Don't think that $0.03/kwh and $0.08/kwh rates will save you money if coming from out of state; COA more than makes up the difference between excessive fees. "Regulatory Charges", "Community Benefit Charges", and a "Customer Charge", seem to exit only to pad COA's pockets. With a 900sq. ft. apt, and AC at a reasonable temp (75F, off during the working day), fridge on 2nd lowest setting (higher being colder), and one computer, my recent bill was $111 for just electricity. My previous out of state arrangement with 2 people and twice the electronics ran under $100 a month. Customer service errs on the side of extreme brevity and providing minimal information and conflict resolution, if at all. All around terrible service and pricing structure. read more

This review is specifically for the Water Utility. Around 7PM today my neighbor came over and told me there was water coming out of the top of the cast-iron cover where the water meters for both his and my house live. I did a quick Google search and came up with the number 972-1000 and called it. I didn't really expect anyone to answer, but someone did. I gave her the info and thought "well, if someone doesn't show up in a few days or so I'll call again". A guy was here by 8PM and just left. He had to replace a valve. He was fast, pleasant, and obviously knew what he was doing. The leak turned out to be on the city side, so it won't affect our bills, but the City didn't know that when the guy arrived so quickly. One and a half hours from reporting the leak to having it fixed. I think that's pretty darn good service! read more

Worked here as a temp during the beginning of the pandemic. Turnover rate is very high. Half the class I started with was gone after a month. They treat employees like children and look for reasons to fire you from the moment you start. read more

Ok I have to update my review and remove a star because... This is just pretty bad. I got an email a couple days ago saying they've "received my Letter Of Credit" and it's being reviewed. It has been 6 months since I submitted it! read more

Austin Electric is the worst electric company I have EVER come across. As of this morning they've put a pregnant woman in a house w/ out electricity or water on a 30 degree night! They refuse to come out and turn on the electricity because of their policies and business rules. Where as they don't send out bills on time and sometimes not at all for months at a time. I can't understand how a business can be so disorganized and unprofessional and then not be able to make an exception for a pregnant woman on a freezing night! I will write every newspaper and station with complaints about this terrible, heartless company and specifically manager/supervisor - Suzanne Arrons. Thank you for your terrible customer service and people skills. Thank you, Jessie Morehead read more

It got cold in Texas so we had rolling black outs. That's it. It simply got cold, there was no major disaster, no fires, flooding, no hurricane or tornado, it was simply cold outside. The fact that Austin Energy couldn't handle the temperature change is pretty terrible. Moreover, they actually tried to control where the electricity would go out and back on. Here's a snippet from a news article today, "Austin Energy General Manager Larry Weis also said that though the utility has a plan in place for dealing with such situations, it does not include specifics such as in which neighborhoods outages should start and where they go next." Get it together guys. Your service is terrible and an embarrassment to the state of Texas. read more

Incredibly overpriced for both electricity and water, with opaque, draconian pricing tiers that no one in their fumbling customer service department can adequately or consistently explain. If you live here, you're held hostage by this public utility and have no recourse. So if you think you're saving money by moving to Texas where there is no state income tax, think again. You're more than making up for that "savings" with these exorbitant utility bills, terrible traffic and crazy property taxes. read more

Literally the most idiotic and inconsistent customer service ive ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. Our utilities were shut off by a disgruntled ex (yes im aware that part is our fault but she would not give us access to switch it over) but within MINUTES of realizing it was turned off, we switched everything over. No big deal right? they say they cant give an ETA but it will happen on "x" date- whatever, bro but fine it is now 2 days later and after 3 conversations with 3 different people telling me 3 different piss poor excuses, and probably 3 inches of water on my kitchen floor from the fridges, we still have no utilities and I am out of patience. I cant seem to get anyone of authority to answer the phone and give me any sense of comfort. This is not my first rodeo with them either. Absolutely ridiculous. read more

