this call knows your are with dte and want to make your bill cheaper. They want to get more information from you. I told them I only deal with dte only they claim they are a apart of DTE. I just told them I will call DTE my self. They could no said the name of the company they are with. I told them stop calling me.
This is just a lack of understanding on the part of most people.
Fact is that every customer in deregulated states have a right to select a supplier of their choice. People need to understand that you cannot change their utility company even if they wanted to or if someone asked them to. When you sign up with a supplier you are simply controlling the supply portion of your bill(fixed or variable - short term/long term rate). Nothing more. Your bill must still come from your utility, your utility must still read your meter, you must still pay your bill the same way, and they will still service any emergencies should you have one.
I spoke to a lady at DTE and my brother who is a Consumer Energy customer, and I also Googled deregulation for myself and learned a lot more about this. Fact is that the customer choice program can actually help consumers if it is done properly. I actually locked into a fixed rate and nothing changed accept the portion under supply that now says who my supplier is and what my rate is. I still only get 1 bill, I still pay my bill the same. Now my account is price protected for 12 months. My brother locked into a fixed rate also for his Consumer Energy bill and had no issues.
When we inquired about not being able to contact the number on the that caller ID back, we were advised that the calls come from a Outbound call center. They are unable to take inbound calls.
Don't just make assumptions because one supplier or telemarketing company didn't properly educate you.
If interested, simply Google "Energy Deregulation".
Hope this helped. I found myself on this page because I Googled the number and was like most of you and actually hung up when someone called me about this initially. I then called DTE upset about why they didn't switch me. I then spoke with a nice lady(Beth) that grounded me on the truth around selecting my supplier. Your utility will keep you on a variable rate until you select a fixed rate supplier. This is just how it works. A utility does not generate their own electricity or gas, therefore they have to get it from a supplier. The supplier cannot do any thing with your account number or POD ID number except adjust your rate or pay your bill.