If you’ve turned on a television lately, chances are you have seen the new TXU Cash Rewards commercial. If you switch to TXU, you will get “up to” 5% in cash rewards. Once a year you will receive a prepaid debit card with a value totaling “up to” 5% of what you paid TXU for electricity.
Unfortunately, as with the TXU Free Nights promotion, the TXU Energy Cash Rewards plan it’s not as good as it sounds.
So what’s the catch? There are several.
Let’s start with the two word phrase you may have missed in the commercial – “up to”. The cash bonus paid in the plan is up to 5%. The 5% rate only applies in year three of the 36 month contract you must sign. The reward in year one is only 3%. In year two is goes up to 4%. Only in the final year does the cash reward reach the full 5%.
Also, to make sure you stick around for the full three years, TXU adds a $295 cancelation fee to the small print. You can opt for a two year contract instead. But there the reward percentage starts at only 3% and only goes up to 4% in the second year.
Rates Are Too High
The big problem with TXU’s new plan is that it is unbelievably expensive. The base rate on the plan is so much more expensive than other providers that the 3-5% annual rebate is meaningless. In the end, consumers will pay far more for their electricity with TXU even when the rebate is factored in.
For example:
At the time of this writing, TXU is charging 12.4¢ per kwh for their 24 month plan and 13.5¢ per kwh for their 36 month plan! This is for the Dallas area. The Houston area is even higher.
Compare this to other electricity providers in Dallas and you will see that this rate is about 30% higher than other companies. TriEagle Energy is currently offering a rate of 9.2¢ per kwh on their 24 month plan. Bounce Energy is offering 9.9¢ per kwh on their 24 month plan. If you opt for a 12 month plan you could do as well as the 8.6¢ per kwh plan being offered by Frontier Utilities.
When compared to the TriEagle plan, a household who uses on average 2,000 kwh per month can expect to pay an extra $768 per year for the TXU plan. The TXU “reward” would total only $89 in the first year. Paying an extra $768 per year to get an $89 rebate is not a good deal.
In the end, the new Cash Rewards program is only more smoke and mirrors by TXU to try to cover up the fact that their rates are among the most expensive in Texas.
Why don’t those sorry but people at the public utilitie commission do something about txu. I think they work for txu instead of the people of Texas, When they want a raise they give it to them with no strings attached. They should have a citizen watch to watch them.