The Payment Center on Research Blvd leaves a lot to be desired. Extremely rude Security Guard who sits by the door has been there for years and we have been harassed twice. Our first time was when we came in using a Cell Phone (was calling my Spouse to verify something about the Bill before I payed it), and he grabbed me, pulled me to the side, and yelled at me, threatening to call the Police if I didn't put my Cell up immediately. Again, this was our first time in this location. However, in his defense, there was a sign posted past the point of entry which of course I couldn't see until I came in. But at least there was something posted, right? Anyways, there were 3 women on their Cell Phones in front of us who all were speaking Spanish. He did nothing to them. That being said, if you are actually able to get to the counter to pay your bill, the staff has always been informative, courteous, and rapid. Austin Energy won't tell you this up front, but they have vastly different rates based on your perceived demographic. They also won't tell you that the rates are going up because Obama Legislation has forced 2 of Austin's Power Plants to close recently (one which was built by the City of Austin & Houston was just finished!). These plants are not part of the GE Special Interest BUYOUT of Obama, so your rates will be doubling approximately every 5 years. It should be noted that this is NOT Austin Energy's fault but they will tell you to talk to the City Council (thus showing their own ignorance of the market they work in), even though they have little control over the situation. This needs to be said: AUSTIN ENERGY IS VERY REASONABLE AND MORE THAN WILLING TO WORK WITH ITS CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE FALLEN ON HARD TIMES. Here they are perhaps among the best in the Industry Nation-Wide. Recently, Austin Energy has come through Austin, installing Smart-Meters without Property Owners' consent in many cases, which are very dangerous to your health long term. ( http://www.naturalnews.com/044376_smart_meters_radiation_cancer.html ) Apartment Dwellers Beware, they have forced nearly all of you to live, in some cases, inches right up against 30 or 40 of these (which is actually ILLEGAL ACCORDING TO FEDERAL LAW). Until very recently trying to rectify this as a Homeowner was extremely difficult. Now you can Opt Out, but they charge you a ton of money to do so, even if you had told them to opt out and not install it from the get-go. If you live in a Rental, forget it, your out of luck. read more

AE takes advantage of the fact that it's the only energy provider in Austin by having terrible business practices and horrible customer service. I paid my bill on time, and a full two weeks after the charge appeared on my account, the charge mysteriously "bounced back." I had already paid my bill, the charge seemingly went through, and most of what was left in my account had gone to other bills. After this single event, which occurred because of some delay in processing on their end, my account was switched to "cash only." Meaning I now need to go in person to pay my bill each month. This is the ONLY utility company I've ever known to make bills MORE difficult to pay after something like that. It's bizarre and ridiculous. When I moved back to Austin after being away for a while, AE requested a letter of reference from previous energy provider to waive a $200 deposit. I got a reference letter from TXU, only to have AE tell me I might need to pay the deposit anyway and it will be "credited" towards future bills. Never mind that the reason I went to the trouble of getting the reference letter in the first place is so I wouldn't have a ~$300 energy bill on top of all my moving expenses. I think these two examples highlight how this energy provider does not utilize consumer-friendly business practices, and ultimately makes life harder for people who might already be struggling. I would absolutely use a different provider if I had any choice. I had TXU for years before AE, and the difference in customer service and accessibility is night and day. read more

I think people tend to come on here to complain so I wanted to add a different perspective. One of our very large and super tall hackberry trees snapped in half and was leaning on some power lines. I called a private tree company that quoted me $2400. I also called Austin energy just to see how that affects the power lines and within couple of hours the Austin Energy crew came out and took care of the problem at no cost to me. I am floored by the efficiency and the crew's professionalism. read more

Glenis in customer service representative is terrible. She should be fired for rudeness and unprofessionalism. You can remove and scale back trash bin to save money on monthly bill. At their mercy unfortunately! read more