City of Austin Utilities is terrible for a long list of reasons. Over the last 8 years, I've experienced unexplained water usage spikes in the absence of any leaks, dramatic bill increases upon receiving a new smart meter, outages, $600+ utility bills on a regular basis and Smart Thermostats that took control of my home temperatures. However, my primary purpose of this review is to warn you about their "Rush Rewards" Nest $85 Rebate program. While I don't participate in this program, I had a terrible experience with a similar program that provided you free programmable thermostats in exchange for control over your usage during "peak" demand hours. If you have an older less efficient home like I did, I highly advise against this program. And I feel it's negligent on their behalf not to disclose this warning. Long story short, the duration and frequency in which they turned off my thermostat (you can't turn it back on) created a situation where I couldn't actually keep the temperature down, especially upstairs. In the 30 minutes my AC would be off, my house would increase several degrees in temperature. While I admit my house was built in the 70s, lacked sufficient insulation and had old AC units, this was not a problem prior to my participation in this program. For a newer, well insulated home like my new one, this program is probably ok. However, I would never in a million years relinquish control over my thermostat to COA for $85. And trust me they use very ambiguous language in their policies and they really downplay how often they will turn off or down your thermostat. read more

How is it this company hasn't been audited for their negligence to their customers? Going on 15+ hours of no electricity and they can't even provide an update on when we might possibly get power back. I am from the valley, which is recognized as one of the lowest income parts of the country. We were subject to hurricanes, thunderstorms, you name it and yet we never experienced anything close to the issues we have experienced with this energy company. They are an absolute joke, and if it were possible to register a negative on the scale of performance they would absolutely be subject to it. A very poor example of a company........ read more

What are these clowns doing when the power goes out? I'd have better luck getting a herd of chimpanzees to build a rocket ship than to get these jokers to get the power back on within 24 hrs. read more

Austin energy didn't do their job properly because it didn't transfer my electricity service to new unit from my old unit. I requested that transfer service through online service. It says. Did you call to verify? I'm like huh. The online service didn't instruct me to call to confirm it. Dumb. Please someone set a new electricity company so that we can decide to pick on which one is good. So that Austin energy will behave better!!!! read more

This is probably the worse utility that I have to deal with. Their service is terrible, their response times are worse. The problem is complaining doesn't help anything because we really don't have a choice. When is Austin going to get deregulation? read more

If you're feeling like you haven't been properly frustrated by ineptitude in awhile then I highly recommend giving Austin Energy a call with even the simplest of requests. I just spent an HOUR on the phone with four different "customer service" representatives (not to mention the two times I was needlessly transfered to 311 despite my requests to not transfer me to 311) trying to convince them that they do, in fact, have an Austin Energy Forestry Department that handles the emergency pruning of trees away from power lines. All four of these people and especially the last were condescending and completely unhelpful. Hey Austin Energy, guess what? I just found the direct line to YOUR forestry department and scheduled make-safe pruning on a Live Oak. It took about two minutes and Craig (see, he does exist) was EXTREMELY helpful and a pleasure to speak to. Ya know what, Austin Energy? If you ever have a customer who needs some trees pruned back from some of your power lines just let me know. I'll be happy to cheerfully direct you to the appropriate department OF YOUR OWN COMPANY. sheesh. read more

Let's start off w/ the specs: 800 sq foot home with 1 bathroom, 2 adults & 2 kids (one is 4 months old!) Been living here for over a year and bill has ranged from $136-$265 (and I was upset about that high bill) But NOW COA has given us the pleasure of receiving a bill for $474!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You've got to be sh*tting me! I apologize- I'm incorrect, it was $468, but add almost $7 for a late fee b/c we were 1 day late in paying- which is another problem: they only give you TWO WEEKS to pay your bill! December 18th is the day of the bill and you must pay by Jan 4th to not be charged $7??? What happened to a 30 day billing cycle? OK DEEP BREATH... Well I shouldn't expect much considering from day one I was a customer that was billed $1500 for my 1st statement (which consisted of 7 days service) b/c of all that IBM error mess. That took 6 months to clear up & at first, three customer representatives thought the bill was accurate. That just goes to show you these reps don't know much about what a 800 sq ft home should be costing to use electricity & water. Can't wait to see what COA will charge me on my next bill. I live for it. And in the mean time, I got to get back to work to keep the lights on. read more

