Payless Power

Author: Kaitlyn Short

Payless Power is a Texas-based company and has been in business since 2005. They are owned and operated by three brothers: Brandon, Byron and Brian Young. "Collectively, the company's founders and management team possess strong expertise in risk management, operations, wholesale supply acquisition and regulations governing the retail electricity industry." Payless Power offers unique features to their customers such as allowing allow bi-weekly, weekly (or even more frequent) payments if necessary to fit changes in budget and much more.

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The Good

• Monthly Terms
• Termination Fee and Deposit

Monthly Terms

One of the best parts of Payless Power is that they offer month-to-month contracts. Many customers like this options because they can cancel anytime for any reason. Whether they don't like the service or have to move, customers won't be bound to a long-term contract and need to pay excessive cancellation fees. The only downside to having month-to-month contracts is that prices generally aren't as good as ones that do have longer contracts.

Termination Fee and Deposit

Payless Power does not require any form of deposit when signing up and they do not have a termination fee. It's not very common to see companies not charge one of these fees, let along both of them. This is a great feature that potential customers should notice, especially those who are hesitant in trying the service. It might be worth it because you won't be penalized with a cancellation fee and you aren't stuck in a long-term contract.

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The Bad

• Rates
• Other Charges
• Payment Options

Rates

Payless Power doesn't disclose the majority of their prices online, which makes it hard for customers to compare to other companies. The only price they publish is 10.4¢/kWh for electricity variable rates. This isn't even a very good price either. It's about average when comparing to others. When customers shop around, the first thing they look for is the price and with companies that are not open about pricing pushing customers away easier. People don't want to sit and search and search online for quotes. Payless Power takes a big hit in their Overall Score for not disclosing their prices.

Other Charges

Even though it is nice that Payless Power does not charge for cancellation and deposits, the other common fees are not found anywhere online. This doesn't necessarily mean that they don't charge for it, customers simply just won't know unless they call in. These other charges include late payment fees, minimum usage fees, and monthly services charges. As stated above, not knowing these prices upfront can push potential customer away. Customers might assume that since the charges aren't openly published then the company might have high costs.

Payment Options

Payless Power's only options to pay is through debit/credit cards and physical check. Even though these might be popular ways of paying, other options such as ACH electronic checks and bank account options are becoming popular. Not having those options available also might deter people from signing. We found that they more options available, the better a customer will feel about a company.

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The Bottom Line

The hardest thing about Payless Power is that they do not publish some of the most important information online for potential customers to see. They do not share the rates for electricity and natural gas and they don't list how much they charge for miscellaneous things; however, the fact that they offer month-to-month contracts with no deposit or cancellation fee is a huge plus and pretty uncommon in the deregulated energy industry. Overall, the bad outweighs the good with Payless Power. With the information they do share about the company, it's still not competitive enough with other deregulated energy companies. Unless they start disclosing information, it will be hard for them to be a top-ranked company.