over their sending me one bill for this and then higher on that for the same month that it do. They're not redial the account. I don't think I don't know what's going on. But it needs to be fixed. Now they're threatening to shut up my electricity on Christmas. Even knowing I have been making my payments as well as past payments. From a $600 bill got down to a 150. But now they're saying it's 222 I don't know, please help.

  Customer response

  12/17/2023

  And what's crazier is I've got other bills to where they overlapped the payments. Not put in payment where its supposed Go.  to be put in and the fact that I've been paying my monthly bills. And more than the the 10th of the bill that they were requesting, they were actually gonna be paid off by February But I don't even know what to pay. Because the bills all over the place.

  1 minute I 0 302 100 a 150 in 222 i mean, come on, and then they're gonna threaten this shut me off when I've made 2 payments this month 2 payments last month.  2 payments the month before and then bigger payment before that. So they can hit my credit which is already tank from the loss of both of my son. But they want to go the route of me. Dragging it out for another 6 months.  they want to keep harassing me and slamming.  On late fees when I Have made  payments every month. I'v I might be late in other months that I'm trying to pay off. But there's still hitting me with late fees for both months current and passed.. It's not a recession, it's not. Inflation, else excel would  not be able to Have record profits of174 billion dollars in revenue.. As we scrape to put food on our tables and roofs over our head.

  On humanities back ,Put your hand in the cookie jar. Take more than what you need, Sad

  Business response

  12/28/2023

  A review was completed in response to the customers complaint regarding billing for service. Xcel Energys company records show the customer started ********************** on December 7, 2022.
  Company records show there is a total balance of $198.94 as of January 4, 2023, $150.25 of this balance is considered past due.

  
  On the billing statement that Xcel Energy generated on November 10, 2023, the customer owed $306.95 this statement did not include any payments that were made to the account after November 10, 2023.Due to a large amount owed the company sent out a disconnection warning statement on November 6, 2023, for $230.10.
  
  The company sent out another disconnection warning statement on December 7, 2023, for $181.43.  Company records indicate the customer has paid a total of $72.50 towards that amount. For the customers service to remain connected they must either pay the full disconnection amount or set up a payment arrangement with an Xcel Energy Representative by calling **************.  On the billing statement that was generated on December 13, 2023, the customer owed $198.94.
  
  ********************** has obtained actual meter readings for the customers account and believes the account has been billed correctly. Xcel Energy is unable to advise on any internal maintenance issues or concerns the customer might have for the address which may or may not be attributing to how efficient the home is consuming electricity service.
  
  The Customer Advocate attempted to reach out to the customer. If the customer would like to no longer receive disconnection warning statement, they will need to either pay the full overdue balance or contact an Xcel Energy Representative to set up a payment arrangement.
  
  There is nothing further pending this complaint.

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I turned off in my account all communications not related to my bills, but I still get junk mail from Xcel REGULARLY ... I called them and they don't know why I get these useless emails attached

  Business response

  12/08/2023

  A review has been conducted in reference to the customers complaint regarding communication not related to billing.
  The Customer Advocate with ********************** spoke to the customer on December 8, 2023. The Customer Advocate advised since the customer did not want to receive promotions about our product and services the account preferences have been updated to opt out from receiving the information.
  There may still be circumstances when Xcel Energy will contact these customers, such as follow up after service restoration, collection activity, planned outage notifications, bill inserts/onserts will still be included with monthly bill statements.

• Initial Complaint

  12/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I paid my bill for October on Nov 7th "XCEL ENERGY-PSCO ONLINE PMT 231107$*****" and on December 4th , they took AGAIN another ***** "XCEL ENERGY-PSCO ONLINE PMT 231204$*****" ... only problems with their ******************* ... and there is no way to email to chat with the customer ********************** and when i call them i can only talk to idiots .

