Getting slammed by a 3rd party energy provider

chickpea · March 2009

Hi all,

I remember a few months back seeing a post about 3rd party energy providers soliciting people here in Brooklyn. Basically they ring your bell, ask to see your Con Ed bill and claim they can save you money on your Con Ed bill. Your bill stays the same for a few months and all of a sudden it doubles. Well, that has happened to us.

Apparently last summer my roommate fell victim to this scam and not only switched us over but she did so in my name. The Con Ed bill was in my name and whoever she dealt with had no problem with the fact that they weren't dealing with the actual account holder. I was not around and quite frankly if someone came up to me asking to see my bill no matter who they were I would laugh in their face and tell them to take a hike.

Now it's been about 7 months since this took place and our Con Ed bill suddenly doubled. The price per kilowatt is double what my boyfriend is paying using Con Ed. The one good thing is that I am moving out and closing my Con Ed bill, although my current bill is a doozy as is the one expected for the last month of service. Has anybody out there dealt with this issue before? I had no knowledge of this switch, wasn't there, and the form was basically forged by my dipshit roomate. Opinions? Advice?

modsquad · March 2009

Don't muddy the waters with the story about your room mate being an asshole. That will give Con Ed the excuse they need not to do anything. As far as you're concerned the account is in your name and you gave no one authority to change the provider. PERIOD!

hitokiri · March 2009

yeah. K.I.S.S

keep it simple stupid ;p

You: Why is my bill this much? I never authorized a change in service
Coned: isnt this your signature?
You: no. I never signed anything

thats all you need to stick to

chickpea · March 2009

hitokiri wrote: yeah. K.I.S.S

keep it simple stupid ;p

You: Why is my bill this much? I never authorized a change in service
Coned: isnt this your signature?
You: no. I never signed anything

thats all you need to stick to

This is precisely the tactic I was going to employ. I know nothing, never switched it, etc. No mention of my idiot roommate necessary...

Thanks all for weighing in!

danielle123 · March 2009

Subject: I'm confused

Which provider did your roommate switch you to? I'm a little confused about how this works. I have ConEd and all of a sudden my bill doubled but it still comes in under the ConEd name. I'm assuming that these scammer switch you to a different provider, yes?

esp1967 · March 2009

Same thing happened to me but it was my husband who made the switch

I read the postings about the the ESCO's and smuggly thought to myself "how stupid can people be to show strangers their personal bills"

Well joke was on me , because I evidently married one of those stupid people

Con Ed wants you to call the ESCO to terminate the service.
The ESCO tried to charge me a $175 cancellation fee

julierebecca · March 2009

I had someone knock on my door, a young man, asking to see my bill about two months ago, saying he could save me money. I didn't open the door because I had heard of this kind of scam before -- hard to believe Con Ed would dispatch good souls to your door to lower your bill. After he left, I kicked myself for not getting some indentifying information from him. Did you contact a prosecutor? Can't this guy be charged?

nomad · March 2009

ESP1967 wrote: Well joke was on me , because I evidently married one of those stupid people

LOL!

mantic · March 2009

Contact the Attorney Generals office.

camaysar · March 2009

For info about ConEd and ESCOs:

http://www.coned.com/customercentral/energyrespower.asp

chickpea · March 2009

Well, Con Ed wants no part in dealing with these issues. I was told to contact US Energy Savings. I spoke with a customer service rep who was clueless and wanted to email me the form they had with my signature. I told them that wouldn't be necessary because I didn't sign anything and I didn't care what "proof" they had. I then asked for a supervisor who was only slightly more helpful. I told him, as calmly and professionally as I could that:

1. I didn't sign up for this and I won't acknowledge that I am their client.
2. I will not pay exit fees because see #1.
3. How long will this investigation take, is there a charge, and what can I expect?
4. I will not be backing down and am prepared to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

In the end they are launching an "investigation", not charging me exit fees and I hope to get reimbursed the difference between their charges and Con Ed's. I'm not holding my breathe but luckily I only have 2 billing cycles to deal with.

What a pain in the ass.

chickpea · March 2009

Subject: Re: I'm confused

danielle123 wrote: Which provider did your roommate switch you to? I'm a little confused about how this works. I have ConEd and all of a sudden my bill doubled but it still comes in under the ConEd name. I'm assuming that these scammer switch you to a different provider, yes?

It is part of your Con Ed bill. If you are using a 3rd party energy provider you'll see it clearly listed and their contact info on the 2nd page as well as their charge per kilowatt etc. You'll also be charged by Con Ed for delivery so you get jacked twice. Fun!

danielle123 · March 2009

Subject: Thanks

Thanks for clarifying. I appear to still be getting my electricity through ConEd but the charge per Kwh went from .04 in December to .11 in February. (I was wondering if maybe my landlord did something because I have no one living in my place who could make a change.)

voodoonyc · March 2009

Subject: Re: Thanks

danielle123 wrote: Thanks for clarifying. I appear to still be getting my electricity through ConEd but the charge per Kwh went from .04 in December to .11 in February. (I was wondering if maybe my landlord did something because I have no one living in my place who could make a change.)

Looks like the rate changes every month, but to be honest I really don't know how they can do that. I had .07 per KwH in January, .11 in February and a whopping .23 in September. Anyone know how that works?

voodoonyc · March 2009

Upon further review of my bill, it appears the KwH rate will fluctuate monthly based on the cost of energy sold to Con Ed. Makes sense, but is not something I ever really thought about or paid much attention to.

maratl2 · March 2009

Subject: green energy via ESCOs

I switched to an ESCO (ConEd Solutions, 100% green energy) this past year and also noticed the KwH rate fluctuating monthly. I called my ESCO to ask what this was all about that they basically told me that since my usage was low, this causes higher KwH rates (last month it went as high as $0.45 per KwH!).

While I still do not totally understand how all this works, the rep explained to me that for customers that use less than 250 KwH of energy per month, it makes the most sense to switch to a fixed rate plan, which right now is set at $0.13 per KwH. So I did this and they promised to send a refund check for the difference of what I paid vs the fixed rate price.

These are good things to know if you plan on signing up for an ESCO. It's confusing, but awesome to have the choice of greener energy! Hope this helps...

voodoonyc · March 2009

Thanks, that's very helpful! Looks like mine varies between about .07 and .25, which would put .13 right in the middle so not sure how much I would actually save by getting a fixed rate, but I may go ahead and do it anyway. Also been meaning to switch to ESCO - thanks for reminding me.

Getting slammed by a 3rd party energy provider

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