Reliant Energy is a retail electric provider serving customers in deregulated energy markets. This page aggregates verified customer reviews and ratings for Reliant Energy to help you understand shoppers' experiences with their service, billing practices, and customer support before signing up.
Reliant Energy Reviews
What Shoppers Say About Reliant Energy
Reliant Energy receives sharply divided feedback, with the overwhelming majority of shoppers reporting serious problems. The most common complaints involve billing errors (including charges for vacant properties), misleading sales practices and broken promises about rates and fee coverage, unexpected service activation that triggered early termination penalties with previous providers, and unresponsive dispute resolution. Customers also report aggressive collection practices and rates they describe as significantly higher than competitors.
A small segment of reviewers report positive experiences, praising the company's professionalism and customer service. However, these favorable reviews are vastly outnumbered by negative ones. The pattern of complaints suggests systemic issues with sales transparency, billing accuracy, and customer service responsiveness rather than isolated incidents.
Customer Reviews (20)
Sorted by: Most recentI've paid on time for the past 5 years as a customer. Then out of nowhere, they sent a cutoff warning saying I was 2 days behind, even though I always pay it right on time. When I switched providers over this, they came after me for an extra $400 early termination fee. If I could give them negative stars, I would. If you're looking for an electric company, this should be absolutely last on your list. They're terrible.
Stay away from this company. I went through a nightmare with Reliant involving huge, incorrect billing for empty homes and completely inadequate dispute handling. They charged me almost $900 in a single month for two properties that were totally vacant with no one living there and no equipment. I filed a formal dispute and asked them to check the meter, but Reliant refused, saying Oncor had to do it even though Reliant is the retail provider and should handle billing investigations. Instead of looking into it, they just sent me standard consumption documents and reported my disputed amount to the credit bureaus, wrecking my credit while my case was still being worked out. There was zero explanation for how thousands of kWh could supposedly be used in empty houses, no check of meter setup, and no real effort to fix things fairly. Every customer service call was cold and evasive. I had to go to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and contact credit bureaus just to protect myself. If you care about getting charged correctly, getting fair treatment with disputes, and not having your credit damaged unfairly, be very careful with Reliant Energy.
Misleading promises about bills. A sales person approached me at a store and promised switching from my old company would bring down my costs with a cheaper per kilowatt hour rate. They also said they'd cover any early termination charges from my previous provider. Complete fiction. I've been with Reliant for three months and my bill runs $100 to $150 higher than before. I'm comparing the exact same months year to year. They also didn't reimburse me for any early cancellation fees. My place is 1500 square feet and it's just me and two kids, we're barely ever there and barely use air conditioning. Getting hit with a $300 bill one month is ridiculous. Got lied to on multiple fronts. Don't go with this company. Period. Their salespeople use aggressive tactics and honestly, when a company pushes that hard, they usually have something shady going on. I'm leaving as soon as possible.
Really disappointed with how Reliant handled my situation. A sales rep signed me up at a big box store in December 2023, and we agreed my service would only turn on after my old contract finished. Reliant broke that promise, which caused my previous company to hit me with an early termination fee. Even after multiple conversations with the rep, I kept getting told I'd get that fee back. I did everything they asked me to do, but it never got fixed. On top of it all, they took $80 from me right away and didn't make it clear that I wouldn't get that money back. The whole thing felt dishonest, the communication was confusing, and they didn't follow through on what they said they'd do. I can't recommend Reliant Energy to anyone.
Working with Reliant Energy has been truly exceptional from day one. Their team showed real professionalism, expertise, and a genuine desire to help. Every conversation felt personal, and you could tell they really cared about doing right by their customers. They're fantastic at figuring out what their customers actually need and coming up with real solutions. Whether it was about different areas of my home, they always knew what direction to point me in. The reps were thoughtful, gave great info, and always went above and beyond to make sure I felt good about my choices. What stood out most was how fast and smooth they handled any problems. The moment something came up, they jumped on it and made sure it got fixed the right way. You can trust them not just to do quality work but to be honest and reliable through and through. They also stay in the loop with what's new and happening in the industry, which gives me extra confidence.
Turned off my electricity without any heads up because I objected to their harsh disconnect notification with extra fees that I never even got in the first place. I'm on a limited budget and they seem bent on harming me with these unfair tactics. They made me pay fees I was fighting against without any real options. That's extortion in my book.
They give rewards to folks who turn their AC up during Texas summers, but if you're already running yours warm like me, they don't care. My thermostat stays at 82 degrees in the early morning, drops to 81 around noon, gets down to 80 in the afternoon, and stays there all night. I called a while back asking if I could get a discount since they had a program where you bump your thermostat up a few degrees and get some kind of credit. Just got an email about earning bill credits by cutting electricity use. They're penalizing people who already use less power while rewarding people who waste more but will adjust their settings temporarily. Makes absolutely no sense. They do have a decent solar panel option though. Reliant, think about rewarding those of us who conserve all the time.
Good service, though the installation took close to a month since they were really busy. Once it was installed though, the new equipment runs great.