Just Energy Review

Quick Facts

Is Just Energy good? Just Energy offers real plan variety—14 options on ComparePower ranging from 8.6 to 20.2 cents/kWh, plus free nights and free weekends plans sold direct. But mid-tier pricing on most plans, a 2021 bankruptcy, and 233 PUCT complaints in the past 12 months mean you should read the Electricity Facts Label before signing anything.

• Parent Company: IGS Energy (private, family-owned; acquired Just Energy July 1, 2025)
• Years in Texas: 22 (entered the Texas market in 2004)
• Best For: Customers who want plan variety and longer contract options up to 36 months
• Avoid If: You shop on price first—Just Energy rarely wins a straight rate comparison
• Deposit Required: Conditional (soft credit check; waivers for qualifying credit, seniors 65+, and victims of family violence)

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Company Overview

Just Energy has been selling electricity in Texas since 2004. Twenty-two years of market presence, a bankruptcy in the middle, and a new corporate parent as of 2025. That is a lot of history to sort through.

The short version: Just Energy Group filed for CCAA protection (Canada’s bankruptcy equivalent) on March 9, 2021, after Winter Storm Uri created roughly $335 million in ERCOT charges the company could not absorb. They emerged from restructuring when the transaction closed on December 16, 2022, with general unsecured creditors receiving nothing. The Toronto Stock Exchange delisted their shares. The company operated independently as a private entity until IGS Energy, a family-owned retailer based in Dublin, Ohio, completed its acquisition on July 1, 2025 [IGS Energy press release].

The combined IGS-Just Energy entity now serves roughly 7.5 million residential customer equivalents across North America, with 2,250 employees under the expanded umbrella. Just Energy continues operating independently under its existing brands—Just Energy, Amigo Energy, Tara Energy, and Hudson Energy—with its own staff and systems. If you are comparing those brands against each other, you are comparing one company against itself.

On ComparePower right now, Just Energy has 14 plans available ranging from 8.6 to 20.2 cents/kWh at 1,000 kWh usage, with terms from 6 to 36 months [ComparePower marketplace data, April 2026]. Just Energy also sells free nights and free weekends plans directly through justenergy.com, though those are not currently listed on ComparePower’s marketplace. That is a wide spread of options. The low end involves bill credits that only apply at specific usage thresholds—your effective rate depends entirely on whether your consumption matches the plan’s sweet spot.

Same grid as everyone else. Oncor or CenterPoint delivers your power regardless of who bills you.

The Bankruptcy and Ownership Timeline

Here is what happened, without sugarcoating it:

March 9, 2021: Just Energy Group and 47 affiliates file for CCAA protection in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, with FTI Consulting appointed as monitor. The company simultaneously files Chapter 15 in the U.S. Winter Storm Uri wiped out their cash position through approximately $335 million in ERCOT charges they could not absorb.

December 16, 2022: The restructuring transaction closes. The company emerges under new private ownership. The Toronto Stock Exchange delists their shares. General unsecured creditors—people the company owed money to—received nothing.

July 1, 2025: IGS Energy completes the acquisition of Just Energy, creating one of the largest energy retailers in North America. IGS is a private, family-owned company founded by the White family in Dublin, Ohio. Before the deal, IGS employed about 1,500 people. They are not publicly traded and do not file SEC disclosures.

What this means for customers today: PUCT requires all licensed retail electricity providers to meet financial standards regardless of corporate history. Your service will not disappear. If Just Energy ever failed completely, PUCT rules transfer you to another provider automatically. The IGS acquisition provides more stable backing than the post-bankruptcy independent period, but IGS is a private company—there are no public financial statements to verify their balance sheet the way you can with NRG (Reliant) or Vistra (TXU).

The honest question: Does the bankruptcy matter four years later with a new owner? Reasonable people disagree. The company passed PUCT’s financial tests. The 233 PUCT complaints in the past 12 months—nearly double the industry average of about 120—suggest ongoing operational issues that may or may not trace back to the restructuring period. The bankruptcy is context, not disqualification. But it is recent context.

Plan Types Offered

Just Energy currently has 14 plans on ComparePower’s marketplace, plus free nights and free weekends plans available direct through their website [April 2026 data]. That is more variety than most providers offer. Here is how they break down:

Plans on ComparePower (April 2026, CenterPoint Territory)

Bill Credit Plans (Smart Choice, Power Plus) This is where Just Energy’s low headline rates come from. The Smart Choice plans show 8.6 cents/kWh (12-month) and 11.4 cents/kWh (24-month) at 1,000 kWh. The Power Plus plans land at 10.2 cents/kWh (12-month) and 10.5 cents/kWh (24-month). These rates include bill credits that kick in at specific usage thresholds—the Power Plus plans give you a $100 credit when you exceed 1,000 kWh in a month. Miss the threshold and your effective rate jumps significantly. A 6-month Smart Choice option is also available at 11.9 cents/kWh. All carry a $175 ETF.

