Oak Park warns of ‘more expensive’ electric scam

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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:45AM

Oak Park Sustainability Manager K.C. Poulos is warning the village’s electrical aggregation customers to be wary of door-to-door marketing people who are fraudulently getting people to switch over their electrical service.

“Resident are being duped into switching their electrical service through predatory marketing practices,” said Poulos, who played a major role in Oak Park’s change over to the 100 percent green aggregated electrical power sourcing that started Jan. 1.

Poulos said she’s received numerous calls from people who say they were scammed. Those customers called 1-800 numbers after being told by door-to-door marketers that doing so formally switched their service to Integrys Energy. The marketers ask customers who answer their door if they are Integrys customers. When people say yes, the marketers ask they to call an 800 number to finalize the switch.

“When the customers make the phone call, it’s to another third party supplier,” said Poulos. “A more expensive electric supplier.”

Poulos said when people ask the marketers if they represent Integrys, they reply is “yes.”

But that’s a lie, she said, they are not Integrys representatives.

Auto switch

Poulos stressed that no action is required of electric customers to switch to Integrys. The switch-over occurred automatically on Jan. 1, unless homeowners and small businesses supplied by ComEd explicitly requested to remain with the utility or some other third party energy provider.

Poulos said she contacted both companies, whom she declined to identify. One of them was working with a third party marketing firm that was working without proper permits from the village clerk.

Poulos says she has no power to ask for a formal investigation by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), which oversees and regulates electric power providers in Illinois. But she is urging all electric customers who have been contacted by shady marketers to contact the ICC.

“They need to call the ICC and complain so that the ICC can begin building a case,” said Poulos. The ICC can be reached at 1-800-524-0795.

Poulos said the village has a vested interest in protecting both their residents and the good name of the still-new electrical aggregation option.

“When a village aggregates, they want to protect that program and protect their residents,” she said, adding that her concern extends well beyond Oak Park’s borders.

“I’m also thinking of the 266 other villages that are going to referendum (on electrical aggregation) on March 20.”