Scams and high-pressure sales tactics
Most retail electricity providers in Texas are legitimate businesses selling disclosed products. A small number of sales practices around them are not, and the checks that protect you take about two minutes.
Verify who you are talking to
Every retail electric provider operating in the competitive Texas market holds a certificate from the state regulator, and brokers who arrange service for customers hold a registration. Both are public records, and a legitimate company will give you their number without hesitation.
If somebody at your door or on the phone will not identify the company they represent, or claims to be from "the electric company" without naming one, that is the end of the conversation. Your delivery utility does not sell retail plans and does not send salespeople to switch you.
Tactics worth walking away from
Urgency about a rate expiring today. Real offers are published with real terms, and a plan that will genuinely not exist tomorrow is not a reason to skip reading the contract.
A request for your account number, ESI ID or a copy of your bill before you have decided anything. Those are what a switch request needs, and handing them over is closer to agreeing than most people realise.
A refusal to send the Electricity Facts Label, Terms of Service and Your Rights as a Customer before enrolment. All three are required documents. A seller who cannot produce them is not selling you a plan you can evaluate.
If you were switched without agreeing
Being moved to a new retailer without authorisation has a name in Texas rules — slamming — and there is a complaint process for it through the state regulator. Your Rights as a Customer, the document that comes with every plan, sets out the protections and how to use them.
The practical first step is your bill: it names the retailer billing you. If that is not the company you signed with, you have the evidence you need to start.
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