RG&E

As for providing a reliable electric service they would get a Two Star review as the power goes out about four times a year where I live. Often for less than hour but frequently for longer. In an environment with harsh weather and many many trees, perhaps a better designed system or underground service (more costly/​more reliable/​more safe) should have been done, but no.
As for customer service, well there are no negative or zeros on Unilocal so that prevents an accurate score.
Like many monolithic businesses they are continually pushing consumers away from what is convenient for them and into what is profit-​making for the corporation. Example: they make it cost prohibitive to pay your bill by credit/​debit card by adding a fee and routing it through a third party vendor service, but continuously try and sell you on the convenience of auto-​paying from your bank account. Please do give them access to your money in way that is actually a burden for you to revoke, WTF?!
Prime example of terrible customer service: I called them and left a message [ real people are difficult to get to by phone ] advising them of the large tree branches on their line and pole — hoping that they would fix the situation before my power went out. After a day without a callback. I took photos and emailed them to the RG&E customer service. Their reply was that as there was no outage they would send some to evaluate it and schedule a time to remove it, which could take a month.
14 months go by, (yes over a year) on a Sunday night at 10pm (because nobody works or goes to to school on Monday mornings) I hear and see strange men in my back yard. No pre-​visit phone call, email, or even a knock on the door, just open my gate and walk on in — Crank up a portable generator and turn of my and my neighbors power. Thanks for that warning!
They (total of at least five loud but not efficient workers) attempted to get some limbs off the line and add up some mega overtime pay, as they bragged about it to my neighbor. Adding injury to inconvenience they climb my neighbors tree and proceed to also chop off some still attached — but apparently potentially dangerous branches, letting these fall on my fence, damaging the SH*T out of it, before departing after about an hour, without a «sorry» or «BTW we f**ked up your fence for reason» all while making sure to walk all over the shrubs and plants. Why have the generator and lamps if your not going to look at where you are going?
They left two large branches (each about four feet long, dangling still up on one line, with the comment: «that line is not ours it’s either phone or cable we don’t do that.» Not thinking (or caring) that wind might cause it effect the power line less than two feet away.
I am personally amazed that some other homeowners don’t resort to violence when RG&E, «visits» and does this type of stuff. If there are decent people working within this company I feel sorry for them because the either have to work in that environment or get tainted by the public with the stain of the overall company.
I’m still fighting with them to get some form of compensation for the damage to the fence.
This is how government fails, by allowing utilities/​corporations to be established in a way that prevents any possibility of competition, or even any real choice for citizens, it always results in bad service and high prices.
Going off the gird is not an option here. And «Provider choice» still allows RG&E to charge «supplier» fees because they have a line monopoly thanks to the Government.
If there was a viable, affordable alternative method of obtaining electric service I would use it.

tried to charge us $ 285 in a house we didn’t live in any longer. It’s a long story I won’t get into. Eventually fixed their error, but weren’t going to if we had stopped hounding them, they were just going to keep our money I’m sure. don’t use them unless you don’t have a choice. And if you live in Rochester you probably don’t.

Your service technician’s ETA is the grandest secret of all in the game of RG&E Power Monopoly. This protected and fiercely guarded secret is part of RG&E’s Master Code of Appointment Scheduling. You will be amazed and relieved to see the RG&E service tech finally pull into your driveway with his shiny Van-​o-​White.
The Master Code to turn on new service is so grand that the faceless rotating Customer Service Poohbahs will repeat this Master Code over and over in lieu of contacting the Service Technician Poobah (STP) for a reasonable estimate of their arrival. If you ask for a courtesy call indicating when they are en route to your location, you will be told that the STPs are too busy to provide a call. Do not be shocked if the person you are speaking with does not understand or practice common courtesy. The Poohbahs are masters of policy with an utter disregard for courtesy.
Plan to use vacation, PTO or a sick day for your appointment since the Customer Service Poobahs will inform you that you must be present when the STP arrives. To turn on new service, you may opt for a 2-​hour appointment in which an STP could show up at any time during a 2-​hour window, or an 8-​hour window with a 20-​minute call-​ahead. Your appointment scheduler will notify you that the STPs are *not* required to call ahead and probably won’t.
A third option, my personal favorite, is having an RG&E Customer Service Poohbah give a 2-​hour appointment and then after waiting 2 hours, you find that you are located in an area which only offers 8-​hour appointment windows with no phone call option. That’s fun. If you would like a weekend appointment, you can pay $ 35 for this little luxury.
Also, you must remember that this is Monopoly, not Chutes and Ladders. They own the Utilities, not the ladders. This means if any part of your service requires access via a ladder, don’t be surprised if your STP makes an appearance without one, regardless of how many times you have provided these instructions. There is confusion among the Poohbahs as to whether the Vans-​o-​White are equipped with such new fangled devices. You can provide your own ladder, which means you may find yourself climbing it, so be sure you have appropriate footwear. Thankfully, my STP informed me that my flip-​flops were not appropriate for ladder climbing. Phew. Never stop learning.
My STP not only informed me that my footwear was inappropriate for ladder climbing, he was also gracious enough to turn the ladder right-​side-​up before I began my climb and even held it in place for me. Life is rough so I really wanted to borrow his hard hat, but I didn’t want to leave him without one, just in case I landed on top of him while he was holding the ladder.
One star is much too bright for this sad game of Power Monopoly but perhaps one star will be enough to shine some light on the Grand Poohbah of RG&E Darkness.