Been without power for over 20 hours and despite multiple technicians supposedly coming and finding nothing amiss they still refuse to fix the broken meter (already looked at by a 3rd party electrician who can't fix Austin Energy meters without penalty). Guess I'll just suffer in this July heat! Wonderful work guys! read more

they are liars . was promised $600 over 2 years with 1st $200 after first paid bill. well after the 2nd bill we switched back to our previous electricity company. was supposed to receive bon with 30-45 days . this was in may. call today 7/19. told we no longer qualify for the bonus bc we are no longer active customers. OH BY THE WAY, Our first bill for 1/2 month was high than a month with our previous company . I would not recommend them to my enemies. my rating is a negative 5,. not even close to a 1, js read more

City of Austin utilities is horrible they don't fully explain to you about getting your deposit back and they try to keep it make sure you don't have a balance so you can get your money back and they don't tell you that you have to set up auto pay just to get it back when you shouldn't have to set up auto pay just to get your deposit back this company is horrible I wish Austin didn't have to use them they kept my deposit and used it towards my account and didn't refund me my money back and now making up excuses as to why they keeping it read more

I took an 84 yr old, disabled friend who lives in E.Austin to Rosewood-Zaragosa Center to pay his utility bill which is due tomorrow. There was a sign saying it was closed until next year. There was a small sign listing 2 other places we could pay. We finally found 8716 Research Blvd, and I stood in a line of 12 people for 30 minutes while my friend waited in the car. There was no public restroom which made the long wait much harder. HEB used to accept utility payments by check, but now these can only be paid through Western Union at HEB and with cash. This is an enormous inconvenience and also very weird. What was the problem that caused the change? My friend's bill was $526 for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house, less than 800 sq ft, and built in 1968. He has paid over $600 a month on his utility bill in the past. I don't understand WHY his bill is so enormous. I have a 4000 sq ft house and before our solar panels were installed, our bill was about half of his. I don't know if he is being gouged or what is going on. He just accepts things as they are. He has multiple health problems, is home bound, and on a limited income and doesn't need the drama. I hate to think the City is making money unfairly off of him. Perhaps his meter reads incorrectly. read more

A complete failure of a company at every level. After our power was out for 9 full days from the ice storm, they have done ZERO to better themselves. Now our power has been out for 6 hours from a storm, and nothing, nothing has changed. You can't talk to anybody, their automated this and that, the website...everything they hide behind...just an absolute horrific abortion of a company. read more

The website is horrible, the customer service is horrible and this stupid company is a monopoly forcing Austin residents to pay obscene electricity bills, I hate COA with my whole heart and I think the value for what they give is trash. I would switch in a heartbeat if I could and they are the worst company I've ever had to deal with and they single handily make me want to leave Austin read more

I have lived in Austin for two years now. I have been forced to use Austin Energy for 2 separate apartments. First apartment I had 1 payment sent back. This was not something on my end by any means. I called and was told it was even with proof from my bank. Second to come back the month after also not on my banks end with proof. I then had to take cash out of my bank drive half way across town to make my payment (was told I couldn't make a payment at any other place but there building). Standing 45 minutes in line just to get to the counter and being yelled at by the person in the window. Mind you the reason I couldn't pay my bill was because I wasn't "on the account" I was the main account holder at the time. I got to make my payment that time only because I yelled back. I then went in every month paying cash for 11 months in a row. Taking time off of work to spend 2 hours trying to find an atm that took my card or actually had cash. I then moved, closed the account, and made a new one for my new address. I have made 5 payment so far one that had bounced back that I was unaware of. I then see another one was bounced back for 9/2025. I call Austin Energy to see what the reasoning was. "The bank had sent it back saying no funds" I then contact my bank they inform me nothing had tried to come out of my account. Mind you I only use this bank for my energy bill because of this problem. I had 5x the amount of that bill in that account. The phone call was over an hour and a half I had reached 2 supervisors in that time. Both of which told me two very different stories. The only BS both of them could agree on was that even if its not your fault you still need to come in and pay cash. I atm am not able to go in person and make a cash payment. I then asked about exemptions for individuals who are physically unable to go in person and make payment they both told me there are "no exemptions for people with disabilities". HOWWWW in the hell is this even a company. Alone one I am forced to use. Austin Energy should have been shut down a million years ago. Between the blatant disregard and disrespect for people with disabilities, lack of accountability, and garbage customer service I feel something needs to change. I will never use Austin Energy again after this lease is up. What a shit company with shit polices even for people with disabilities. Oh and your bill is so high because they charge you for 10 different things that have absolutely nothing to do with your electricity. Do better Austin!!!!!! read more