That 8.6-cent rate? It involves a bill credit at a specific usage level. Before signing any plan with a rate that looks too good, check the Electricity Facts Label. The credit thresholds and minimum usage fees determine your real cost.

Fixed-Rate Plans (Simple Choice, Basics) Standard locked-in rates for 12 or 24 months. The Basics plans show 16.1-16.7 cents/kWh at 1,000 kWh. The Simple Choice plans land around 16.2-16.8 cents/kWh. These are straightforward—no bill credits, no gimmicks, what you see is close to what you pay. All carry a $175 ETF and a $4.95 monthly base charge. If you want predictability without reading footnotes, start here.

Simple Value Plans (12, 24, 36 months) Priced at 18.9-19.6 cents/kWh at 1,000 kWh. The 36-month option at 19.6 cents/kWh is one of the longest rate locks available in Texas. These are premium-priced for what you get—the value proposition is rate certainty over a long term, not a competitive rate. All carry a $175 ETF.

Mega Saver - 24 A $150 bill credit when your monthly usage hits 2,000 kWh or more. Shows 20.2 cents/kWh at 1,000 kWh but potentially competitive for very large homes that consistently hit high consumption. If your house does not run 2,000+ kWh every month, this plan costs more than it looks. $175 ETF. Only 15% renewable content—the lowest of any Just Energy plan.

Renters Choice - 12 The standout for renters: 16.8 cents/kWh at 1,000 kWh with no early termination fee and no $4.95 base charge. You can cancel anytime without penalty. The rate is not competitive on price, but the flexibility is real. If you are renting and might move before 12 months, this is the only Just Energy plan that makes sense.

Plans Sold Direct (Not on ComparePower)

Nights Free Free electricity from 9 PM to 7 AM every night—10 hours of no-cost power applied as a bill credit. Works well if you run laundry, dishwasher, and EV charging overnight. Works poorly if you are home all day running the AC. Just Energy’s page notes you need to shift at least 35% of your usage to nighttime hours to hit the advertised rate. Homes with solar panels or distributed generation are not eligible. Available in 12, 24, and 36-month terms. $175 ETF.

Weekends Free Free electricity from Friday 7 PM through Sunday 11:59 PM. Good for families home on weekends who can shift high-consumption tasks to Saturday and Sunday. Same logic applies: if you travel every weekend, you are paying a premium during the week for a benefit you never use. Available in 12, 24, and 36-month terms. $175 ETF.

These time-of-use plans compete with TXU’s Truly Free Nights and similar offerings from Reliant. They are not listed on ComparePower’s marketplace as of April 2026, so you will need to sign up through justenergy.com or by phone to get them.

Green Energy Options

All Just Energy plans on ComparePower include 15-31.5% renewable energy content as a baseline [Electricity Facts Labels, April 2026]. Most plans fall in the 26-31.5% range, which tracks roughly with the Texas grid average. The Mega Saver plan is the exception at just 15%.

JustGreen Add-On ($9.99/month): For an extra $9.99 per month on any plan, Just Energy purchases renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset up to 100% of your electricity consumption. The RECs cover wind, solar, and hydroelectric sources.

What RECs actually are: Just Energy does not send you different electrons. They buy certificates proving that somewhere, renewable energy was generated equal to what you consumed. This is how every “100% green” plan in Texas works—it is an accounting mechanism, not a physics one. The $9.99/month ($120/year) is the price for that accounting.

If you want dedicated green: Green Mountain Energy builds their entire brand around renewables. Chariot Energy focuses on solar. Just Energy’s green option is an add-on, not their identity.

Early Termination Fees

Just Energy charges a flat $175 early termination fee across all fixed-rate plans except Renters Choice, which has no ETF [ComparePower marketplace data; EFL documents].

60-day satisfaction guarantee: You can switch to a different Just Energy plan within 60 days of your service start date without paying the ETF. If you sign up and realize a different Just Energy plan fits better, you have two months to switch penalty-free.

Switchover credit: Just Energy covers up to $150 of early termination fees from your previous provider when you switch to them. That is a real incentive if you are locked into a plan elsewhere and want out.

Moving: If you move out of Just Energy’s service area, the ETF is waived.

