(From press release) Valley Clean Energy — the official, locally governed electricity provider for Woodland, Davis and unincorporated Yolo County — would like to reassure its customers that recent reports of utility fraud are not connected to the agency in any way.
Valley Clean Energy (VCE) began offering customers clean, low-carbon power in June 2018 and currently serves more than 54,000 customer accounts. The not-for-profit public agency reinvests its revenues back into the communities it serves.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig issued a news release Friday, Aug. 2, to warn local residents to be aware of utility service providers who are switching customers’ gas or electric service without consent or authorization.
“Residents who filed complaints with the District Attorney’s Office did not know that their service provider was switched until they received a letter from their primary utility service provider confirming their request to switch to another provider for gas or electric services,” Reisig wrote. “None of the residents who filed reports authorized the change.”
Reisig added that the fraudulent switches, all of which affected Woodland customers, occurred in June.
Valley Clean Energy pools the electricity demands of the three communities it serves and purchases power with higher renewable and lower greenhouse gas content than is offered by PG&E, said Mitch Sears, VCE’s interim general manager.
PG&E continues to deliver the electricity, maintain the power lines, handle customer billing and respond to new service requests and emergencies, Sears added.
Customers who want to stay with PG&E for their electricity can opt out of VCE if they wish, he said. However, VCE will never fraudulently change a customer’s preferred utility provider, Sears added.
“This type of practice, which is called ‘slamming,’ is the method chosen by so-called ‘bad actors’ in the energy industry,” Sears said. “We are a locally controlled agency that would never engage in this type of unscrupulous activity.”
“We support the District Attorney’s efforts to notify VCE and PG&E customers about fraudulent energy-related activities and encourage anyone who has been switched to a new utility provider without permission to report it to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.”
Yolo County residents who suspect they have been “slammed” should call the DA’s fraud hotline at 855-4-YOLO-DA or 530-666-8180, or email fraud@yoloda.org.
For more information about Valley Clean Energy, visit ValleyCleanEnergy.org or contact VCE’s call center at 855-699-8232.
Valley Clean Energy is a not-for-profit public agency formed to provide electrical generation service to customers in Davis, Woodland and the unincorporated areas of Yolo County. Our mission is to source cost-competitive clean electricity while providing product choice, price stability, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission reductions and reinvestment in the community.
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