A woman is viral on TikTok after claiming her elderly father was a loyal Reliant Energy customer for years before the company stopped his service without warning.
TikTok user Laura (@lachaffin) kicks off the video by stating what gets under her skin. “You know what really p*sses me off?” she asked. “When businesses and corporations f*ck over people because they can’t really do anything about it.”
She then explains the situation between her father and Reliant Energy, which is an energy company based in Texas. She said her father has lived in the same house for 10 years, and during that time he signed up for Reliant Energy, which charged him $.08 per kilowatt hour. Since then, she said, the price has remained the same and has been a loyal customer.
@lachaffin If anyone has any advice on how i can help him please let me know. Reliant Energy has an annual revenue of over 30 billion dollars yet they have no issue making struggling Texas struggle harder #corporategreed #storytime #reliantenergy #texas #adviceneeded ♬ original sound – Laura Athena
That is, until her father received an email from the company that read, “Sorry to see you go.” Confused, her father called the company and asked why his account would be canceled. “Oh, well, somebody gave your address and said that they’re moving,” the worker responded. “So, we’re gonna switch the account to their name.” After going back and forth, the rep said they would “investigate it” and would put a “red flag” on his account. The following day, her father called to follow up. A different representative reiterated that his electricity wouldn’t be disconnected.
Two hours later, however, her father’s electricity was shut off. When he contacted Reliant, he was told the initial story—that a person had called in and said they would be moving into the house. Her father denied that he ever planning on moving. After an extended back and forth, the Reliant representative agreed to reconnect his electricity. However, the company would only reconnect his electricity for a fee and raise his rate to $.19 cents per kilowatt hour. To add insult to injury, the company at first refused to refuse to budge. Even after the conversation, he was without electricity for 12 hours. However, Laura believed there was a different reason behind this.
“I honestly don’t believe that someone gave their address,” she said. “I think they were like, ‘Hey, um, he’s not paying us enough and we’re gonna cancel his contract and then put him into a new contract.” The content creator concluded the video by asking for advice on how to help her father.
In the comments, viewers proposed reasons as to why this may have happened.
“They saw a way to get rid of those old locked in contracts it seems sus,” one viewer wrote.
“Sounds like a ploy to raise his rates,” a second echoed.
In addition, others offered suggestions on what they should do.
“Reach out to the local news media,” one user recommended.
“File complaint with the UPC and attorney general. And then advise then you’ve made complaints with them,” a second suggested.
“Send a written complaint to the CEO and the utility commission with a chronological detail of all events,” a third advised.
The Daily Dot reached out to Reliant Energy via press email. In an interview with the Daily Dot, Laura elaborated more about her suspicion. She also revealed the situation has been resolved satisfactorily, with Reliant “taking accountability,” in her opinion.
“I believe there was another reason because he called twice to let them know that he was not moving. He reiterated it must have been a mistake and they reassured him they understood and still cut it off. The story did not make sense to me,” she shared via TikTok direct message. “Also he has a low rate. It’s been locked in for years and they have an incentive to cancel.”
Furthermore, the situation took place over the course of two days.
“He received an email and followed up two days later. The day he followed up his electricity was disconnected, interrupting his ability to work since he works from home. He called immediately and they took hours to reconnect,” she said.
Despite all of this, her father is still a customer of Reliant. The content creator thanked social media for the advice and shedding light on his situation.