  Business response

  12/13/2023

  A review has been conducted in reference to the customers complaint regarding multiple payments posting to the Xcel Energy account. ******************** records show the customer sent in a check for $59.59 which was applied to the Xcel Energy account on September 18, 2023. The customer then scheduled a payment on My account for $115.42 which was applied to the Xcel Energy account on September 18, 2023. A payment for $2.34 was applied to the customer's account due to being enrolled in check free.
  If the customer wants to manually pay their bill monthly. The customer must contact their bank (bill pay support)or MyCheckFree, depending on where they enrolled, to deactivate Bank View &Pay. No one at Xcel Energy can deactivate an account on a customer's behalf because their CheckFree profile is protected and unavailable to us. If CheckFree is not cancelled and the customer schedules a payment it could result in multiple payments posting to the customers account. 
  If the customer sends in a check and schedules a payment online this will result in multiple payments posting to the Xcel Energy account.
  ********************** apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have a mental health condition and am disabled. I got confused. My building does not require me to pay electricity. This agency has not worked with my landlord to resolve my final bill. I have called multiple times as has my landlord. They need to accept payment fromnmyblandlord for this last bill due Nov 9, 2023. I am very angry. Please bill landlord for final payment. They have taken over account. They should have known residents are not charged electricity in building.

  Business response

  12/04/2023

  Hello,
  
  Contact ID: ********
  
  A review was completed in response to ************** inquiry with the Better Business Bureau. Attached is our response.
  
  There is nothing further pending this complaint.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  
  ***************************
  Xcel Energy
  Customer Advocate Analyst
  ********************************************************************************
  P: ************   F: ************
  E: ***************************************************************
  ________________________________________________________
  *******************************************; Facebook.com/XcelEnergy   Twitter.com/XcelEnergy
  Please consider the environment before printing this email.
  
  This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain confidential or private material for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply mail and delete all copies of this message and any attachments.
  &##_(XCEL Confidential - Encrypted)_$$@
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  11/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On October 31st, Xcel cut the power to my girlfriend's apartment, of which I called Xcel to sort out. Somehow the bill ended up in my name despite the lease being in my girlfriend's name, and a balance tied to my older residence ended up getting attached to this place despite me not living here.After calling and talking to a representative, they informed me that my girlfriend's service was canceled on the 7th of October without any rhyme or reason. The whole reason I called was because we lost power suddenly and without warning on the 31st - and I'm unsure why it was decided to cancel her service without her consent on the 7th of October in the first place.I was told that this issue couldn't be resolved without paying MY balance, which is completely unrelated to her and her living situation.The fact of the matter is that Xcel made the mistake that got her service cut on the 7th of October in the first place - which made no sense in spite of the fact that she wasn't behind on her bill or anything of the sort.The fact that they are basically refusing to fix THEIR mistake and trying to extort a balance for me when I stated that I did not live here is beyond shady.

  Business response

  11/27/2023

  A review has been completed in reference to the customers complaint submitted to the Better Business Bureau.

  The Customer Advocate reached out to the customer and corrected the billing.

  Xcel Energy apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused. There is nothing else further pending this complaint.  

• Initial Complaint

  10/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had a sudden unexplained power outage this morning (10/12/23) I attempted to find information online first, and was greeted with a message that displayed "service disconnected" which has since vanished, but still shows "no outage in your area" this is after 4-5 calls, attempting to understand what is happening, and an ETA to resolve it. I have a 7 week old infant at home, and nowhere to take her. It's now 8am, this outage started at 6:30ish. Each representative at Xcel said that their systems are down, they can't even view outages, or where they are at, and their systems are so down that one of the representatives even said they couldn't find a corporate complaint number to provide me, because that system is down. When I requested a supervisor they informed me that supervisors don't take calls at the time they're requested, instead that they will call me anywhere from 1-2 business days from now. No solutions were offered, no ETA'S provided, other than "3 hours" from the first rep, who had just received a report of the outage from me, which again, they are not able to see in their system as even being a thing.

  Customer response

  10/12/2023

  I have included numerous screenshots and images from my attempts to see any resolution or ETA on my power being restored. Only after nearly 3 hours was it restored at roughly 9:35Am this morning. As you can see from these screenshots, despite multiple reports of an outage at my address, the outage map reflected nothing. Additionally, I continue to receive text messages indicating that my home may still be experiencing outages, as recently as 10:25. I cannot upload those screenshots right now due to the limit of 5, but can absolutely provide them. I have still yet to be contacted by a member of management at Xcel about this matter, and was told that the soonest timeframe is 1-2 Business days before that will happen, as they don't connect customers directly to management, even when specifically requested. 

