Energy Choice
                            

Matters

Archive

Daily Email

Events

 

 

 

About/Contact

Search

Regulator Issues Notice of Violation Against Retail Supplier For "Multiple" Incidents Said To Constitute Deceptive Practices, Slamming

September 22, 2015

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-15 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The Connecticut PURA issued a Notice of Violations against Liberty Power Holdings, LLC for what the PURA notice says are multiple instances of unauthorized switches and practices which are misleading or deceptive.

PURA is seeking a $13,000 civil penalty against the company

Liberty Power Holdings, LLC may seek a hearing on the Notice of Violation before the notice becomes final.

In the NOV, PURA states, "Liberty’s multiple violations of regulatory requirements as set forth in this notice indicate a broad and intentional disregard for regulatory, public policy and consumer protection policies."

In one instance, the NOV states that a Liberty Power Holdings, LLC sales representative, "misinformed the customer as to the nature of the standard service offer," by describing the six-month fixed standard service price as an, "open market rate."

The NOV further states in this instance that, "Liberty’s sales representative never represented that its 'price protected' thirty-six month rate (.12376 cents per kWh) could ever be greater than the six-month fixed standard service offer, which it would be as of July 1, 2015. While it is true that had the customer remained with Liberty Power for the first six months of 2015, a savings of 0.253 cents per kWh would have been realized. However, by July 1, 2015, under Liberty’s 'price protected' rate, the customer would have been paying an additional 4.148 cents per kWh above the six-month fixed standard service offer."

The NOV also cited another sales call in which the Liberty Power Holdings, LLC sales rep informed the customer that they were paying 13-14¢/kWh for power (presumably based upon the default service rate) when, in fact the customer was with another competitive supplier and paying 8.5¢

The NOV also noted other "inconsistencies" within this sales call, noting that, "the Liberty sales representative never stated that she represented Liberty Power until almost ten minutes into the Sales Call."

The NOV also cites three instances of slamming. In one case, the NOV states that, upon review, the signature of the contract did not match that of the customer.

In a second instance, the NOV states that four TPVs conducted for the account were invalid as in three of the TPVs the customer never authorized enrollment with Liberty Power Holdings, LLC, while the NOV states, "A review of all four recordings indicated that customer voice in TPV Nos. 2, 3 and 4 does not match the customer voice in TPV 1."

"Furthermore, in TPV Nos. 2, 3, and 4, the 'customer' is incapable of providing her own physical service address. Liberty failed to obtain independent third-party verification of this enrollment," the NOV states

The same sales agent, who worked for a vendor, was responsible for both of these unauthorized switches, Liberty Power Holdings, LLC told PURA, and such agent was terminated

The NOV also faults Liberty Power Holdings, LLC's TPV process. "At no time during the verification process was the customer informed of, or asked to confirm the rate or term of Liberty’s offer. At no time during the verification process was the customer instructed what would occur at the expiration of Liberty’s offer. Finally, at no time during the verification process was the customer provided information regarding his three-day right of rescission pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245o(f)(2)," the NOV states

Liberty Power provided the following statement to EnergyChoiceMatters.com:

"Liberty Power takes very serious its obligation to fully comply with all PURA and state consumer protection rules. These 5 complaints are atypical and not representative of how we conduct our marketing activities. Liberty Power is proud to serve tens of thousands of satisfied customers in Connecticut today. We regret any inconvenience to these customers and have already resolved their issues. We look forward to fully cooperating with PURA on this matter."

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
NEW! -- Customer Retention Rep -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Contracts Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Billing Analyst -- Retail Provider -- Houston
NEW! -- Energy Services Program Director - $230K
NEW! -- Senior Retail Analyst -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Manager, Retail Pricing -- Retail Provider
NEW! -- Retail Commodity Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Director of Pricing, Risk & Portfolio -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Manager/Director, Customer Retention and Satisfaction -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Bilingual Rep Support Specialist -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Commercial Sales Support Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Financial Analyst -- Retail Energy Supplier
NEW! -- Sales Executive -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Manager, Power Retention -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Team Lead, Billing -- Retail Provider -- Houston
NEW! -- Business Development Manager -- Retail Supplier -- DFW

Email This Story

HOME

Copyright 2010-15 Energy Choice Matters.  If you wish to share this story, please email or post the website link; unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication prohibited.

 

Archive

Daily Email

Events

 

 

 

About/Contact

Search