AUB ADVISES: BEWARE OF
ENERGY-AUDIT SCAMS

ATHENS, Tenn. - Athens Utilities Board (AUB) is advising Athens area residents and business owners to be on the lookout for scam artists posing as energy advisors working for a local utility.

“It has been reported recently that home improvement scams are one of the most prevalent types of at-home rip offs, but this energy-audit scam is equally concerning. This type con is not new, but every time it crops up some people get taken,” said AUB spokesman Wayne Scarbrough.

John Fortune, manager of Bolivar, Tenn., Electric Department near Memphis, reports that two men gained access to at least three residences in Bolivar while posing as energy audit specialists earlier this week. They stole about $1700 from one of the residences. The men left in a dark sedan. Apparently, Fortune said, all three incidences involved the same men in the same vehicle.

A similar scam was reported several years ago in Athens. Often the con artists prey upon older citizens who are trusting and don't ask for appropriate identification.

Scarbrough said that AUB currently does not approach residents to conduct energy audits without an initial request from the resident.

“We do have an Energy Advisor on staff who regularly performs energy audits for homeowners, giving advice on conservation and measures for weatherproofing their home. However, we don’t ‘cold call’ on people at their residence,” Scarbrough said.

He said that AUB's Energy Advisor, Hugh Rodgers, will always be wearing an AUB shirt with the utility’s insignia and the employee’s name on the front. “That goes for our meter readers as well,” Scarbrough said.

AUB advises residents to ask for identification of anyone posing as a utility worker and to call AUB to check their employment status if there is any suspicion. “We don’t at all mind for people to call and double check whether that person at the door actually works for AUB.”