Category: Business

By Michael V. Hannigan

The “Fight Against TVEC” petition has gone live online.

Angry Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative customers have taken to social media to air complaints about electric bills that doubled or more last month. At Utility Saving Expert, they can compare your bill and see how you can lower it. A Facebook page titled“Fight Against TVEC” has been created and in days it has nearly 2,500 members. There are hundreds of examples on the page of customers complaining of bills that have doubled in January and run as high as $1,000. … Read the story here. https://hendersoncountytexasnow.com/tvec-customers-frustrated-over-bills-statewide-electric-costs-soar/

The petition, addressed to the TVEC Board of Directors, their parent company Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Board of Directors, and State Rep. Stuart Spitzer, M.D. It reads:

This indicates that TVEC is violating their member’s rights that are posted on their website. We are requesting that the Board of Directors for TVEC and the Board of Directors for Touchstone Energy Cooperatives do an investigation into the billing and/or usage issues that their members are experiencing as well as their current billing processes.

We are also asking our State Representative, Dr. Stuart Spitzer, House District 4 to help his constituents who are members of this TVEC, to obtain the right to choose their electric provider instead of keeping us in the monopoly run by TVEC. We are requesting this due to the following:

1) TVEC is in the practice of doubling or tripling their member’s usage historically every February (copies of actual member bills can be provided). This February was even more extreme with some members getting reports that their usage has increased by 400%.
2) TVEC’s refusal to investigate and address the concerns of their members.
3) The Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF) that was added to members bills in January and February. This fuel surcharge seems very unreasonable since fuel prices are at a five year low.
4) TVEC practice of enrolling all of its members into the Customer Round-Up program without their signed consent.

We are seeking help because we have been given no other recourse by TVEC. It is unfortunate that a service company representing a “cooperative” has shown so little interest in the concerns of its members, that such drastic and public measures had to be pursued. We the undersigned members of the Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative respectfully request your review/consideration of the items detailed above and would like the opportunity to address these issues with the Board of Director and our State Representative.

((Edited to add link to petition – Feb. 17, 8 p.m.)

By Michael V. Hannigan

The frustration for some area residents is running as high as their electric bill, leaving them questioning, “why is my electric bill so high“?

Angry Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative customers have taken to social media to air complaints about electric bills that doubled or more last month. To see if you can save money by switching your energy supplier, check out a comparison site like https://www.moneyexpert.com/gas-electricity/.
A Facebook page titled “Fight Against TVEC” has been created and in days it has nearly 2,500 members. There are hundreds of examples on the page of customers complaining of bills that have doubled in January and run as high as $1,000.

Phillipe Gregorio posted on the page, echoing the sentiment of thousands: “This is ruining some lives. We are talking about people’s lives and their ability to put food on their table. I am not asking for free electricity but I am asking for competitively priced and free of corruption electricity.”

TVEC’s answers haven’t done much to ease the tension. On its Facebook page Monday night, the company blamed the weather. Continue reading “TVEC Customers Frustrated Over Bills; Statewide Electric Costs Soar”

From HCN

Trinity Valley Electric Co-op (TVEC) has been hit with a tidal wave of complaints over a spike in electric bills last month. In some instances the bills doubled or even tripled for household electrical bills, as well as Business Electricity, causing complaints that customers were wanting to switch to a different supplier. This supplier could be companies like payless power, fort worth, tx 76118, which aim to provide the best services for people with the use of prepaid and postpaid plans to help people afford their usage within the month.

A Facebook group called “Fight Against TVEC” has been created and already has nearly 2,000 members at the time of this post.

Monday night, TVEC posted the following response on its Facebook page:

We have read a number of Facebook comments from members, both on this page and others, regarding high bills.

We understand the frustration of receiving an unexpectedly high bill. We all pay monthly electric bills just as you do and many TVEC employees are also co-op members.

TVEC has not had a rate increase since January 2008. Kilowatt hour usage may vary from month to month due to changing weather patterns and individual usage.

The most recent bills have been higher than the prior month due to colder temperatures. Comparing usage from the same period of the previous year will likely reveal similar usage.

The Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF) is how we adjust for the fluctuating cost of wholesale power. PCRF for the two most recent billing periods was a positive one cent per kilowatt hour to recover the wholesale power cost billed to the cooperative.

In order to help you better manage your energy usage, we offer a number of services, including a free home energy audit and payment assistance options. If you would like to discuss these service options or review your bill with us, please call our Member Service Department at 1-800-766-9576. To ensure privacy, we cannot discuss details of any member’s individual billing on social media.