I wish I could give them a 0 star rating! I canceled my service in November 2011, it is March 2012 and I am still receiving bills! Every month I receive a bill, and every month I call them to fix the issue and still no fixing it. I don't understand what these idiots are doing??? What else can it be? How can anyone be so stupid! CANCEL MY ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I asked to speak to a supervisor today and they said no one is available and they will have to call me back. These people are the devil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! don't trust them with your money!!!! read more

I'm surprised you guys have any likes at all. You have one of the most incompetent staff I have ever encountered. On 4/1/14 one of your crews incorrectly picked up my trash + recycle bin and hauled them off. This wasn't all that shocking as mistakes do happen. I live in Unit A and they were suppose to pick up Unit B's bins. That day I called City of Austin Utilities to request replacements. Two days pass, it's now 4/3/14 and I call again at which point I am assured they will be delivered by that day. Fast forward to 4/14/14...I still have no bins. I call again and am told they will be delivered on my next trash day (4/15/14). Guess what, nope. 4/15/14 comes and goes...no bins. At this point I call Austin Resource Recovery directly and am told a special delivery guy will personally bring my bins on 4/16/14 and I will be given credit on my bill. Today I come home and NO BINS. It's been 16 days, 5 phone calls and 0 bins!! I am completely amazed at your failure. AMAZED. I'm actually impressed at how well you can NOT do your job. read more

I've been using AE for over 3 apartments now, and I've never had any problems. Of course, my bill differs from place to place because of the construction and equipment used. I'm moving to Cedar Park where I have to switch to PEC. AE has been nothing but angels all day. I've called them 6 times to disconnect service and then get a letter of credit faxed over. Every single CS agent has been a sweet heart, or they fake it really well. I've literally had to have them fax a letter of credit 3 times now, and no one acts like they hate me (yet). They even offered to email it to me so that I can try on my own to fax it or email it to PEC. Maybe I'm just lucky that I've never had billing problems with them or unusually high bills, but I can't say enough good things about these people. read more

Horrible people. Spoke to 1 nice person, a manager named Noel, through the whole process, but 0 communication from anyone to me ended the whole process with a giant mound of dirt in my yard, a shutoff valve and PRV valve that need replaced by a plummer I now have to call to redig the area, and a strong desire to punch the someone in the face. If you would extend even the tiniest amount of courtesy and human decency, things would have turned out much differently. read more

I'm moving from Houston and just got off the phone with Austin Energy. I am shocked that Austin doesn't allow their residents to pick their electric company. This is absolutely ridiculous. My experience so far has been pretty terrible. They have a $20 initiation fee and $200 deposit. I have never, in all my time switching electric companies, had to pay any sort of deposit. I don't get the deposit back until 12 months of paying on time. Of course, if we could choose another electric company, they could have some competition which they surely would loose out on alot of business. Austin. Power to choose. VOTE FOR IT! read more

Instead of emailing me my final bill they did two things 1) Mailed it to an OLD address that they had on file for me. 2) Sent it to collections. Receiving a notice that my bill was sent to collections was a shock. Why wouldn't they email me my final bill? I asked that, and the gentleman on the phone said it was their policy not to email the bill after the service has been cancelled. What sense does that make? Someone not very sharp is running things over there.... read more

The absurd water bill I received is not being acknowledged as a problem by Austin Utilities. I have read the meter on my own and relayed my findings. 100 gallons of water in less than 24 hrs is absurd. I had not showered, done laundry, ran the dishwasher or watered the lawn. The meter is WRONG! Living alone, washing my hands and flushing the toilet a few times does not take 100 gallons of water. How do we fight this? It is all over the news and social media but, nothing is happening?? read more

