CL&P Alerts Customers to Scam

Connecticut Light & Power is warning customers not to respond to telephone calls offering a "$40 rebate" from the utility.

The scam goes like this: Callers claiming to represent the utility ask customers for their CL&P account number and a Social Security number, a CL&P news release said Thursday.

CL&P reminds customers not to provide personal information over the phone to any "unsolicited caller, even if the caller seems legitimate."

The utility asks customers to hang up and report the incident to local police. Anyone with questions about the legitimacy of a person claiming to represent CL&P should call the Customer Service line at 800-286-2000.

More than 800,000 of CL&P's customers lost service during the power outages following a freak October snowstorm. The company has already conducted a program to offer credits of between $100 and $200 to customers who were without power for more than a week after the Oct. 29 event.

Money for the credits came from a $30 million fund created by Northeast Utilities as a "goodwill gesture." The credits will be applied to the February utility bills of customers who qualified.