Deposit Requirements

Just Energy runs a soft credit check during enrollment—it will not affect your credit score. Good credit means no deposit. Below their threshold, you may need to put money down.

How to avoid a deposit:

1. Good credit score — No deposit required
2. Senior citizen (age 65+) — Deposit waiver available
3. Victim of family violence — Deposit waiver available with documentation
4. Previous customer history — Existing or returning Just Energy customers may qualify

If you do pay a deposit, it is typically refundable after meeting specific terms such as consistent on-time payments.

Just Energy does not offer prepaid plans. If your credit cannot clear their check and you need to avoid a deposit entirely, look at Frontier Utilities (Power As You Go) or Payless Power. Both offer no-credit-check, no-deposit prepaid alternatives.

The Just Energy Brands

Just Energy operates four brands under the IGS Energy umbrella:

• Just Energy: Main brand, broadest plan selection, 14 plans on ComparePower
• Amigo Energy: Built for Spanish-speaking households—native-language service, not translated FAQs. Also carries its own Mega Saver plan.
• Tara Energy: Additional retail brand, similar plans under a different name
• Hudson Energy: Commercial and business-focused

Same corporate parent, different marketing. Rates and plan availability vary across brands. If you are considering Just Energy, check Amigo and Tara too. You might find the same type of plan priced differently under a sister brand.

Customer Service: The Real Story

Contact options:

• Phone: 1-866-587-8674 (Monday-Friday 8 AM to 7 PM CT, Saturday 9 AM to 6 PM CT)
• Online: Account portal and Just Energy Advisor app
• Payment: Phone, online, mail, in-person options

What works:

• Same-day service activation available
• 60-day satisfaction guarantee for plan switching
• Mobile app for bill management and usage tracking
• Bilingual support available
• JustGreen can be added to any existing plan without switching

What doesn’t:

• 233 PUCT complaints in the past 12 months—nearly double the industry average of about 120 [TexasElectricityRatings, 2TurnItOn, 2026 data]
• Billing clarity score of 15/100, measuring how clearly bills communicate charges, credits, and time-of-use breakdowns [TexasElectricityRatings]
• Customer service score of 46/100 on the same platform
• No Sunday customer support

The silver lining: A 4.4-star customer rating and a True NPS of 53, meaning satisfied customers do recommend the service. The complaint profile is weighted toward billing disputes, not outages or fraud.

The pattern: Bill credit plans create a gap between what customers expect to pay (the headline rate) and what they actually pay (the rate without the credit when usage falls short). This is not unique to Just Energy—every provider with bill credit plans generates these complaints. But Just Energy’s volume is higher than average, which suggests either more aggressive marketing of credit-dependent rates or less clarity in explaining them upfront. The 15/100 billing clarity score supports the latter.

Where Just Energy Operates

Just Energy serves all four deregulated TDU territories in Texas: Oncor (Dallas-Fort Worth), CenterPoint (Houston), AEP Texas (Corpus Christi, South/West Texas), and TNMP (scattered service areas).

Austin and San Antonio run municipal utilities. Just Energy cannot sell there.

The Bottom Line

Just Energy offers more plan variety than most Texas providers—14 options on ComparePower covering fixed-rate, bill credit, and long-term contracts, plus free nights and free weekends plans sold direct. The IGS Energy acquisition on July 1, 2025 provides more stable corporate backing than the uncertain post-bankruptcy period. The 60-day satisfaction guarantee and in-contract plan switching are genuine advantages.

The trade-offs are real: Mid-tier pricing on most plans. Bill credit structures that make low rates conditional on hitting usage thresholds. A complaint record nearly double the industry average. A billing clarity score of 15/100. A bankruptcy that closed four years ago but shapes how the company operates today.

Just Energy works for: Customers who want plan variety and are willing to read the Electricity Facts Label carefully. The free nights and weekends plans compete with TXU’s and Reliant’s versions. The JustGreen add-on is a simple path to 100% renewable if you do not want to switch providers. The 36-month contracts offer longer rate locks than many competitors. The Renters Choice plan—no ETF, no base charge—is worth considering if you need flexibility.

Look elsewhere if: You want the cheapest fixed rate without bill credit math. Frontier and Gexa consistently beat Just Energy on straight price-per-kWh comparisons. If the bankruptcy history or complaint volume concerns you, TXU (Vistra), Reliant (NRG), and Gexa (NextEra) are all backed by publicly traded companies with transparent financial reporting.

Check current rates on ComparePower for your zip code. Compare the rate at your actual usage level, not just the 1,000 kWh headline number.