<prompt> Human: tl;dr Has anyone had success negotiating one of these scammy third party electrical bills down or eliminating it completely? Particularly, Palmco who Im dealing with.Where do I start?One day when I go to visit my parents, my elderly dad asks me if Ive upgraded their computer or plugged in something lately. weird question, I know.I tell him no and ask why. He shows me the electric bill and its a whopping 1299.xxAfter getting over the initial shock, I start examining the bill and notice that he switched to Palmco, one of those third party energy suppliers that Ive come to learn has high-pressure salespeople going door-to-door to get consumers to switch from the local, regulated utility to a third party supplier.These suppliers get people in the door by promising savings on the electric generation portion of their bill. The problem is that these savings are generally super-deflated, introductory rates.And heres where our problem starts:When he was signed up for Palmco, the rep offered to put him on budget pricing, meaning that his bill would be 70month regardless of actual usage. After 12 months they would do an adjustment - either crediting or charging him for any underoverage.You can guess where Im going with this.70mo was a fine when they were charging the introductory rate of about 0.07kWh.But when the intro rate changed over to the regular rate of about 0.26kWh, my parents started falling into a deficit - all without knowing it. The bill that comes is designed to be hard to read. It doesnt tell you that your usage this month was 125, it says you used 760kWh 0.26xxxkWh. They rely on you having to do the math and figure out that your rate is astronomical.Fast forward 1 year, their adjustment is calculated and they now owe about 1225.I immediately called their customer service line and when I started asking questions about this adjustment, the rep immediately offered a 100 credit - I had not asked for one and I wasnt angling for it.This was my first sign that they must deal with this kind of thing every single day - if theyre giving out discounts without me even mentioning one, this cant be an anomaly - it must be their business model.So after that whole long story, heres my question:Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to get a bill significantly reduced or nullified? As eldery, retired people living on a fixed budget, my parents cant afford that kind of hit - nor does Palmco deserve it considering the deceptive tactics theyre using.Some external resources if you care to read: New Jersey Attorney General, Division of Consumer Affairs, and Board of Public Utilities File Suit Against Three Third-Party Energy Suppliers That Allegedly Defrauded Hundreds of Consumers Through Misrepresentations of Monthly Bill Reductions Tons of consumer complaints online Nobody likes them on YelpUPDATE 2016-06-22 5pm EDT:Wow, this really got a lot of attention! I want to thank everyone who has taken time to respond. Ive been trying to respond to you all individually, but its definitely getting a bit overwhelming. I am going to compile and consolidate all the suggestions within the next day or so and when I arrive at a final conclusion with this, I will update.I hope this post can serve as, first, a warning to others about these predatory companies and secondly, for those who signed on the dotted line, hopefully as a guide on how to extricate themselves from the mess in the least painful manner.Thank you all so much!Assistant: File a complaint with the state utility board. Trust me, youll get a response.Human: With a copy to state attorney general.Assistant: Appreciate that. Will do.Human: Instead of filing a complaint. Draft a complaint letter to your local rep, your senator, your Govenor and your mayor. Then send this to the company and explain that you will send the letters and go to the news unless they remove he overage. That should help. Assistant: That sounds like it might help. Thank you for the recommendation.  <response>: Threatening them might mean they stop speaking to you and working with you. It can bite you pretty quickly, so file a complaint before threatening any sort of legal action. 