Several members have received a telephone call from a person claiming to have options to lower the member's electric bill. One member reported that the caller offered to switch the member's account to another company to get these special offers and asked for the member's account number. The member knew that electric generation switching was not available for Valley Rural Electric Cooperative members and suspected that the call might be a scam. She did not provide her account number. Instead, she replied that, if the offer was legitimate, the caller would have her address and could mail information about the offer to her. She never received any mailing.
Whether these calls are legitimate ones from misinformed companies or scams from nefarious persons, Valley reminds members that no electric generation companies have signed contracts with the cooperative to sell electricity to our members. That means that Valley REC members cannot switch their generation provider to another company. Any caller claiming otherwise is either mistaken or involved in a scam.
Never give out your personal or financial information in response to any calls that you receive. If you receive a call similar to this one, do not supply any information. End the call and then notify us of the incident.
And if you are ever in doubt about the validity of a caller claiming to be from Valley REC, ask for the caller's name and explain that you will call back. Then call us toll-free at 1-800-432-0680 (not the number given by the caller) and ask for the person by name.