Almost certainly a scam. Duquesne Light keeps their own records of what they're billing you. Even on the (extremely unlikely) chance that it was not a scam, there's no good reason for them to be going door to door harassing customers instead of checking their own billing records.

I don’t know this specific company but those vendors aren’t usually a scam, per se. They represent a legitimate electric company who will legitimately provide electric to you if you sign up.

They also often use deceptive and high pressure sales tactics like you described. I personally doubt that they could ever be the most optimal choice for who you buy electricity from, because door to door sales people are very expensive and the cost of those sales people is baked into the cost of electricity, if you bought from them.

I always just cut them off and say “no thanks”, or better yet, don’t randomly answer the door.

SCAM. BE CAREFUL OPENING THE DOOR

I had a rep for an energy company show up at my door. Pro tip: say you don't have time right now and you're waiting on a food delivery, which is why you answered the door. It was true in this instance, and it worked to politely get them to leave!

Scam. Even if it's a legit energy company what they do is bait and switch. They sign you up for say a year. They say if you don't like it you can cancel. The rate is low compared to your other supplier. Then surprise a couple months later the rate is double the original supplier. You can cancel but there's like a 400 cancel fee. So you either pay the fee or pay double electric bills for the rest of the contract.

So even if it's not an illegal scam, it's still a con to screw you out of money legally.

A good rule of thumb: genuine official business is always conducted in writing. Phone calls and visits don't create a paper trail. They can't be saved in a file. So people who are owed and are trying to collect money for a legitimate reason or trying to sell a legitimate product or make contact about a legitimate legal matter send letters.

Obviously, parties like your doctor or plumber or personal lawyer or employer will call you because they're calling about matters that can be handled quickly and don't implicate legal rights or obligations. But if someone you've never spoken with before calls you or knocks on your door, unless they're in uniform with ID, tell them nothing except to send you a letter.

Nowadays it’s safe to write off any door to door sales outside of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts as scams. You aren’t missing out on anything even if it is legit. Their services will be available through other mediums.

It's not a scam, but a sales tactic that still works wonderfully well here, considering we have a large population of elderly people/redditors.

Can't be scammed if you never open the door!

I worked for DLC in the area of electric suppliers. Normally I would say anyone coming to your door is a scam. But after some research this could be legit.

The company name is Inspire, not Aspire.

Their rates at PaPowerSwitch.com are competitive with DLC's default rate while offering their power from 100% renewable sources.

They offer fixed rates for various terms with no fees, which mean if you find a cheaper rate later you can always cancel.

Bottom line: Inspire Energy is not a scam and their rates are competitive But I can't say for sure the person coming to your door is offering the same deal you can get online.

https://www.papowerswitch.com/shop-for-electricity/shop-for-your-home/

Why would you think that it isn’t a scam? Because people trying to save you money ALWAYS randomly show up at your door.

Switching electric suppliers is a legit thing, and can save you a bit of money, or get you renewable/green power if that's important.
But the way to do it is to go to this website. https://www.papowerswitch.com. Just tell the solicitor that's how you choose your energy supplier. They may claim they have a lower rate than the web site is showing, but I guarantee you it's like $.001 /kWh.
Even at the website, watch out for:
--variable rates (they could rize quickly)
--cancellation fees
--fixed rate for X months (after which the rates skyrocket)
--monthly fees above the rate per kWh
Best approach is to find a good rate that allows you to switch with no cancellation fees, or a very short term, and keep track of the rates. If you're not willing to keep track of it, your best bet is stick with the default supplier from DLC. Those rates are regulated by the PUC.

"2 people just showed up to my door th-"

Scam

Next

I think Inspire bought out Peoples Gas, because that sounds like the people I got a letter from about 4-5 months ago. I should take a look at my bill to see if I can get any better prices. Usually I just suck it up and pay.

I'm 99% sure somebody posted about Inspire in the last year, I'd do a search through this subreddit.

EDIT: Looks like it was Interstate Gas, which still sounds incredibly generic and "possibly" a scam.

Interstate Gas Supply, Inc Current Charges $90.12

Don’t give them any info. They’ll ask to see your electric bill, they’ll take the info off of your bill and switch your supplier. This happened to one of my neighbors. Tell them no thank you and close the doors.

This happen to me today as well. At around 3 pm they came. I never answer my door I just open a window and ask what people want. They said my neighbor Rebecca’s bill had to line items. I just said get off my porch. The only reason I answered is bc people keep randomly trying to open my front door. They are confusing my house with my neighbors. Then I was coming back to my house after picking my husband up from work at 7 pm and they were on the corner of my street. There is a total of 12 houses. They are weird and annoying.

The same company was going door to door in my apartment complex a couple of months ago. There was a small van with the company logo parked and a group of 20 somethings unloaded. The guy that came to my door seemed nice enough at first, but I told him I wasn’t interested and he became a bit pushy and saying things like “you don’t trust me” and he needed this for “credit”. I stayed firm with my no after that, felt off to me.

This exactly.

Yes, suppliers canvas neighborhoods annually with reps to enlist subscribers. Feels like a scam to many because of the door to door tactic.

Don’t even need to finish reading, scam

Yep had them come to my door about four/five months ago, didn’t realize it was a scam until my wife overheard them asking me to see our bills, she had gotten them when she answered the door earlier in the year.
Don’t even let them finish the first sentence next time before telling them never to come back and closing the door in their faces.

It's Inspire. Not a scam, though I think the tactics their door to door sales people and those in stores use are scummy and aggressive as they're commissions based sales people.

I signed up on my own after doing research on a wholly unrelated front into renewable energy and trying to figure out the best sources. Wind is kinda it, especially for renters, so I signed up by myself. Have never dealt with their door to door people as a result. Never any problems, my electricity is budgeted and averaged annually, and I honestly have only had only one minor outage in the last year of storms I think, maybe during one of the summer ones. Not a scam, just avoid their sales people. If you want to do good for the environment and can't shell out for solar panels etc. it's worth looking into.

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Good general practice is to not give anybody who shows up at your door unannounced an account number to anything anywhere, no matter how harmless it may seem. Edit: Don't let them look at your bill either.

Seriously, shit like this is why no one answers their door now.

Yes they are providing a legitimate service, but if they were on the level as far as service quality and pricing then they wouldn't need to show up at your door unannounced.

What they're banking in is that you switch and never notice when the promo period expires, just like most 0% financing offers, or gym memberships.

Put a No Soliciting sticker on your door. We used to get a lot of door knockers several years ago but ever since I put the sticker on, no one’s come knocking.

Our group didn't have all the data but did a rough analysis and concluded most people were spending the same or more than the default rate.

DLC bids out the default rate throughout the year so it might not be the absolute cheapest, it's pretty competitive.

I would save about $10/month when I would switch after the introductory rate.