Viridian Energy Receives Gas Supplier License in Another New State; State Rules on Whether Independent Associates Must Be Licensed

The Virginia State Corporation Commission granted Viridian Energy, PA LLC a natural gas competitive service provider license to serve all customer classes at Washington Gas Light and Columbia Gas.

The decision also addresses whether Viridian's network marketing associates are required to be licensed as competitive service providers or aggregators.

In comments on Viridian's application, Columbia Gas had suggested that under the Retail Access Rules and § 56-235 .8 (F) of the Code of Virginia, associates must be licensed by the Commission in order to market or sell competitive energy in Virginia.

In its decision, the SCC ruled that because Viridian's network marketing associates cannot "sell, or offer to sell," natural gas to customers, the SCC will not require that Viridian individual associates be licensed as competitive service providers or aggregators.

The SCC reached this conclusion by noting that Viridian associates cannot contract with the customer on Viridian Energy's behalf, and that there will be no sale of natural gas until Viridian Energy employees contract with the customer and enroll the customer's account. The SCC also noted that the Viridian Energy policies and procedures explicitly state that associates may not enroll on behalf of the customer; the customer must enroll personally.

The finding by the SCC with respect to the licensing of Viridian individual associations was made specific to the facts and circumstances presented in the Viridian Energy application and how the associate mechanism is implemented at Viridian.