PUCT Approves Settlements Governing Penalties for Accent, Penstar, and Gexa Regarding Compliance

The PUCT approved separate settlements under which Accent Energy (38550), Penstar Power (38596), and Gexa Energy (38632) will pay various administrative penalties to resolve allegations from Staff that each has violated several provisions of the Substantive Rules.

Accent will pay $50,000 to resolve allegations of violating 18 provisions of the Substantive Rules, the nature of which were reported in our 8/13/10 issue. Among other things, Staff alleged that, for variable price products, Accent's residential bill did not contain a statement informing the customer how to obtain information about the price that will apply on the next bill as required by Subst. R. 25.475(d)(2)(C). Accent has corrected all of the deficiencies.

Penstar will pay $14,000 to resolve alleged violations of nine provisions of the Substantive Rules, the nature of which were reported in our 8/26/10 issue. Among other things, a Staff audit alleged that Penstar provided the historical price information for its variable price products to existing customers only, contrary to Subst. R. 25.475(c)(2)(G). Penstar has corrected all of the deficiencies.

Gexa will pay $65,000 to resolve Staff's allegations that Gexa violated 17 provisions of the Substantive Rules the nature of which were reported in our 9/3/10 issue. Among other things, a Staff audit alleged that Gexa restricted public access to historical prices for variable rates by requiring a "product code," contrary to Subst. R. 25.475(c)(2)(G). Gexa has corrected all of the deficiencies.