Electric Service for Human Beings by Human Beings
My life partner passed away very unexpectedly in the spring of this year. What I discovered in the aftermath is that we were already 3 months behind on our TXU bill and within days I was going to be without power. I talked to 4 different people at TXU and they truly just wanted their money and were not interested in making any type of payment arrangement with me and I certainly did not have nearly $500 to change their minds!
In a panic, I recruited my neighbor and we each took a list of energy providers and started calling. We hit pay dirt when she got Payless Power on the line, her face lit up and she was wildly gesturing for me to hang up and jump on her call.
I am 60 years old and have never been in the situation I found myself in, and my emotions were so raw at the time and I had a terrible time concentrating and the person on the other end of the phone already knew that because my friend had briefly explained my situation to her. She walked me through the pertinent details, left out anything not relevant and made sure to stop periodically and ask me if I was still with her and then she would have me repeat anything that I needed to remember and made very sure that I understood what my responsibilities were and what Payless Power would be providing and when they would be providing it. During the course of that call, TXU shut my power off, and within 20 minutes of ending our call, Payless had me back online, and they didn’t require an arm or a leg I didn’t feel pressured OR threatened, I actually felt heard, who EVER feels like their electric company of all things, actually heard what they said and gave two cents about what they had to say? I never have, until now.
I have had NOTHING BUT GENUINELY POSITIVE interaction with every single person I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with! I even got a little $14 credit a couple months ago that just read “valued client rebate” next to the credit on my statement. It’s DEFINITELY more than I ever received from TXU!!!
I feel so silly about having so much to say about an energy company, however; they truly are so much more than just a company, they are actually humans who happen to be in the business of providing their fellow humans a necessary service and instead of taking advantage of our need for their service, they have come along beside their consumers and shown us how to cut back on our energy usage through informational articles on their website, running contests every month centered around learning new facts about energy consumption. They have taken the mystery of kilowatt hours and the cost associated with those hours and made that knowledge so accessible that a pre schooler could understand it. That’s a really beautiful thing because until now I’ve been extremely kilowatt illiterate! So thank you Payless Power for making my electric consumption actually interesting enough for me to become a better consumer and definitely a more mindful one, and thank you for training your staff to be EXTREMELY courteous, respectful, and patient with cranky old women who have never even had to think about their electricity much less make arrangements to continue to have any! You have made a life long customer of me!