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Retail Supplier Enters Settlement With Regulator, Will Pay $750,000, In Lieu Of Earlier $1.5 Million

December 2, 2019

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Copyright 2010-19 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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The Connecticut PURA has approved formalizing a settlement agreement with Liberty Power Holdings, LLC ("Liberty"), under which Liberty would pay $750,000 in lieu of an earlier civil penalty of $1.5 million assessed against the supplier

As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, PURA in July 2019 had issued an order assessing a civil penalty of $1.5 million against Liberty (Order No. 1), as PURA had concluded that Liberty violated several provisions of the Conn. Gen. Stat. by, among other things, not identifying Liberty in its marketing; not explaining the purpose of its solicitations; indicating its rates are all-inclusive; misrepresenting an EDC’s rate; not following proper third-party verification procedures; and entering into contracts containing early termination fees in excess of fifty dollars. See further details on the nature of violations in our prior story (Docket No. 06-12-07RE07)

The July 2019 final decision assessed also imposed a prohibition on accepting new customers via any means other than online enrollments for six months (Order No. 2); and required that Liberty shall maintain full audio recordings of all marketing calls made by it or on its behalf by any third party, and included one year of continued monitoring of marketing (Order No. 3).

Liberty disagreed with PURA's determination in the final decision and filed an administrative appeal in Superior Court.

To resolve the matter, PURA and Liberty entered into the settlement agreement

The settlement provides that, "In full and final settlement of all allegations and claims set forth in the Liberty Power Superior Court Action and as full compliance with the civil penalty imposed in Order No. 1 of PURA's final decision dated July 31, 2019 in Docket No. 06-12-07RE07, Liberty Power agrees to pay the amount of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) to the General Fund of the State of Connecticut."

The settlement provides that such payment, "shall be in lieu of, and in full satisfaction of, the civil penalty assessed in Order No. 1 in the final decision in Docket No. 06-12-07RE07."

The settlement provides that, Liberty Power shall be excused from fulfilling Order No. 2, which had prohibited residential marketing and enrollments for six months, except for online sales

The settlement provides that, "Liberty Power shall fulfill Order No. 3, the Monitoring Provision, of the July 31, 2019 decision in Docket No. 06-12-07RE07. PURA will provide Liberty Power thirty (30) days from the date of the settlement to provide it with sufficient time to implement changes required by the decision and the monitoring will not start until after that date. Due to technical limitations, the monitoring does not obligate Liberty Power to change its current practice of beginning the recording for door-to-door sales once the customer has retrieved his/her bill. ) [sic] PURA will not impose any sanctions against Liberty Power for its failure to comply with the requirements of the decision in 06-12-07RE07 until the date that Liberty Power has implemented changes required by the decision (i.e., 30 days after settlement)."

The settlement provides that, "This Settlement Agreement constitutes the settlement of all disputed claims set forth in Liberty Power's complaint filed in the Liberty Power Superior Court Action. It does not and shall not constitute an admission with respect to the merits of any claims set forth in its complaint."

The settlement provides that, "This Settlement Agreement also does not and shall not constitute an admission by PURA with respect to the merits of any claims set forth in Liberty Power's complaint, and shall not be used by Liberty Power or any other person or entity in any litigation or proceeding for that purpose."

Except for the provisions noted above, the settlement provides that, "PURA's final decision in Docket No. 06-12-07RE07 remains in full effect as to Liberty Power, including compliance with Order No. 3 of the decision."

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