Some are shocked at people selling electricity door-to-door

LACONIA — The appearance of sales people representing Clearview Energy on local doorsteps has prompted one resident of Winter Street to file a complaint with the New Hampshire Attorney General.

Clearview Energy, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, provides electricity to some 100,000 commercial and residential customers in a dozen states, including New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia. The company is one of 22 "competitive energy suppliers" registered with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission an began operating in the state in May of this year.

Asking not to be identified, the resident who filed the complaint said the young man who came to his door engaged him in what he called "double talk" and "patter," laced with "buzzwords like clean energy and deregulation. It's not hard to know when you're being hustled," he said. He said that the salesman encouraged him to switch his electric service from Eversource to Clearview and at one point spoke on his cell phone to someone he suspected was "the closer" then asked him to call a number in northeastern Oklahoma, which he discovered was not in service.

Last summer in Maine Clearview's practice of soliciting door-to-door aroused the interest of the Maine Public Utilities Commission and sparked a conflict with Central Maine Power.

Amanda Noonan, director of consumer services and external affairs at the Pubic Utilities Commission, said that 28 calls have been received about Clearview and added "not all are complaints, which are in the minority." However, she said that the commission is in the process of reviewing its regulations and is "considering banning door-to-door soliciting." She agreed that the front doorstep is not the appropriate place to choose a provider of electricity.

Noonan said that there is a "comparison shopping webpage for competitive electric supply," which list the rates charged by all the registered competitive energy suppliers, on the commission's website. She said the rate are updated every month and urged anyone who is solicited either by mail or in person to switch their electric supply to refer to the webpage before making a decision. In addition, she said that consumers should carefully review the terms of any contract offered, particularly the rates, which may be fixed or variable, and any fees charged for terminating the contract. "Consumers should do their homework before making any decisions," Noonan stressed.