1. DO NOT give them your account number unless you want to switch suppliers. They cannot change your gas supplier without your account number. However, if they have your account number, there is no way to leave standing instructions with Washington Gas to prevent the switch.
2. Washington Gas provides the phone number of all of its customers to third party suppliers as part of the system to create competitive gas supply. However, it is possible to opt out for the year if you call Washington Gas between 9/1 and 10/13 and ask to be enrolled in the "Opt Out" program. This means that Washington Gas will not share your phone number.
The number "240-521-6033" called yesterday and today. No talking. When I redialed the number. I got the following message:
"No route has been found for the number you have dialed"
This company called me and represented themselves as Washington Gas. They are NOT Wash. Gas and are trying to sell you gas at a cheaper price. I hung up on them and said "you are not Wash. Gas."
These people (Smart One Energy) keep calling. They use caller ID spoofing, which means that the number or name that is shown on your caller ID is not the number they are calling from. So if you file a complaint with National Do Not Call, make sure that you note the company rather than the number that showed up on your caller ID.
I block the number, but then they switch the spoofed caller ID number, and then it goes through again -- they do this every few days. Previously, caller ID has shown as "Gloria Lindner" and as 301-467-2608.
They are trying to get you to switch from Washington Gas to their company, but they misrepresent themselves as being from Washington Gas and saying that "you qualify for a discount" on your gas bill. Here's one complaint: http://www.ripoffreport.com/utility-companies/smart-one-energy-llc/smart-one-energy-llc-tricked-91a84.htm. Note that if they are from Washington Gas, as they say they are, then they should already have your account number.
It's time to file a complaint with the Maryland State Attorney General and the FTC. It would be useful to have a recording of this interaction to back it up.