I dread having to deal with COA Utilities. While living in my previous residence, I needed a special bulk trash pickup which you can request at a fee outside of their bulk pickup schedule. I called and requested this service 3 times in one week and each time I called was told I would receive a call in the next few days. Guess what, I never heard anything. I gave up. Low and behold a month later I received a voicemail from some supervisory person asking if i still needed to schedule a pickup. My husband and I have moved into our first home :) We got here and while our utilities were turned on, we didn't have either our trash or recycle bins. We did receive our trash bin on our first trash pickup day. But, does anyone know how to request a recycle bin?? I've scoured the COA website to new avail. And I've put an online request in for someone to contact me but have received no info. I guess I'll have to call tomorrow, but we'll see how that actually goes. Grrrr! I have so much cardboard to recycle right now! read more

No power for 2 days straight on a 7-20 degree weather. I'm freezing, I'm hungry, and I have so service bc wifi is not working.

COA Utilities is a rip off!!! So I pay the deposit have my service for 13 mos. Transfer apts and cant get their service so i cancel mine on Nov 23rd. My normal billing cycle is on the 10th of the month but somehow my "final bill" didnt arrive till 5 weeks later on Dec 28th. I call to check on status of refund to get an expectation and am told 4-6 weeks from end of service. Then im told it 6-8 weeks from final bill. then i get another 0.00 "final bill" this month and call again and am told the refund is 6-8 weeks after the DUE DATE of the final bill (which one?). I ask if i get the interest on the deposit as they hold if for 4 extra months and they say no. I ask for the policy they have in writing for the refund process and they say no. COA is a ripoff. read more

This government bureaucracy is completely incompetent. I disconnected my service over 2 months ago and still have not received my deposit refund after two phone calls and a BBB complaint. I don't know what i was thinking when I filed the BBB complaint b/c they couldn't do sh$t. All I want is my deposit money back. They tell me that the check is cut through the comptroller's office and then sent over to City to Austin to get mailed out. What kind of a crappy system is this? Just give people their money back instead of using it for expensive lunches for your employees. Jerks!!! read more

Really one of the worst city experiences I've had. Among other things, if you opt for ebilling, the send you messages on the pdf of your bill that you can't see if you just logon to pay your bill rather than go through the bill for inaccuracies (my bad). My bad because my usage rates are all over the map and make no sense based on my experience of how I use utilities (very little) since I'm single. There's is no seeming way to dispute anything, the response is that's it and/or it's our policy. Trying to then pay bills is like the maze in The Shining and doesn't register for days. There is also no way to find policies/procedures around billing etc. They sorta seem to make it up as they go and have no reference to point a customer to. If you have any way to avoid the attitudes and the service do it... read more

Update to the billing issue. I paid the full amount due, late fees and all, after being told essentially "that's how it is." by Austin Electric. This was in July. Since then, apparently Austin Electric has been double dipping their bill for me and my apartment complex, making us both pay. Resulting in a nice explanation I had to give to the apartment manager. No worries, it's just a mistake that will get fixed on their end. Another billing issue and all, this time with the apartment complex. No worry to me. Woke up this morning, in November mind you - months after all these billing issues, with my electricity randomly turned off. Having been tagged and cut off for billing issues by the company. Apparently after their original mistake on my bill they decided to make another by billing the apartment as well, then round it all off by "accidentally" flagging my electricity to be turned off. It's a good thing today is my one day off of work, sitting and staring at a dark wall was the plan all week. The intelligence of Austin Electric knows no bounds. read more

