More NJ Residents Are Being Electric Slammed

A growing number of Garden state residents are being "electric slammed" - where their electric company provider is changed without their consent.

PSE & G spokeswoman Bonnie Sheppard says many people don't realize that when you get your utility bill, it's made up of two parts - the commodity itself, and the charge for the utility to deliver it to you.

She says some third party suppliers are apparently hiring sub-contractors "who are aggressive salesmen and some of those people are misrepresenting themselves when they go to people's homes - they might say that they're working for PSE & G, or they might say that they're working on behalf of PSE & G, they might say that they're going around offering opportunities for people to sign up for savings programs, they might put our logo on their sales materials, or perhaps they have some fake ID or a fake uniform or something - and then they will sign people up to switch - and very often people don't even know that they have been switched."

Sheppard adds when they find out this is happening "we report it local police departments - for misrepresentation and fraud - if they're pretending to be us and selling them something and think they're buying from us and they're not."

She points out if someone comes to your door look at your PSE & G bill, to try to talk to you about how they can save you money - "PSE & G knows what's on your PSE & G bill and so they're not going to ask to see it- so that could be one flag…if you have signed some documents to be switched you will get a letter from PSE & G confirming that you have been switched - and if you haven't, obviously that's your tipoff."

Sheppard adds if you have been duped in this kind of scam and you want to go back to PSE & G, you may do so without any penalty.