New Braunfels, TX – August 12, 2016 – CenterPoint Energy is urging customers in the New Braunfels area to be on alert for a potential scam targeting natural gas customers.
Posing as company employees, scammers are calling customers to tell them they are behind on their natural gas bills and have a short time to make a payment. The customers are told to make payments to avoid having their service shut off.
“It is important to note that while CenterPoint Energy does bill customers for natural gas service, we will never call customers and threaten them with service disconnection,” said Nelda Juarez, director of Gas Operations for CenterPoint Energy. “Additionally, any caller requesting banking or credit card information over the phone for payment should be considered suspicious and reported to CenterPoint Energy and local authorities.”
To avoid falling victim to any scam, CenterPoint Energy reminds customers of the following:
- Protecting personal and financial customer data is of utmost importance to CenterPoint Energy.
- CenterPoint Energy phone agents (whether inbound or outbound) will NEVER personally request banking or credit card information over the phone, but will instead transfer a customer to an automated system to collect payment information for natural gas bills.
- CenterPoint Energy phone agents (whether inbound or outbound) will NEVER threaten with service disconnection.
- Company field employees carry identification which clearly shows a photo and name, and will never ask for Social Security Numbers or bank data during a field visit.
For more information about natural gas payment methods, please click
here.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and energy services operations. The company serves more than five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company also owns a 55.4 percent limited partner interest in Enable Midstream Partners, a publicly traded master limited partnership it jointly controls with OGE Energy Corp., which owns, operates and develops natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With more than 7,400 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 140 years. For more information, visit the website at CenterPointEnergy.com.