My elderly widowed mother was caught in the Nicor Solutions fixed bill trap, for which nobody who understands it would commit. I had actually helped her withdraw from the Nicor Solutions program in 2003 when I learned that she had signed up. Unknown to me she made a phone commitment to them again in February and in the subsequent 3 years, 11 months has paid $7215.04 for gas which would have cost $4564.48 under standard Nicor billing or budget plan. Total overcharge 58%. She is capable of writing checks, but not good at spotting scams, so I regret not watching her more closely. Suspcious people with time to look for scammers could have learned of this from:
Unfortunately the Illinois government prefers Buyer Beware rather than disallowing this unregulated subsidiary of a regulated utility. I could not help but be reminded of the Enron off-balance-sheet schemes of Jeffrey Skilling et al., for which he went to jail. I wrote to the state Attorney General, with no response, so I have to assume that what they are doing is legal. I recommend anybody who has been scammed by this company call their state senator and representative and ask to get the law changed. The only answer I got was from Moms Illinois state representative (perhaps because I called rather than wrote), who contacted the company and was led to believe restitution would be made.in fact they refused any relief whatsoever. See also
0 comments