My lovely story involves me moving and having to pay for the next tenants service. I got a letter of credit from their wonderful service center (time on hold? almost an hour... speaking with an individual? less than 10 minutes) a few days prior to moving to my new location and went online to stop service as I would be moving out the next week. When I went to this section, a message appeared that stated there were no services to stop. I thought "That's strange, but I guess they understand, since I asked for a letter that stated my new services would begin on the 7th after the move." Bad move. Apparently I should call their phone lines to get service because that "should have been a red flag" (their words) that my service was not actually ended. Uh, okay? Fast forward to 8/8/16. I check the website (I often do, out of anger, to see how much this company screwed me over in the two years I was forced to use their services) even though I'm already happily in a new location, using a REAL service that actually cares about me and hasn't tried to rob me repeatedly. I see that I have a NEW bill (this comes a month after an absurdly high bill, the "final bill" in my old apartment) for $115. I think, that's strange. I moved on the 7th of July. I check the bill. It states I am being billed for services from the 8th of July to the 8th of August. Huh. So I call their wonderful service center (time on hold? 30 minutes initially... speaking with an individual? less than 3 minutes), who is just as confused as I am. She puts me on hold for another 20 minutes and returns to tell me that since "you never stopped service, you are paying for the new tenant". She went on to assure me that this was okay, because it was the last bill I would receive from them... Did y'all get that? They want me to pay for the next tenants first bill, even though they started service shortly after I moved. This implies that I am paying for them, and they are likely being charged a bill for the same service. So basically, City of Austin is trying to double-charge two people for one bill. Disgusting practice! I am waiting for a supervisor, but the lady I spoke with assured me that things were likely to go unchanged. Gross. Avoid like the plague if you can. Pray if you can't. Be warned. In my time with them, I was charged multiple times many times. It was so bad, that by June of 2016, I had a credit amount of something over 300 dollars. I had to fight to get this money credited back to my account. This has been a horrible experience. I want to seek legal action but I don't even know what I can do. read more

Yelp really needs to provide a zero star option. First of all, "testing" days need to stop happening. Especially when AE charges an arm and a leg for electricity and then turn it OFF in the middle of when people are coming home from work and are cooking dinner. Nice. On top of that, AE has such poor customer service, no one can hope to cal and actually speak to a representative without waiting for about an hour on hold. (I usually get annoyed or have something important to do and hang up) Why the HELL are our energy usage records "private" information, so that we, who USED the energy, aren't allowed to view them. Last billing period, my family was out of town, we turned the air conditioning off and all the lights and everything was unplugged except for the refrigerator. Yet SOMEHOW our electric bill was way more expensive than the previous pay period when we were in town, using our electricity and A/C. How is that possible? Too bad we will never know because when we called to ask about it, the information was "private". Finally, my family signed up for the Green Choice option back in DECEMBER. When we called about our high bill last week, near the end of JULY, it was determined that AE still hadn't processed our request. Austin Energy, you are a horrible company, completely ripping off the residents of your city, and losing respect more and more every day. If there was another electricity option for Austin, I can guarantee you that your company would lose every single customer. read more

Well, I never got a card from them, and the due date for the bill snuck up on me. I had to call AGAIN, surprisingly with no wait this time. I was told that the original reading was correct and that they had mailed a card out on July 2nd. Nope, never got it. Maybe it got tangled up in one of those advertising flyers I get in the mail a couple times a week and throw away immediately, near my mailbox. I dunno. Anyway, the lady I talked to this time around was a little bit nicer and more helpful, she asked if I'd like to have someone call me about energy usage within the next few business days, so I can get to the bottom of this. Then, at my request, she transferred me to the automated billing system so I could pay the outrageous bill, so it would be on time. She also mentioned that they'd credit it back to me if they found any discrepancies. I'm bumping it up to two stars. And my kitties are probably sweltering with the heat in my apartment, since I've been turning the a/c way up when I'm not home. Poor kitties. Poor Quani's wallet. read more

Y'all. I wish I could adequately explain the horror that is COA. My roommate and I had our lease set to end 6/1/14. So, back in March, when we thought we'd be moving out at the end of May/beginning of June, we called to let COA know. How kind of us. We then made other living arrangements, and were staying at our current place through June. We called mid-April to let COA know. Again, how nice of us. We called AGAIN last week, to confirm one more time. We felt the need to confirm because of how ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE they have been with bills, communication, and just general business operations for the last 11 months. Again, they were like, yeah yeah, we got it, extend your service until 7/1/14, no problem. Oh, but apparently it was a problem. Today, I came home to an 88 degree home. No electricity, and my poor dog was panting miserably, and had been for God knows how long. I call them tonight, and spoke to a woman with quite possibly the worst attitude I've ever encountered. Not only would they admit that we've spoke AT LEAST twice about this change to 7/1/14, but I would have to pay the $235 reinstallment fees. When we're only going to live there for three more weeks. AND YOU ALREADY PROMISED ME I COULD HAVE ELECTRICITY AND WATER UNTIL JULY. Seriously, if I had ANY other choice in electricity, I would be making it. read more

