Edison International : Utility Bill Phone Scammers Hit Customers Hard in 2021

The pandemic continues to breed anxiety among individuals and small businesses, offering more opportunities for phone scammers impersonating SCE representatives. Last year, Southern California Edison customers reported losing more than $667,000 to utility bill phone scams, surpassing the $426,000 reported in 2020 - a 57% increase.

And while U.S. retail sales soared during the holiday season, phone scammers took advantage and swindled SCE customers out of more than $46,000 dollars in November and December.

"Phone scammers depend on catching their victims off guard and convincing them they need to act quickly," said Randy White, SCE's manager of Physical Security Operations. "Also, retail businesses are frequent targets for fake threats of disconnection, because losing power could mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost sales."

In March 2020, SCE suspended disconnections related to non-payment for residential and small business customers due to the COVID-19 crisis. Since last September, SCE customers with past due balances more than 60 days old have been automatically enrolled in payment arrangements, so they can pay off their balances over time.

With that in mind, said White, "Anyone phoning you claiming to be from SCE and threatening to shut off your power for non-payment is lying to you. SCE will never phone you to threaten disconnection and demand immediate payment."