Thursday, January 17, 2013
Customers purchase pre-paid debit cards that are then drained by fraudsters, the company said.
- BUSINESS
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Thursday, January 17
A scam in which PECO customers are misled into purchasing pre-paid debit cards which are then drained of funds is targeting the Philadelphia region, the electric and gas utility said Thursday. In the scam, customers are contacted by persons who claim to work for PECO and informed that they must make an immediate payment in order to avoid their electricity being shut off. The phony employee then instructs the customer to purchase a pre-paid debit card from a convenience store or similar location, then to provide that card's number. The fraud operators then drain the funds on the card. “We want to make our customers aware of this scam so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of this and other fraudulent activities,” said Mark …
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Most of the remainder expected to be restored by Sunday night; 'isolated' customers may need to wait longer
- NEWS
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Sunday, November 4, 2012
Power has been restored to more than 87 percent of PECO's customers in Montgomery and Bucks counties, the utility said late Saturday afternoon. About 15,000 customers remained without power in Montgomery County, PECO said. It hopes to have most of the remaining customers back in service by midnight on Sunday night. Customers "in the most damaged and isolated areas" may not get service back until later in the week, the company said. Patch was at the scene as power was restored to one neighborhood in the Eagleville section of Lower Providence Township on Saturday evening. Abington, Cheltenham, Upper Moreland, Lower Merion, and Plymouth townships were named by PECO as the areas that remained most severely impacted by power outages. “I want to…
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Federal officials say the slow moving storm will cause problems over large part of the east coast through the middle of the week.
Federal officials warn residents to prepare for heavy winds, inland and coastal flooding and power outages from Hurricane Sandy. The storm, which is expected to come ashore somewhere along the east coast late Sunday into early Monday, is anticipated to affect 50-60 million people along the east coast, from the Carolinas to New England and extending west into West Virgina and the Ohio Valley. Flooding, for now, is the main focus of forecasters and federal disaster response agencies, according to Louis Uccellini, director the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center For Environmental Prediction. Uccellini said the "extent of heavy rainfall has a danger of flooding for Pennsylvania and Maryland and into northern Virginia. "Given…
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Upper Providence, Springfield hit hardest in Montgomery County; Spring-Ford schools will be closed Wednesday.
A storm system packing high wind gusts and heavy rain knocked out power to thousands of customers in the northern and western Philadelphia suburbs on Tuesday evening. A PECO representative told Patch at about 7:10 p.m. on Tuesday that about 45,000 of its customers in Montgomery and Chester counties were without power following the line of storms that passed through the area during the evening rush hour. The company said it was still assessing the extent of the damage and did not have an estimate for when power would be restored to affected areas. By 8 p.m., however, the company's online outage map indicated fewer than 20,000 customers without power in those areas. In the Spring-Ford School District in western Montgomery County, an …
Monday, July 2, 2012
President Obama is not providing funding to help pay your electric or gas bill.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Monday, July 2, 2012
A scam intended to deceive people into providing their social security numbers, banking details, and other personal information by misleading them to believe that the government will help pay their utility bills has appeared in the greater Philadelphia region, PECO said last week. The scam, which has been reportedly taking place through social media such as Facebook, text messages, telephone, and U.S. Mail, claims that United States President Barack Obama is providing funding to help customers pay their utility bills. “We want to make our customers aware of this scam and any potential issues so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of identity theft and other fraudulent activities,” said Mark Alden, PECO vice president of …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
It's a 'typical day' for the utility as the area cranks up the air conditioners.
As heat indexes topped 100 across the western Philadelphia suburbs in advance of the summer solstice on Wednesday evening, the region's main electrical utility wasn't even breaking a sweat. "We're not approaching peak volume at all," said Cathy Engel Menendez, Communications Manager at PECO. "It's a typical day for us." During a heat wave last July, PECO experienced its highest-ever power demand and shut off institutional customers who had volunteered to have their power interrupted during periods of high demand. Engel Menendez said the utility was "monitoring the situation" and had extra field forces on standby in the event of outages. "Other than that, it's all quiet," Engel Menendez said. Temperatures are expected to soar into the …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
A recap of Tuesday night's borough council meeting in Royersford.
The Royersford Borough Council met for its last February meeting on Tuesday at Borough Hall. During the meeting, council members discussed a handicapped spot, a growing concern of solicitation in our area, and the approval of the celebration of 50 years for Tom's Bar & Grille. Mayor John Guest said he and Royersford Police Chief Kevin Schurr had discussed some concerns over the celebration, which would be held on May 26 in a vacant lot across the street from the establishment. However, ownership at Tom's has submitted some detailed information on how they intend to administer the event, including security, parking, neighbors, etc. Guest concluded by saying if the event is run as it was proposed, he and Schurr no longer have problems. …
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Several people have complained about energy company employees requesting gas bills and posing as workers with Consumers Energy. Patch asked its editors to investigate locally to find out what residents are saying.
Some area residents and business owners have answered a knock at the door, over the course of the past year, to find employees from a gas company asking to see their bills or account information. We asked local residents to share their experiences with the energy company, which was identified as Spark Energy. There has been a lot of talk in the Michigan area about a smiliar company called Direct Energy. The companies are not related. While many of our responders shut the door on these door-to-door specialists, one person was heavily distracted by life. Needless to say, with the guard down, this person got played. Below is a first-person account of the incident. The resident asked to remain nameless for protection of identity: "These people…
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
A current power outage was first reported to affect about 12,000 area customers.
UPDATED 12/28/11 @ 11:50 a.m. About 3,000 customers in the LRSC area still do not have power. PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong said the outage was due to damaged wires on top of a pole on Route 29 just south of the Perkiomen substation. As previously mentioned, about 12,000 customers experienced a momentary outage from 30 seconds to two minutes at 10:50 a.m., and 9,000 customers had service restored due to previously power restoration devices. Crews are on scene to replace wire and should have service restored within the next hour or so. ORIGINAL POST At about 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a power outage was experienced across the coverage area, reportedly affecting about 12,000 customers according to sources at PECO. "We have a pretty big …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
PECO confirmed reports of an outage on Wednesday night.
UPDATED Oct. 19, 9:35 p.m.: PECO spokesperson Karen Muldoon Geus reported that the numbers customers are reporting reflect total outages, regardless of severity and time. "That 3,000 number you are hearing about represents momentary outages that happened for literally just a few moments, but the service came right back on," Muldoon Geus said. "The number [I reported] represents 700 sustained outages over a longer period of time. We’re actually estimating customers will have power back on over the next few minutes, [as opposed to 10:30 p.m.]." UPDATED Oct. 19, 9:25 p.m.: Some PECO customers told us via Facebook that PECO informed them that over 3,000 customers are affected by the outage and that it will be resolved by 10:30 p.m. tonight. …
Scott Johnson
12:53 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Another scam everyone should be aware of is the Amway Tool Scam. Google "Stop The Amway Tool Scam Wordpress" for more information, and forward this to every non-Distributor/IBO you know, so they don't get scammed. more ›