This company feels like a huge scam. Right after signing up with them, I got a new card from my bank because I had a faulty chip. I forgot to update my card in their system and I received no calls and no emails from the company letting me know my payments failed to go through. All I got was a letter in the mail letting me know my account was "cash only payments" because the payments failed. Now I have to pay cash only for 12 months unless my banks writes them a letter. Total trash organization read more

Delirious, I came charge my car to an Austin Energy Charge Point and an Austin Energy Nissan Leave took my spot to charge his car first...I guess service is not a priority. By the way two of four chargers are not working here on 1800 E 51st St and neither of the two they have down the street on 2011 E 51st St read more

My card got hacked and bank was drained never got an email or letter from them about my bill, checked my bill and i had overdue balance, great not a problem. i went to pay online would not take my damn payment. called them they still wouldn't take my payment. i am working mon-Fri like most people that live in this god forsaken town. Was in the phone for over 30 minutes trying to figure out where i pay, they told me i needed to get a packet filled out to prove that i was lying and send in all paperwork. Get out of here i don't have time to leave work and junp through hoops, the next option is to go pay "cash" in person. Omg so now i gotta take time off from work pull cash, drive to BFE and give you cash because you won't take anything from my Account. This policy is crap & so is the service my power is always going out. I had to replace my electric couch multiple times because power went out and started up abruptly and my capacitor kept blowing. Terrible service make you jumped through hoops to get you to the right person . Customer service and service are terrible! read more

I have been using Austin Energy for years as it is the only alternative for apartments within my area. My roommate used to own the account until Austin Energy decided to take our energy payments from the apartment and attempt to fleece a second payment out of my roommate. We shouted bullshit and decided to open a different account under my name. The original debt never fell off even though this debt isn't real. The energy company wishes to charge us double and have us provide proof that we initially paid when they absolutely have proof of taking the initial payment from the apartment complex. When we attempt to acquiesce and pay the stupid fleecing bill. They refuse to take our payment over the phone and have us go to the main office. The main office also refuses to accept the bill money and decided to charge the bank card twice in two payments. read more

never have I had so many power outages in my life since moving to this god forsaken city. stop cutting your tree trimming budget so you can pocket more and actually do your freaking job so whenever there's a gust of wind a tree doesn't take out the whole grid. read more

They are liars! They refuse to ever acknowledge any wrong doing. They run up your bills and then lie to you about them. They over charge and they get away with all of it! read more

If your on "BUDGET BILLING" please make sure you thoroughly know what its all about. Its all misleading and borderline deceptive. Don't trust their support pages on their website, Austin Energy will not tell you anything about back billing or what true up is and how it impacts "BUDGET BILLING" once you get off the "program". You MUST call in to get information and even then information is NOT volunteered up if you don't know what questions to ask. You must file a complaint through 311 to get their retention department to attempt reconciliation. Austin chose to become municipal way back when, so with no competition around this is what Austinites get. read more

This simply must be one of the poorest run public utilities on the planet. As an electrical contractor, I have to work with them regularly. Every individual person I interact with is kind and empathetic. However, the organization is about as useful as a milk bucket under a bull. I often have to contact Austin Energy to have them shut off power to a home so that I can replace a service entrance or an outdoor main panel. Often, all I need is to have the meter pulled out so that I can safely do the work. I could literally do this myself in 60 seconds but they consider this to be criminal activity so I have to schedule it for them to pull the meter. I've had to wait as much as 3 months for them to just pull a meter. That was bad but now it's even worse. I'm currently (June of 2022) trying to schedule them to pull the meter at a house so that I can replace the dangerous main panel. When I call to Austin Energy Dispatch, they no longer answer the phone which is right inline with what the Zucker Report found to be true for the entire city government. After navigating a phone menu, I was told to leave my information and permit number and someone would call me back within 24 hours. One week later, no one has contacted me so I called again but now the voice mailbox is full and can't receive messages. I called 311, I called the city permitting office, I called other Austin Energy departments, I called City of Austin Utilities but no one has been able to help. I emailed the department several times as well. We are to the point that we'll have to cancel the project and leave the dangerous Zinsco panel in place because I've been trying to schedule this controlled outage for one month with no response. read more

