Friendly warning to Maine Versant power customers (Clearview scam)

Submitted by BigFatBlindPanda t3_10mrhmk in Maine

Last year my wife as approached by a door to door salesman for "Clearview Electric Inc" with a better rate (a few cents, if any) for power per Kwh. She signed up and sure enough after the initial 1 year contract expired they auto-converted the account to a "month to month" tripling our rates and getting us for a $1200 power bill.

I've already contacted Versant and converted back to the standard rate w/ them, but after a quick google search discovered several reports to the better business beureu and countless reviews/testimony from other users that after they're "teaser" window they may or may not send you a letter just before absolutely screwing you.

Clearview is a scam, or at the very least, play an incredibly shady game of bait and switch with every intention of screwing customers. I'm sure techincally this is all legal, but is just about the worst form of corporate mustache twirling available without getting their pants sued off in court. They're not trying to provide a legitmately good service, they're trying to limbo under competitors with every intent to catch unsuspecting customers on the backend with huge rate spikes for the month or two (or more if you're unlucky) before they're able to cancel.

Also because I'm cancelling a month to month contract I'm probably going to get f*@#$! for that also, but we'll find out in a few weeks when the next bill rolls in I'm sure.

Just trying to put a warning out for folks to check who is actually "supplying" their power and ensure they're not on their way to a monster bill out of no where.

Edit: Quick note - the folks who I spoke to at versant were both super great.

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Comments

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mmaalex t1_j64ubpz wrote

Pretty much all the non-standard offers will be more expensive unless you jump thru their special hoops.

All the no-name providers are shell companies buying power from the same place the standard offer gets it and reselling it to you. Unless they can buy it for less than the state negotiates, you're going to end up paying more.

Most of them rely on you signing up for a teaser rate and forgetting (or being contractually locked in) when that ends.

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Majestic-Feedback541 t1_j64pqic wrote

Yeah I've decided to just stick with being screwed by versant. I was about to do the one that sent out the $100 "gift card" (it was supposedly just a credit towards the bill) but I backed out before confirming anything. Nothing bad happened. Idk if it was a scam but it felt scammy with the info I was given over the phone.

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New_Sun6390 t1_j660grq wrote

It is not Versant screwing you, it is the Standard Offer provider for their service area. Inexplicably, the MPUC does not list the current supplier, but it is likely one or more of the supplier's from years past: New Brunswick Power, NextEra, or Constellation. Blame them, not Versant, who has the unenviable job of billing on their behalf.

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2close2trouble t1_j64xfmz wrote

My wife did the same with a community solar salesmen. I was livid. We'll see how that pans out when it takes effect.

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NotYou007 t1_j67yvf0 wrote

Coummunity solar is not a scam. I've been using it for over a year with PowerMarket. It will save you money but you also have to be aware that you will end up with a larger power bill in the summer as the solar farm generates more power and you get billed for the portion you generate. Granted the unused portion gets rolled into a bank but you are paying for those banked credits in advanced.

My largest bill last year for the summer was $251.60 after the 15% savings was applied but my bill for this month with PowerMarket is only $78.51 and I owed CMP $13.73 even though I used just a tad over 1300 kWhs. My banked credits covered the 1300 but again, I paid in advance for them during the summer months.

I will be contacting PowerMarket and asking them to adjust my generation amount so it never goes over 750 kWh per billing cycle as I don't want to get stuck with a bill for around $325 during the summer.

It takes awhile to figure things out and I'm going to have PowerMarket adjust my allocated amount to no more than 750 kWh's per billing cycle.

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pancakethief t1_j66b28a wrote

What's the problem with community solar? We had some salespeople come to our door, should I not sign up?

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NotYou007 t1_j67yy99 wrote

There is nothing wrong with community solar. Been using it for over a year but see the info above. There is a learning curve but it does save you money. I saved close to $300 in my first year.

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TimothyOilypants t1_j66t8zb wrote

Electricity is expensive when you create it with fossil fuels. Moreover, it should have ALWAYS been fucking expensive.

No one is getting screwed, we're all just guilty of getting addicted to an unsustainable lifestyle that we all fucking KNEW was unsustainable but did nothing about. Now the whole fucking thing is collapsing and we cant outsource our suffering to the rest of the world anymore.

No one with a modicum of intelligence could seriously look at the way the western world has been living for 80 years compared to the other 90% of the planet and think this shit wasn't going to catch up to us...

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tobascodagama t1_j64ymaw wrote

It's the illusion of consumer choice. Your electricity is always coming over Versant lines from Versant plants no matter what. These middle-man companies can only make a profit by charging more than Versant.

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idkwtfiad t1_j659rdl wrote

There are no Versant (or CMP) plants. The state of Maine prohibited distribution companies from owning power generators back in the 90s, under the guise of "increasing competition will lower prices for consumers". That's why Bangor Hydro ceased to own any hydro power.

The companies that own power generation in the state place public bids with the PUC to be one of the standard offer providers. The net effect is the same though - the PUC goes with the lowest cost options, and anyone else offering power is generally trying to pull one over on you one way or another. The 'supply' side of your electric bill is not kept by CMP or Versant, it goes to the companies that generate the power. And they're making a fuckin' killing off us (which is probably why they spent so much to keep hydro energy out of the New England grid, but that's a whole other discussion).

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