Briefly

Phillip Tonge Named President of Spark Energy

Spark Energy announced that Phillip W. Tonge is joining the company as President. Tonge will report directly to Keith Maxwell III, Spark Energy's Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Spark Energy, Tonge held senior executive level positions at AT&T, DuPont, and, most recently, at Direct Energy, where he was President of Residential and Small Commercial Business across North America before retiring in 2009.

ICC Posts Price to Compare Info on Plug-In Illinois

The Illinois Commerce Commission has updated the Plug-In Illinois website to include Price to Compare information for residential customers at Commonwealth Edison. The ICC defines the Price to Compare as ComEd's electric supply charge plus transmission services charge, excluding any reconciliation component (e.g. the Purchased Electricity Adjustment). The website also lists the individual supply components included in the Price to Compare, and notes that space heating customers have a different rate. The updated Plug-In Illinois site does not yet include the listing of supplier offers, which is currently being addressed in an Office of Retail Market Development working group.

Viridian Energy Announces New Compliance Plan

Viridian Energy yesterday unveiled what it termed a comprehensive and interdisciplinary compliance education plan for its corporate employees and independent associates, which includes the launch of an online training platform called Viridian University. New and continuing associates shall maintain compliance awareness through Viridian University, regular online testing modules, and webinars, which must be completed before the associate is eligible for commission. Much of the compliance plan has previously been detailed as remedial measures in response to a complaint by Maryland PSC Staff, and the linking of commissions to completed testing, among other provisions, was first reported in Matters (see 2/7). The newly announced enhanced verification procedures and standardized, company-provided marketing materials were also first reported by Matters as part of our 2/7 story.