  Customer response

  10/13/2023

  Since my initial complaint, I did receive a response from Xcel, however the response was to say they will be "contacting IT to see what caused the issue" ******* then said they won't likely have another update until Tuesday at the earliest as they are off today (Friday) and next Monday, when I asked if they would be re-assigning my complaint, as saying they're going to send an email, and then leave for two days doesn't feel like they're taking it very seriously, she simply said "no" at which point I requested her supervisor, who astonishingly also has a 1-2 business day turnaround time for contacting customers. I have several other screenshots I can share surrounding this situation, but the uploading function hasn't been working, so please feel free to contact me if you would like them as well. 

  Business response

  10/26/2023

  A review has been conducted in reference to **************** inquiry submitted to the BBB regarding system and technical issues during a non-planned outage occurring on October 12, 2023.
  
  Xcel Energy experienced a system wide outage on October 12 and October 13, 2023. This outage restricted agents from pulling up customer accounts due to having no access to them. With systems being down it caused the outage map to not register complete outage information.
  
  In speaking with ************** on October 12, 2023, he requested updated information on the cause of the outage. The Customer Advocate has reached out to the appropriate department seeking information or updates and been unsuccessful due to no updates on the cause of the system wide outage being available.
  
  In speaking with ************** on October 25, 2023, the Customer Advocate advised him that the Area Engineer had been contacted to provide an outage history for **************** location. A copy of the report was sent to ************** via email.
  
  There is nothing further on this complaint. Xcel Energy has no further response.

  Customer response

  10/26/2023

   
  Complaint: 20729561
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Ultimately, the reason for this complaint was only in small part related to the power outage. Short power, and even longer outages are an unfortunately commonplace occurrence in today's world. Your response acknowledges that you have no information on the cause of widespread system outage, and during the conversation on October 25th, you verbally acknowledged that you have reached out to your own IT  department, and received no response. This is the highly concerning part, and reason for my complaint. What if a customer is unable to call Xcel and report an outage? Your representatives could not even pull up a phone number to direct my complaint internally because the systems were out. Not only that, but Xcels responsiveness, and communication in response to my requests have been lackluster at best, and abhorrent at worst. The first rep went on vacation, it was assigned to their lead, their lead got sick, so 13 days pass before THE CUSTOMER calls to follow-up themselves.  Truly reprehensible customer **********************. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Somehow my bill jumped up to $1700 with little to no explanation so I paid the $1600 not even a week ago! I checked my bill today and its now $711 I called and their explanation is they added almost $550 for a deposit that I might get back in a year!!

  Business response

  10/19/2023

  A review has been conducted in reference to the customers complaint submitted to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) regarding the balance transfer and deposit that was added to the customers account.
  ********************** located several inactive accounts under the customers name with outstanding balances and transferred the balance to the customers active account.
  The ********************** placed a deposit on the customers account on October 9, 2023.  The deposit was placed on the account due to the disconnection warning statement that was issued to the customer.
  Per Southwestern **********************************************
  Section No. V
  Sheet No. V-21
  Revision No. 6
  ELECTRIC TARIFF
  RULES, REGULATIONS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
  20. DEPOSITS
  (d) Additional deposits.
  (1) An additional deposit may be required if:
  (A)the average of the Customer's actual ******** for the last 12 months are at least
  twice the amount of the original estimated annual ********; and
  (B) a disconnection notice has been issued for the account within the previous 12
  months.
  The Company may require that an additional deposit be paid within ten days after the Company
  has issued a written disconnection notice and requested the additional deposit.
  (2) Instead of an additional deposit, the Customer may pay the total amount due on
  the current bill by the due date of the bill, provided the Customer has not
  exercised this option in the previous 12 months.
  (3) The Company may disconnect service if the additional deposit is not paid within
  ten days of the request, provided a written disconnection notice has been issued to
  the Customer. A disconnection notice may be issued concurrently with either the
  written request for the additional deposit or current usage payment.
  Xcel Energy apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused the customer. 

  Customer response

  10/19/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, the lady I spoke to today was extremely helpful. I wish the first time I called and spoke to someone that she had been helpful instead of basically brushing me off and not caring to answer a question that I had!
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