CLEVELAND — In the winter months, it can be terrifying to get a call, text or email telling you your power is about to be shut off if you don’t send money immediately.
That’s exactly what happened to a reddit user who posted that they were told their power would be turned off within the hour and that they they needed to call an 888 number to pay to stop it, but when they checked their account they saw that they were up to date on their payments.
THE QUESTION
So let’s VERIFY: Will your electric company contact you with no notice telling you they will turn your power off if you don’t send payment immediately?
SOURCES
Our sources are:
- the Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs, and
- Cleveland Public Power.
EXPLANATION
First, you need to know that if you are behind on electric payments, there’s a process that must be followed before your power would get turned off.
Cleveland Public Power’s Shelley Shockley told me:
"Our customers receive written notification of their account status, including disconnection notices.
"Prior to disconnection we also put a final notice on the property giving the resident 72 hours (3 days) to make payment arrangements."
You can do that in person at their office, by calling Cleveland Public Power, or by using their official website to pay online.
Shockley said: "We will not call our customers and ask that they make payment to a third-party."
The timing of when people are targeted with this scam is strategic.
"These scams commonly occur just before weekends or holidays, when its harder for customers to reach utility representatives. In fact, utilities never schedule shut-offs at night or on weekends or holidays."
ANSWER
So we can VERIFY: No, your electric company will not contact you with no notice telling you they will turn your power off if you don’t send payment immediately.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This is an imposter scam. Shockley told me if anyone gets contacted with a claim like this, they can report it to the Public Utilities Police by calling (216) 443-2426.