How to cancel Direct Engery?

[zzricezz]

Anyone have experience in cancelling their Direct Engery contract? I have like 3 years left and the rep said i would have to pay about $700 in penalty. I was locked in at 35.8cent, natural gas hit a 5 year low so I'm guessing I'm paying like 2x the going price right now?

[dakrwurm]

Unless you can find proof that the sales person tricked you or forged your name or something underhanded when you signed the contract, your probably out of luck on an easy way out.

[Keigotw]

Anyone have experience in cancelling their Direct Engery contract? I have like 3 years left and the rep said i would have to pay about $700 in penalty. I was locked in at 35.8cent, natural gas hit a 5 year low so I'm guessing I'm paying like 2x the going price right now?

I locked in when the news said was going up @ 36.9 cents
the gas did go up, but then it went down and down :( and now is so low
I want to cancel too, but don't want to pay penalty :mad:

[Linutor]

That's how these guys make their money. People sign up because they're afraid that prices will go up and if they go down, tough luck. Just ask the airlines who hedged oil when it was up around 150 a barrel. Like dakrwurm said, unless you have proof that they falsely signed you up, there's now much you can do. Who knows though, the price might go up over the next couple of years and you might do okay.

If you're looking for the current prices, both for Enbridge, Union Gas, etc. and for the contract people. Here's a good link:

http://www.energyshop.com/natural-gas-prices-Enbridge-residential.cfm

[tjthemanto]

Anyone have experience in cancelling their Direct Engery contract? I have like 3 years left and the rep said i would have to pay about $700 in penalty. I was locked in at 35.8cent, natural gas hit a 5 year low so I'm guessing I'm paying like 2x the going price right now?

You are actually paying 2.5 x the going rate right now !!

The Enbridge rate right now is only 14.72 c/m3 . This Enbridge rate usually goes up in Winter due to demand/supply , but due to the historic low natural gas prices and high inventories , i don't think it will go up much this winter .

You voluntarily signed the contract knowing fully what the price was & penalties with Direct Energy were going to be so I think you are out of luck .

Unlike most people you were not tricked or mislead into signing this contract by DE .

Direct Energy is famous for doing that i.e tricking , lying , coerceing , being aggresive etc , but in this case they are right .

You can't have it both ways if the price goes up you stay with them if it goes down you try to get out of the contract .

[tjthemanto]

Do your own calculation & see if the penalty they quoted you is right or wrong

Early Exit Fees For Direct Energy are quite complicated :

You acknowledge that we enter into supply agreements with third parties so
that we are able to supply Energy to our customers, and that if this Agreement
is terminated pursuant to Sections 4.2 or 7.1, you must pay us Early Exit Fees
consisting of:

(A) all amounts owed under this Agreement; plus

(B) an administrative fee for residential customers of $200 or, for commercial customers, an administrative fee of $500 prorated monthly for the remaining term of this Agreement; plus

(C) the following amounts:

(1) if this Agreement is for natural gas, the amount calculated by multiplying
your Projected Consumption (defined below) of natural gas by the greater of: (X) 7.0¢/m3; and (Y) the difference between the Energy Charge for natural gas and the prevailing price of our most comparable product offered at the time this Agreement is terminated (but if the prevailing price is greater than the Energy Charge, the calculation of the difference will be deemed to be zero);

"Projected Consumption" means the number of months remaining in the Service Period (calculated as if this Agreement had not been terminated, and including any renewal term) multiplied by your average monthly natural gas or
electricity consumption, as applicable (based on your most recent 12 months
actual consumption as provided by your Utility).

LESSON :

Never sign with these third party energy marketers , for either natural gas or electricity .

Almost always you will end up paying more with these guys than if you has stayed with your own utility provider .

These guys are in the business of making money for themselves , they are not here to save you money by offering ou lower prices.