Energy Robocall Scams: How to Identify & Block Them 2026

The numbers are staggering. Americans received 48.4 billion robocalls in the first 11 months of 2025. More than half - 57% according to FCC data - were scams or telemarketing.

Here's how energy scams work. Someone calls claiming to be from Duke Energy, FirstEnergy, or PECO. They say your power will be cut off in two hours unless you pay right now. They can even spoof the caller ID to show your actual utility's name and phone number.

Then comes the payment demand: prepaid debit cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. These are all untraceable. Once the money's gone, it's gone.

The FTC reported $12.5 billion in fraud losses during 2024. That's a 25% jump from the year before. Of that, $2 billion came from bank transfer scams and another $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency cons. And those are just the ones people reported.

Utility-specific complaints? Duke Energy logged over 5,600 scam reports in 2025. FirstEnergy had 3,400 in 2024. PECO hit 1,500 complaints by September 2024 alone.

Winter is the worst. Scam call volume jumps about 30% when it gets cold because scammers know you're terrified of losing heat. They're not dumb.

The FCC did issue their largest-ever fine in 2024 ($225 million against illegal telemarketers), but let's be honest: that's a drop in the bucket compared to the actual fraud happening.

These aren't amateur operations. Scammers work from tested scripts designed to panic you into acting before you can think.

The classics: "Your Duke Energy account is past due and service will be disconnected in 2 hours!" Or the government angle: "You're eligible for an energy rebate, we just need to verify your account." Or the urgency play: "Your supplier is going bankrupt, you need to switch immediately!"

Some crews run a tag-team con. First caller claims to be from the utility and says you owe money. When you push back, they transfer you to a "supervisor" who confirms the story. It sounds more legit because now two people are saying the same thing.

Massachusetts authorities documented an 80-year-old Eversource customer who lost $900 to exactly this tactic. She was scared, they sounded official, and by the time she realized what happened, the money was gone.

The psychology is textbook manipulation. Authority (they sound like they work for your utility). Scarcity (you only have two hours). Fear (your power's getting cut off). Add a spoofed caller ID showing your actual utility's name and number, and suddenly even skeptical people second-guess themselves.

Scam calls have tells. Once you know them, they're obvious.

First, the timeline. If someone threatens to cut your power in two hours, they're lying. Real utilities can't do that. PUCO, PA PUC, and MA DPU regulations require multiple written notices over 30 to 60 days before any disconnection can happen. No phone threats, no two-hour deadlines.

Second, the payment method. Prepaid cards? Gift cards? Wire transfers? Crypto? Venmo or Cash App? All of these are giant red flags. Legitimate utilities accept checks, credit cards, and bank account payments through their official website or payment centers. That's it.

Third, the information they're asking for. Your utility already has your account number, your address, your SSN (if they needed it at signup). If a caller is asking you to verify any of that, something's wrong.

Fourth, the pressure. Scammers don't want you to hang up and think. They refuse to give callback numbers. They won't let you handle things in person at a service center. They need your answer right now.

Here's the safest alternative: skip the phone entirely. Research rates online at ElectricRates.org where no one can pressure you and your information stays secure.

Real utilities are bound by regulations. That means they follow predictable patterns.

If you're behind on payments, they'll send letters. Multiple letters. Through the actual mail. At least three notices spread over 30 to 60 days before they can legally disconnect you. No one calls you out of the blue threatening to cut your power in two hours. That's not how it works.

Now, sometimes utilities do call about past-due accounts. When they do, they'll give you a callback number you can verify on their official website. They'll offer multiple ways to pay: online, at a payment center, at an authorized location. They already have your account number, so they'll reference it without asking you to read it back. And critically, they won't demand immediate payment. They won't insist on prepaid cards or crypto.

Duke Energy, FirstEnergy, PECO, and every other regulated utility in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts follows these protocols. If the call you're on doesn't match this description, hang up.

Here's where it gets unsettling. AI voice cloning has gotten good. Really good.

Current technology can replicate any voice with about 85% accuracy. It only needs 3 to 5 seconds of audio to work from. A voicemail greeting. A video you posted online. That's enough. Deepfake fraud surged 3,000% in 2024 because the tools are now cheap and accessible.

