BALTIMORE — Utility bills are a necessity, happen monthly and usually cost a lot.
It's why scammers are looking to take advantage of people looking to lower their energy bills.
"Someone giving you a call and saying your electric is going to be shut off you need to pay us right now," said Jane Ballentine. "Someone texts you a QR code and says take this to a cryptocurrency bank, you need to send us the money. Or sending you an email saying very similar things or asking you to pay through Cash App or Zelle or Venmo."
There are ways to figure out the person contacting you isn't from BGE, mainly in the types of requests they make.
"BGE is not going to call you, we do not call and ask for money, we are not going to ask you for your social security number or driver's license, we're not going to do any of that," said Ballentine.
Maryland is one of a few states that has a deregulated third-party energy program.
This allows you to decide who provides the actual power coming to your home.
Some bad actors take advantage of people looking for lower rates that then turn into jacked-up prices.
Soon, that will change.
"There's still a competitive market, we still have not changed that there is a competitive market for retail energy but what we've said is you can't get charged more than if you went to a utility in the first place," Sen. Malcolm Augustine - Montgomery County.
That change doesn't go in place until the first of January protecting people from predatory energy retailers, so make sure you read the entire contract if someone is trying to change your energy provider.
If you get a scam call or email, contact BGE and they can get your account squared away.