It's ridiculous that they make you pay a deposit for electricity! And a $200 one at that. But whats even more angering is that you have to wait 4-6 weeks for your deposit to be mailed to you after you cancel services. And now that they have been remodeling their website and whatnot its been 8 weeks and I still haven't received it. So I call to check on it and after putting me on hold for 10 min, the genius tells me the deposit is pending. Thanks for the helpful info!!!!! I already figured that out when I read it on my account page!!!! What I want to know is WHY is it pending but of course he didn't know and pretty much told me to keep waiting. read more

Paid my $300 electric bill two weeks ago. Bank statement to prove this. Pay the bill Every month. Today they shut my power off AGAIN. This happens Very often with this horrible company. Called them to get everything handled, but the lady who claims to be the highest person to speak with says there's nothing she can do about this. I have two toddlers in this texas heat with no electricity or water because NOBODY at Austin energy is capable of searching our account and verifying payment or have anybody able to come out and put our utilities back on Saying I Hate this horrible money hungry company would be an understatement. read more

They can't keep the power on. That's the one reason they exist and they can't even execute on that. Always, constantly one thing after another. read more

We live in Sugar Land and have a condo for our daughter in Austin where she is a senior at UT. We started getting billed by CoA. This afternoon I got a "courtesy" call from CoA stating that there had been an error in a past invoice but they had fixed it. A corrected invoice had been issued and they would make the necessary adjustments. I expect this kind of service, specially when you mess up. I hope it doesn't happen too often. read more

I doubt my review matters. They are the only company in town, so we really have no choice with using Austin Energy. If you want power, you have to go with these ripoff merchants. They made a mistake and cancelled my service. Even though it was their fault, they are not going to be able to restore power until tomorrow between 7am-10pm! I'm currently staying in a hotel that I can't afford because of their mistake! And of course all of the food in my fridge will go rotten. I wish I could afford a lawyer. read more

One more star. Why? Because if you buy a new fridge, they will haul away your old one (as long as it's working) and pay you $50 for it. You get to avoid hauling it yourself or paying someone else to take it away. Very nice, and the guys who showed up to take it were cool, too, and efficient. They were mindful about the cats, and also took all the magnets off the front of the fridge that I'd forgotten about. Why not more stars, you may ask...Well, several months ago they installed new utility poles in the alley nearby, and then, just a few weeks ago, they informed us our power would be off for 4 hours for installation or maintenance. Since this wasn't an emergency situation, could they not have scheduled this for cooler weather? Ice cream doesn't re-freeze well after it starts to melt. read more

There's not much new that I can add to what's already been said 40 or 50 times by other residents who have shared their self-immolation-inducing experiences from the city of Austin's never ending well of appalling customer service delights. Other than the anger caused by receiving the "Welcome to your new and abhorrent utility and tax rates" annexation letter, I'm still in the denial stages of having to deal with the COA water utility on an ongoing basis. I'll update this post once I have the opportunity to fully and completely experience the lame service provided by the city. I estimate that I won't need to change the star rating because, without even being a water customer, today I was able to have a 45-minute session of "How long can you hold to talk to a city of austin utility employee just to find out nobody knows anything about what happens to a customer's utilities when they are annexed?" But, you never know, Yelp may allow a 1/2 star rating some day. read more

A$$holes! Their problem with their billing systems, automated voice line, and website caused my payment to not be received and my power and water to be shut off without notice. They then want $80 extra to turn it back on. They are condescending, rude, smug, threatening, and they know you have no other choice for power and water. They are a monopoly and they know it. SO FRUSTRATING TO DEAL WITH. They had my wife in tears and continued to taunt her with classless remarks and poor treatment. A$$holes! read more