Clallam PUD reporting a ‘disconnect’ scam in area

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Clallam PUD is warning customers of possible telephone scams where the caller poses as a PUD employee and attempts to collect money through various means.

This has happened sporadically throughout the year to residential and business customers at Clallam PUD and nationwide.

The most recent scam has a caller contacting business owners indicating that if the business owner does not pay the PUD immediately they would be disconnected.

While the PUD does disconnect power for nonpayment, it does have a process it follows. At about 33 days after the customer’s bill date, if the customer has not paid they receive a past due, 10-day notice in the mail. If they do not pay within those 10 days, the customer’s name then goes into the PUD’s phone notification system.

Phone calls from the PUD occur on Fridays, but if the automated call does not go through, the PUD makes manual calls the next Monday. Lastly, if after the manual call on Monday the PUD is still not able to reach someone, a door hanger is delivered on Tuesday. This means that PUD customers would not receive a phone call unless their bill was about 45 days delinquent from the bill date.

The PUD does not provide any information to customers about their account unless the customer provides verification that they are the account holder.

District officials encourage customers to be cautious when providing personal information. Call PUD at 452-9771 to verify the legitimacy of the inquiry.