Township officials should share with their residents that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has issued a consumer alert warning about a scam involving telephone calls that falsely claim to be from the PUC and spoofing the Commission’s phone number for the Philadelphia office.  

These callers do the following: 

• Falsely claim to be representatives of the PUC; 
• Tell consumers that a utility has reported a request to switch the consumer to a different utility or energy supplier; 
• If the consumer questions the switch, the scammers claim to have a voice recording of the consumer authorizing it; 
• Falsely states that the only way to cancel the switch and remain with the utility is to pay a cancellation fee immediately or face termination of service. 

The PUC does not make direct calls to consumers to demand payment, confirm supplier switches, or threaten termination. The PUC has reported the incident to law enforcement and is reaching out to utilities to warn them about the potential scam. Click here for the full press release, including scam prevention tips.