News Releases

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (Nov. 18, 2020) -- PPL Electric Utilities is serious about protecting you from scams, so we never miss a chance to spread the word on how to help you avoid them. 

That’s especially true this week, Utility Scam Awareness Week, and today, Utility Scam Awareness Day.

Information is your weapon against scammers. Here’s some help on how to spot them.

Signs of Potential Scam Activity:           

• Threat to disconnect: Scammers may aggressively tell you that your utility bill is past due, and service will be disconnected—usually within an hour—if a payment is not made. That’s not how PPL does business. We offer assistance programs and options. Disconnection is always a last resort and is always preceded by a series of notifications.

• Request for immediate payment: Scammers may instruct you to purchase a prepaid card, cryptocurrency, or to send funds via a mobile app to make a bill payment.

•Request for prepaid card: Scammers will tell you to pay with a prepaid debit card. The impostor asks for the prepaid card’s number, which grants instant access to the card’s funds.

Scammers thrive on putting pressure on people to act fast, so:

• Slow Down. Take your time.

• Verify. Scammers can spoof phone numbers, trick you with emails, pose as real employees or even use COVID-19 information to bait you. The best way to verify a caller’s claim is to log on to your secure online PPL account (or set one up) so you can verify rates and overdue bills directly with PPL.

• Stop before you act. PPL and other utilities never demand payment by prepaid cards, Bitcoin, or other methods.

Call PPL at 1-800-342-5775 if anything seems even slightly odd about the situation you’re facing. Check out our scam awareness information at pplelectric.com/scams.

Another piece of advice: spread the word. If a scammer tries to target you, they may also try to target others in your community. Together, we can stop scams.

PPL Electric Utilities is a charter member of Utilities United Against Scams, the founders of Utility Scam Awareness Week and Utility Scam Awareness Day. UUAS is a consortium of 145 U.S. and Canadian electric, water, and natural gas companies and their respective trade associations. For more information, visit utilitiesunited.org.

PPL Electric Utilities provides electric delivery service to more than 1.4 million homes and businesses in Pennsylvania and ranks among the best utility companies in the country for customer service and reliability. PPL Electric Utilities is a major employer in the communities it serves. It is a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL). For more information visit www.pplelectric.com.   

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Note to Editors: Visit our media website at www.pplnewsroom.com.