I have been trying to get in contact with Austin Energy regarding an encampment growing on their property in Seaholm bringing, damage, trash, and crime. Austin 3-1-1 said they cannot do anything about it because it is Austin Energy's property. Broken fence lines, trash, even a downed light pole... this has quadrupled in size in the last 4 weeks. I hope that someone can bring this to the attention of someone to repair fence lines and bring safety back to this downtown Austin neighborhood read more

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Our neighborhood loses power at least once a month. I'm not even joking about that.... This city is a complete disaster. No reliability... power will go out on a perfect day. Just ridiculous!!! read more

Worst automated phone system and customer service I've dealt with. I called to simply schedule a follow up to have someone turn on my water at my new place. They had shown up to turn it on and said the meter was running which indicated running water in the house and had to turn it off and that I would need to schedule someone to come back out when I was there. Called to reschedule someone to come out to the house while I would be there, automated system at main menu kept just kicking me back to the main menu. I was finally able to get an agent, who then proceeded to "transfer" me and it went back to the main menu. Got a second agent, told her I was transferred back to the main menu and told her I just needed to schedule someone to come turn my water on. She then transferred me back to the main menu. I then called again, and tried every available automated menu option and each time I was eventually transferred back to the main menu. I finally got in touch with someone from the water company, who said they couldn't help me because it was for emergencies only and transferred me back to the main menu. I then called 3-1-1 to see if they could get someone on the phone with me and he said he would stay on the phone to make sure I got to the right person. He transferred me back to the emergency number and didn't stay on the line where the representative once again told me that number was for emergencies and transferred me back to the main menu. My final call, I got an agent on the phone, explained to her that it seemed that their automated phone system was not working properly, explained the situation and she said she could take care of it. She said she would get someone on the phone who would schedule someone to come turn on my water, put me on hold, then came back and said I would have to call back on the day that I wanted the water to be turned on because on follow up calls they don't "schedule" ahead of time. I spent almost 2 1/2 hours on the phone and talked to no less than 8 different people and still have not been able to get someone to come turn on my water. read more

Literally worst company ever. My bill was up to 400$ & they shut off my electricity with no notice at all! I would've called & made a payment arrangement if I had any idea was just going to pay it on the 25th. They said they're not required to leave a notice. Guess I have to throw out all of my food in the fridge & live in my apartment with no electricity for a week. Worst experience ever read more

I am writing this while my poor kids are having to freeze (and 160k+ households are too) in subzero temperatures because Austin Energy not only cannot get my power back on time but more egregiously they have misled customers (who have been without power since Feb 1) into thinking power will be back on Friday Feb 3 by 6pm only to walk it back and restate that they now do not have a timeline. I understand this is a weather event but what galls me is the mendacious attitude of this utility company. For anyone moving into Austin, be forewarned that you will be dealing with a company that puts it's customer's interests last. read more

How can I give less than 1 star. This is the worst power utility I have ever used their services. And I have lived in 3rd world countries. Austin Energy is not properly maintaining the power lines. Not trimming the tree branches. Austin Energy is extremely slow at restoring power that shouldn't have been lost in the first place. Austin Energy runs away from accountability, rolling responsibilities back to their customers. Terrible customer service read more

Absolutely terrible. 6 days with power during the freeze. Now 20 hours with no power due to a lightening storm. Two streets down never lost power, but our street is sitting on 20 hours. When you call for an update, they say all eta updates have been disabled. If you're moving to Austin, you better bring a generator, because you're paying for non functing electricity. read more

Austin Energy - Utilities Near Me - Austin, Texas

First couple of months they over charged me because they were having problems with their system. Now 6 months later they're saying I owe an outrageous amount because they were under charging me. All of this because I trusted Austin Energy with setting up direct deposit. I trusted Austin Energy to take auto payments and either they over or under charged me. Why is it okay for Austin Energy to capitalize and make profit from its mistakes? Austin Energy leaves Texas residents paying for its mistakes. read more

