July 7th, 2003:

On TXU’s website, when you sign up for new service, you can assign a secondary name to the account entitled to make changes to your records and services as they see fit. When filling out this information they request the relationship of the secondary individual to the main account holder. Amongst options like “Family Member”, “Significant Other” and “Spouse” is this interesting choice: “Special Friend”. What does it take for someone to qualify as my “Special Friend”? What if I have someone that is just my “Friend” but they aren’t very special? Why isn’t there an option for them?

In another section of their website I found information that states that during Peak Months (June through October) TXU charges its customers approx. 20% more than in Off-Peak months? Why? Is there a reason for this other than because they know people don’t like to be hot and generally use more electricty during these months and that presents itself as a good opportunity to make MORE money?

TXU, a company that I loathe with every ounce of my being, is, unfortunately, our designated Electricity service provider at our new apartment. I know that, with deregulation, I have a choice in who provides my service… kind of… but I’ve tried that before and I either end up paying more money… or I end up with no bill at all. And while I like not having a bill, it scares me to think that they might some day come back and say… “um.. you owe us $15,000″. Additionally, one experience with an electric company that went bankrupt (CoServ) left my account with a credit of about “$400″ that I’ll never see.

So, here I sit, on hold, as I have been for the past 15 minutes, to get a service I don’t really want listening to the same song over and over and a recorded message reminding me to stay on the line and wait longer.

I could sign up online, I think, but I’m afraid of what TXU might do with my order. I just don’t trust them any more.