Meridian Energy is asking its customers to be vigilant for scammers after reports of hoax phone calls from people claiming to be from Meridian or a network company.

Meridian has alerted police after reports from two of its commercial customers, one based in Auckland and the other in Christchurch, who have received phone calls from a man claiming they would be disconnected if they did not pay money immediately.

During the scam calls, which have all been in the past two days, customers were given a bank account number and asked to deposit funds immediately to avoid having their electricity disconnected.

Meridian follows a strict process for customers whose electricity account is in arrears. All customers phoned about their overdue electricity account have received a number of letters from us prior to any phone call. We certainly never phone asking for money out of the blue.

Customers from other electricity providers, including Nova, Trustpower and Genesis have also been the target of the hoax calls.

If you receive a call from people saying they are from Meridian or a network company threatening disconnection unless an amount is paid, hang up and call your local Police station to report the phone call. Please also let us know you have had a hoax call by phoning us on 0800 496 496 (Meridian Energy customer contact centre).

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