A satisfaction guarantee is a perk offered to customers to lure them in and give an idea of transparency. sign up for one of our plans, and you have 60 days to cancel if you don't like it. It sounds transparent and good. But the truth that the vast majority of companies don't tell you out loud is that you can only change to the plans they offer. If you are stuck with a company that gave you a bad plan, it is highly probable that the other plans that company offers are bad too, and you will end up overpaying regardless.
Another important reason this is misleading: if they offer a 60- or 30-day guarantee, you will have very few opportunities to analyze your bill properly. They rely on the idea that you will judge them by the reliability of the electricity, when in reality they don't control that.
Another issue with this "guarantee" is that with the most misleading plans on the market — the bill credit plans — a customer could easily hit the credit in the first two months, but it is really difficult to achieve that in every month. Overall, they will overpay.
Even though this is a common practice, at least some companies are more transparent about it than others. Below is our ranking of the best "satisfaction guarantees" among more than 40 companies in the market.
One more thing before the ranking: unlike the companies that do offer this perk, nothing is written in stone for the ones that don't. From the list of companies that don't advertise a 60-day guarantee, you can still call them and tell them your plan isn't working out for you. The majority will listen and give you options within the same company's plans. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
Here is the ranking of the best companies that offer this perk, counting whether it is really a full guarantee or not.
1 — TXU, and value brands 4Change, Veteran, Express (60-day full guarantee)
From our research, these are the only companies that offer a true full guarantee. You can leave for another provider entirely, not just switch plans.
You need to be careful, though: it applies to new customers only. If you are an existing customer, you might be able to change to one of their other plans within 60 days. internal switching only.
4Change publishes a standalone guarantee page (https://www.4changeenergy.com/4ce-satisfaction-guarantee), with the same new-customer restriction spelled out in the footnotes:
- Applies to new customers only.
- Applies to new customers only and their first plan with us.
The downside across all of these companies is that they offer plans with complex ETFs, expensive rates, or bill credit structures that can cause a high bill later on, and not necessarily within the first 60 days. That is the real weakness of the guarantee: by the time the overpaying shows up, the window has already closed.
Bill credits are the clearest example. A customer who signs up may hit the usage window and receive the credit in the first month or two, then miss it for the rest of the contract. CEF strongly recommends against bill credit plans.
2 — BKV, Energy Texas, Rhythm, Good Charlie (30-day guarantee)
In second place, these companies offer a 30-day guarantee. However, 30 days is not enough to evaluate the economics of a plan. On the other hand, if you have a bad experience with customer service or anything similar, you can take your business somewhere else without a penalty.
It is worth noting that these companies have decent rates and are usually competitive, so it's likely you won't get an unexpected high bill with them.
3 — Guaranteed switching anytime: Tara, Amigo, Just Energy
These companies say it explicitly:
Amigo Energy will help you find a plan that fits your needs. Please note that new plans will come with a new contract, and the end date of the new contract will change to reflect the terms of the new plan. There is no fee to make a plan change, but you will be subject to the terms and conditions of the new plan as an existing customer.
This is valuable. These companies have many options — free nights, free weekends, bill credits, seasonal, fixed, and so on — and they are also flexible with their rates. If you have a bad deal with them, CEF recommends you give them a call and explain your situation. It's likely they will listen and help you get a better rate.
For help, you can use our tools: Free Nights, Free Weekends, and the EFL Inspector, to evaluate their plans against your usage pattern.
4 — 90-day guarantee, internal switching: Reliant, Green Mountain, Cirro, Discount, Direct Energy
As a perk among the biggest electricity providers, they do have different options you can try. Remember that new plans come with a new early termination fee; Take that into consideration. CEF recommends you never request a switch to a long-term plan.
With these companies, if the plan doesn't work out for you because it's expensive, probably none of the other plans will work out either. So the best escape valve is to negotiate the simplest plan, with the lowest rate and the shortest contract term possible.
5 — 60-day guarantee, internal switching: Gexa, Frontier
Similar to the 90-day guarantees above. The same advice applies.
6 — No guarantee: Abundance, Atlantex, APG&E, Budget, True, CleanSky, Companion, Constellation, among others
No guarantee is not necessarily bad — in fact, we're fine with it. Unless this perk is a full guarantee like TXU's, or anytime internal switching, it doesn't really offer any value. At least these companies don't advertise something they can't deliver.
Nevertheless, plenty of companies that don't offer this perk do offer competitive rates and true fixed rates only.
Conclusion
This perk is sometimes heavily advertised by the companies, but it doesn't really offer excellent value. The companies that offer the best version of it usually have higher, uncompetitive rates, while some of the ones that don't offer it have the lowest rates in the market.
So don't use this perk as a reason to select a company. Focus on competitive rates, and on fixed rates with no bill credits, so you don't end up overpaying by 20% or more on your bill.
| Provider | Named Satisfaction Guarantee | Time limit | Free internal plan change | Leave for another REP without ETF? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TXU Energy | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| 4Change Energy | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Veteran Energy | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Express Energy | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Rhythm Energy | ✅ Yes | 30 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| BKV Energy | ✅ Yes | 30 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Energy Texas | ✅ Yes | 30 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| GoodCharlie | ✅ Yes | 30 days | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Amigo Energy | ❌ No | None | ✅ Yes, anytime | ❌ No |
| Tara Energy | ❌ No | None | ✅ Yes, anytime | ❌ No |
| Just Energy | ❌ No | None | ✅ Yes, anytime | ❌ No |
| Reliant | ✅ Yes | 90 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Green Mountain | ✅ Yes | 90 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Cirro Energy | ✅ Yes | 90 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Discount Power | ✅ Yes | 90 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Direct Energy | ✅ Yes | 90 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Gexa Energy | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Frontier Utilities | ✅ Yes | 60 days | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Abundance Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Atlantex Power | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| APG&E | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Budget Power | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Champion Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Chariot Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| CleanSky Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Companion Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Constellation | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Infuse Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Revolution Energy | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Southern Federal Power | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |
| Ranchero Power | ❌ No | None | — | ❌ No |