Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) has been alerted to a fraud scam in which customers are asked to provide credit card or bank account information in order to avoid having their electric service disconnected. SMECO warns customer-members not to provide personal financial or electric account information to unauthorized callers.
Tom Dennison, government and public affairs director, explained that SMECO has a set routine for collecting payments from customers. “Bills are issued monthly. Overdue amounts are identified on a customer’s bill. If payments are late, SMECO sends a pink termination notice. We also have an automated calling system to notify customers if their payment is overdue. If customers receive a phone call and they are unsure about whether or not it is legitimate, they should hang up and call SMECO directly.
Our contact center is open 24 hours a day, every day. The phone number is 1-888-440-3311.” According to Dennison, customers have recently contacted SMECO to notify the co-op that they have received fraudulent calls from people threatening to disconnect their electric service.
SMECO is a customer-owned electric cooperative providing electricity to over 154,000 services in Charles County, St. Mary’s County, southern Prince George’s County, and all but the northeast portion of Calvert County. Co-ops are distinctly different from investor-owned utilities because co-ops are owned by their customers, and customer-members elect the men and women who serve on the Board of Directors.
Co-ops also issue capital credits to their customer-members. What are capital credits? They are the member’s share of the co-op’s margins, based on how much electricity the member purchased and the rate at which the account was billed. SMECO’s margins—revenue less expenses—are used as working capital for new construction and system improvements. When SMECO’s Board of Directors determines that a percentage of the capital credits can be distributed to members through a general refund, capital credits will be issued by check or credited to members’ electric bills.