Scammers are already using this. They clone utility company representatives so calls sound perfectly authentic. They clone family members and run the "Hi, this is your grandson, I work for Duke Energy now" angle. They reference real employee names they found on LinkedIn. The scripts are polished. The voices are convincing.

Surveys show 73% of US adults are worried about AI deepfake robocalls. They should be.

The FCC banned AI-generated voices in robocalls back in February 2024, but enforcement is nearly impossible when the calls come from overseas operations.

Your only real protection: hang up and call back using the phone number on your actual bill. It doesn't matter how legitimate the caller sounded. It doesn't matter if it was your daughter's voice. Verify through official channels every single time.

You can't block every robocall. But you can block most of them.

Apps like RoboKiller claim 99% accuracy and maintain blocklists with over 1.5 billion known scam numbers. That's not hype. These crowdsourced databases get updated constantly as new scam numbers get reported.

Your phone carrier probably offers something too. T-Mobile's Scam Shield is free for all customers and updates its threat database every six minutes. AT&T has ActiveArmor. Verizon has Call Filter. These aren't perfect, but they help.

There's also a protocol called STIR/SHAKEN that all major carriers have now implemented. It verifies that caller IDs are legit, which makes spoofing harder (not impossible, but harder).

A few other things that help: register at donotcall.gov (the Do Not Call registry). Turn on your phone's built-in spam blocking. On iPhone, that's "Silence Unknown Callers" in settings. On Android, look for "Spam and Call Screen."

The real answer is layering your defenses. Carrier protection plus a robocall app plus phone settings. No single tool catches everything, but together they make a real dent.

Hang up. Seriously, just hang up. Don't engage, don't argue, don't try to waste their time. Just end the call.

Next, if you're worried about your account, call your utility directly using the number printed on your bill. Not a number the caller gave you. Not a number from Google (which could be a scam ad). The number on the paper bill sitting in your kitchen drawer.

If the scammer somehow knew details about your account (your balance, your address, your account number), that's concerning. It could mean there was a data breach somewhere. Call your utility's fraud department and let them know what happened.

You can also just log into your utility's official customer portal and check your account status yourself. See if there's a past-due balance. Spoiler: there probably isn't.

Finally, jot down what happened. What number showed on caller ID. What time they called. What they specifically claimed. This stuff helps if you decide to report it later.

One more thing: real utilities understand why customers hang up on suspicious calls. They won't penalize you. They deal with this constantly.

Reporting scam calls feels pointless sometimes, but the data does help agencies identify patterns and occasionally shut down operations.

For robocalls and caller ID spoofing, file a complaint with the FCC at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. For energy scams specifically, the FTC wants to hear about it at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

State utility commissions also track this stuff. In Ohio, call PUCO at 800-686-7826. In Pennsylvania, PA PUC is at 800-692-7380. In Massachusetts, MA DPU is at 877-886-5066.

If you lost money, that's a different situation. File a police report with local law enforcement first. Then call your bank or credit card company immediately, tell them what happened, and dispute the charges. The sooner you do this, the better your chances of recovering anything. Also call the fraud hotline of whatever utility the scammers pretended to be from.

Whatever you report, bring documentation: the phone number that showed on caller ID, any recordings you have, transaction receipts, timestamps. The more detail, the better.

Note: you don't need to answer phone calls to shop for electricity rates. You really don't.

Comparing rates online eliminates the whole scam risk. No one's pressuring you. No one's claiming your power is about to get cut off. You can research at your own pace, read the actual contract terms, and compare suppliers side by side.

The suppliers you'll find through legitimate comparison sites are certified by PUCO, PA PUC, and MA DPU. They've been vetted. You're not giving your information to some random caller. And everything gets documented with confirmation emails and digital records.

You can compare contract lengths, cancellation policies, pricing, and green energy options without anyone breathing down your neck about a deadline.

Check rates at ElectricRates.org. Enter your ZIP code, see what certified suppliers are offering in your area, and make a decision when you're ready. No robocalls. No high-pressure sales tactics. Just the information you need.