Austin Energy thinks it a great idea to have a street cleaner vehicle clean their parking garage on Barton Springs from 1:30am to 5:00am on a weekday. They are right next to a residential building and dgaf about keeping neighbors up all night. read more

Worst energy company ever. They charged me for the incorrect apartment #, after I received email confirmation for the CORRECT UNIT I applied for. After showing them the email, they proceeded to blame this issue on me, when the error was obviously on their end. It's almost impossible to get on the phone with someone to help, and when you do, they make empty promises of a "call back" when in reality, NO ONE WILL EVER CALL BACK TO HELP! Not to mention, I have sent numerous emails, with absolutely 0 response. They have started charging my apartment complex and will not answer their calls either. When I finally got someone to "put a note on my account" for the incorrect charges, they told me they can't send a correct bill, so just to pay for the "correct amount" and they will "eventually" take off the incorrect charges... this never happened, and they ended up charging our apartment complex which is now charging us. NO ONE will talk to us, no one will help us, & austin energy needs to do better. read more

The same outage keeps occuring you would think they could figure out why and fix it, but they are either too incompetent or too cheap to solve these issues. read more

Austin energy is shirking responsibility in this historic freeze. They are leaving people to die and putting the blame on consumers and ERCOT. They should be updating hourly and actually rolling the blackouts. The power the cut went to lower income neighborhoods and not so for the wealthier class. Don't let them lie to you. Corrupt to the core and people will die due to their mismanagement. Shame on you all read more

Horrible! My daughter and son in law still have ptsd from being without electricity in 2021 for a week; now, it's 2023, and they've been without it for three days and counting. No communication, city fails due diligence to cut trees by power lines, pathetic customer service, actually NO service - all lead to gross negligence by the city of Austin. Changes need to be made and heads need to roll!! read more

Pretty much what you would expect from a government run monopoly. These guys are the absolute worst. If it were possible to give negative stars, I would. I had to have work done to replace my main breaker panel. After having paid $1500+ for an emergency permit & inspection, it took 4 weeks to get the power shut off. After the half day required to do the electrical work, it took these fools 3 more weeks to do their inspection and turn my power back on. Apparently they only have a handful of crews to do this type of work for the entire city, and they work something like 10am to 2pm. If you're lucky, you'll just have the standard billing/payment headaches. read more

Absolutely the worst customer service and business practices of any company i have ever had to deal with. I am only awarding one star because that is the only way to right a review. As stated by other reviewers Austin Energy is the only option which I find absolutely ridiculous and unfair...I am not sure how that is legal. I have to call at least once a month and have sent multiple emails as well with little or no response...a lot of times it has been multiple times and this began at the time of my establishing a new account. They have messed up on the billing and even had the nerve to penalize me for it. They accidentally released my deposit too soon and so according to my bill I received I owed nothing (and had a credit) and then I end up getting a late charge when they sent me a letter stating what I owed and even though it was their screw up I was penalized with the late charge...yeah that was not removed. My latest run in and issues with them stem from simply trying to get on average billing...really simple I thought. I have been battling, calling and emailing them for months and have had little response...sometimes they claim they have called and left msgs and sent letters...but i have never received anything but 1 voice mail and 1 call...and because they apparently have below inadequate CSR's that is somehow the customers fault. They do not value the customer because they don't have to. My bill never adds up or makes sense and I gave up calling about this a long time ago because even the CSR and supervisors didn't understand why it was like that. I am not behind nor do I make payments late. I have no other options for energy and neither does anyone else...and they obviously take advantage of this situation. I love Austin, but am horrified that Austin Energy is allowed to hold monopoly and not have any standards of good customer service and business practices. I can only hope that something can be done to either get other options and/or that Austin Energy decides to me more ethical. I know I will be looking in to seeing if anything can be done...perhaps a city wide law suite of unhappy consumers is in order... @Austin Energy: You obviously represent the city of Austin and are the only option to residents (as far as I know)...at least do right by the city and its citizens and become more efficient, ethical and customer service oriented. read more

