Assemblyman Michael Gianaris knows that rising energy costs are putting a strain on everyone’s budgets, making people more susceptible to deceptive marketing scams that entice residents with the idea of lower energy bills. That’s why he has proposed an Energy Consumer Bill of Rights, which would establish consumer safeguards against aggressive and deceptive tactics by door-to-door marketers offering energy supply contracts.

With projections showing energy supply bills will continue to rise, it is expected energy suppliers will more aggressively pursue door-to-door marketing techniques. With rising energy costs, the State Consumer Protection Board reports that consumer complaints against energy services companies (ESCOs) rose nearly 400% since 2007.

“Door-to-door marketers for energy suppliers are already notorious for deceiving our most vulnerable residents,” said Assemblyman Gianaris. “With energy prices skyrocketing, the opportunity for these predators to manipulate our seniors will multiply. We must take action to protect New Yorkers against these unscrupulous salespeople.”

Over the past decade, many consumers have complained about misleading sales tactics, lengthy and indecipherable fine print in energy contracts, and “teaser” rates, in which artificially low monthly costs are followed by astronomical monthly rates soon thereafter.

“ESCOs are using the same underhanded tactics that duped so many into entering subprime mortgages,” added Assemblyman Gianaris. “We cannot allow New Yorkers to suffer a similar fate at this time of economic difficulty.”