Municipal Electric Aggregation Program
There have been reports of at least one company soliciting residents by phone using misleading marketing tactics to secure residential contracts for electric supply in Central Illinois. Any claims made by their representatives that they are confirming enrollment in the Village’s aggregation program, and that Ameren account information must be provided to enroll in the program are false and should be disregarded. These companies are not affiliated with the Village of Morton’s Electrical Aggregation Program, the current supplier Homefield Energy or Ameren Illinois.
These alternative energy providers are trying to lure residents, who are already benefiting from unparalleled savings, into less lucrative deals that may appear better in the short-term. The companies have been reported to pressure residents to supply their Ameren billing information and respond very negatively when questioned.
Residents need to be aware of the following:
- Ameren and/or Homefield Energy will not call customers and request their account numbers.
- Alternative energy suppliers only need the customer’s Ameren account number to sign them up (no signature is required).
- Residents should not compromise their security by providing their account number to the caller.
- Residents that fell prey to these tactics and prefer not to be switched from Homefield Energy are advised to call Ameren at the customer service number listed on the letter sent by Ameren stating that their electric supplier will be changed within the time frame shown on that letter. Residents will need to explain to the customer service representative that they do not want to be changed from Homefield Energy. Persistence and patience will be necessary since this is one of Ameren’s busiest times of the year and they will likely be experiencing high call volumes.
- Complaints regarding the aggressive and misleading marketing tactics may be filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission Consumer Services Division by phone at 1-800-858-9277 between the hours of 8:30am to 5:00pm, Monday-Friday or online at http://www.icc.illinois.gov/consumer/complaint.
- Residents can register for the National Do Not Call Registry by calling 1-888-382-1222 or visiting www.donotcall.gov. This service was created to give people a choice whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call people’s homes once their number has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, the person that placed their number on the Do Not Call Registry can file a complaint on the www.donotcall.gov website.