Again - a need for negative stars.... I get a call from my kiddo asking me why our water is off. I ask him if the electricity is on and he says yes. Hmmm... I make a call to the lovely asshats over at Austin Energy and am told that they accidentally have turned off my water instead of my neighbor's who has moved out. So, let me get this straight - you turned off their electric and MY water?! How is that possib... oh yeah - you're asshats. I am told at 11AM that this will be checked as a priority and someone will be out within the hour to take care of this. I call my son at 1 to see if the water is back on. Nope. I call back. I am then told that I am on a list, and someone should be there, but I need to give them at least 3 hours as this isn't an emergency... Seriously?! You turn off my water by mistake and can't even apologize, much less get it back on? I ask to speak to a supervisor and am put on hold for about 8 minutes. I am then told that a supervisor cannot be found. Lovely. I then say that this isn't good customer service and that their mistake really should be remedied as soon as possible. Around 5:15 I speak with a rep and am told it would be back on ASAP again... sure it will. At around 9, I call and speak with another rep. I explained the situation to them and asked to speak to a supervisor. One NEVER got on the phone, but I was told it would be escalated, that a supervisor was calling to get someone out ASAP I then was told almost 2 hours later that my water should be on in about 30 minutes. This is unacceptable customer service. I do not feel that this was handled in a timely manner. This was a mistake made by the city and it should have been remedied in less than an hour. My water wasn't turned on until the next day. Asshats Energy. a new and much more fitting name. read more

This is why nobody should have a monopoly on public services. I moved and canceled my service at the end of January, and a month and a half later, I have yet to receive my deposit. I called twice to check on my deposit only to call back again today and find out from rep. Tiffany that they NEVER changed my mailing address. They sent my deposit to my old address, where I had canceled my service. The manager, Gina, would not take my call. They're now telling me that it will take 60 days. Two months to get MY money back. And I too had issues with their inefficient website and found out that my bill had not been auto-drafting, so I had to pay all my bills in one lump sum. Ridiculous. I'm with others on here, and I think it's time for a class action lawsuit. read more

Austin energy is an crooked company. I hope my apartment complex stops using their services. They lied about when the power would be fixed. And now no one will answer the phone for a non emergency. Whoever is overseeing the repairs should be fired. Excuse after excuse for their failed repairs and oversights. read more

I don't know if they are incompetent or just evil! I've been trying to have solar installed at my home for over 6 months AFTER my solar installer said that the parts had arrived. Basically, AE needs to shut off power to my home so that the solar company can install the panels etc. Unfortunately, it looks like their scheduling is done by a part time Grinch who spews random dates without checking with you. Over the past 6 months, they gave me two dates, none of which worked as I was travelling. All said and done, it will be 8 months before I get my solar installed. This cant be good for Austin's solar installers as it invariably means that they are left holding inventory for months. On another note, have you tried switching to electric cars? Well good luck! If one looks at AE's billing, the rates are tiered - the more you consume, the higher the rate (per unit of energy). Many water utilities do the same as in theory, it should help increase conservation, which is good. The problem is that EV's can use as much if not much more energy than your home! This means that you automatically get bumped into a much higher tier as the meter does not know if the energy is being used towards your car or your home. Many utilities resolve this, but offering off-peak rates - for example, by having lower rates at night, when demand is lower. AE does not offer this option at all. They do offer off site unlimited charging for $50 a year, which is a deal, but it requires that (a)the chargers work and (b)finding one that is available and (c) you have plenty of time to wait, as it can take 6-12 hours to charge a car, as they are slow chargers. AE is playing a double game. They claim to be in favor of clean energy, EVs, conservation, blah, blah. However, their actual polices suggests just the opposite! Should I have expected any better from a government protected monopoly? read more

The absolute worst garbage company ever. Repeated outages, extremely long repair times, no preventative measures worth noting, and completely unaccountable to their mess. read more

I am writing for my parents as they do not have electricity/power. So explain how my parents (70+ yrs) have gone without power for 5 days and now told wait ..it will be another 5 days??????? What. Who does that??? Guess Austin Energy. They did it before and are doing it now. They have a monopoly in Austin read more