Fell for the SFE Energy Scam

Submitted by 9GatesofShellfish t3_yvus5l in jerseycity

So for context, I have really bad social anxiety and work from home. Someone knocked on my door and I thought it was a package related to my job and opened the door. The dude mentioned something about PSEG and how they were adjusting their yearly rates to help lower their costs. He had a badge and everything but I did feel uneasy. Asked for my bill pages and I gave them to him and he started punching in numbers. I asked him again what he was doing and he said the same and said all the other tenants were getting it done too. 😔 By the time I signed the contract and confirmed on phone, I realized what was happening. I asked if the confirmation and contract was in email and immediately went to my laptop.

From there I called the number, looked up the company, and explained nearly in tears from a nervous breakdown that I signed a contract for 3 years thinking they were PSEG. The lady tried to convince me to stay on but I interrupted her saying that I'm leaving the state by March and not renewing my lease and that made her immediately cancel and give me a cancellation confirmation number.

Now my question is that the contract stated if I can cancel by a week I won't be charged anything. Do you think PSEG will have cancelled my account if I signed up with the guy and immediately cancelled it 10 mins later?? I check the website and everything still seems fine.

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Grand_Tower t1_iwgdqgs wrote

Don’t worry, signing up with a third party energy supplier, like SFE energy, really just changes who is buying energy on your behalf (from power plants/gas pipelines) in PSEG’s system. It takes at least a day for a supplier to even communicate this change to PSEG, and it only goes into effect after your next meter read. Even if you didn’t cancel this contract your PSEG account would still exist! PSEG physically deliver the power and that cannot change, and they will continue to charge you delivery fees.

Often the supplier doesn’t even issue their own bill, they just have PSEG charge you in the “supply charges” section of the bill with the supplier’s rate instead of PSEG’s. When you leave the third party supplier, you revert back to PSEG for supply. There was no risk of your account with them being canceled.

I would check your PSEG account after another day or two to make sure the supplier either didn’t enroll you at all or rescinds the enrollment. You can always call PSEG about this, it’s super not a big deal thanks to the consumer protections NJ has.

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9GatesofShellfish OP t1_iwgepzb wrote

Okay whew thank you

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rtyuuytr t1_iwgs9iq wrote

Your account will be fine. PSEG is both a supplier and distributor. There are lot a these 'suppliers' pushing people to sign. PSEG has been given a monopoly on power distribution by the state/local government to distribute power. So any supplier (anyone who generates electricity somehow, with coal, solar, hydro, or choose to trade/resell power) would need to sign up customers or else they won't make any money. Your power will come through PSEG's lines no matter who you choose as your supplier.

Check your contract with SFE. Some of these companies have an early termination fee. You may be on the hook for that given that you did sign a contract.

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9GatesofShellfish OP t1_iwgsnkx wrote

Yeah I wrote in my last paragraph about it briefly. I would have gotten a termination fee if I didn't cancel within a week. But I cancelled like 10 mins later so I should be fine. It was kinda nuts though because it said that if I didn't cancel by then, they'd charge $2.50 per month I didn't pay the 3 year contract.

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Anonymous1985388 t1_iwgbay0 wrote

I’m so sorry you went through that

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9GatesofShellfish OP t1_iwh0y94 wrote

Thanks. I can at least give myself a small win knowing I was able to snap out of it and cancel it immediately over phone

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dirty00feet t1_iwgt0yv wrote

I went through this same experience. Panicked and totally blacked out while talking to this guy who just steamrolled me. Came to my senses as soon as he left and called PSEG immediately after. They cancelled it without issue and it hasn’t been a problem. You’re good!

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ffejie t1_iwjavcy wrote

I had a guy come to my door a few weeks ago and demand to see my bill so he "could verify you're not seeing this on your bill." He flashed an ID card at me, referenced PSEG about 5 times in 30 seconds and tried to get me to show him a bill.

I questioned him about who he worked for several different ways, asked him what he was selling, what he was here to do and he kept coming back with gibberish. I told him it sounded like gibberish to me and he sounded insane. After he told me that I was the one who sounded insane, I decided to close my door on him. He rang two more times before ringing the upstairs door.l and eventually moving on to the neighbors.

Glad my radar was up; I can totally see how these guys can scam you into doing something you don't want to do.

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LoomedBridge t1_iwhmqxg wrote

Take the time to fill out a complaint form with the board of utilities- use Adobe reader to type in your responses then save and email it to the address on the form:

https://nj.gov/bpu/pdf/custassistance/tps_bpu_complaint.pdf

SFE continues to use contractors who are illegally presenting as PSEG. With enough complaints hopefully the utility board or the AG will get some balls and suspend their operating license.

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Mysterious_Good_6030 t1_ixbrahd wrote

I have them myself I believe it depends on your usage of gas I have PG&E for my gas and ever since I enrolled everything seems to be true of what they explained to me. I am yet to see any so call “scam” I was afraid of. The guy I talked to was pretty straight forward with everything and explained everything to me. All good comments from me for them so far hope this helps

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