Texas Retail Provider's Corporate Officers Agree Not To Participate In ERCOT Market, Or Control REP, Under Settlement

Axon Power & Gas, LLC would, among other terms, agree to voluntarily relinquish its Option 1 Texas retail electric provider certificate under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations related to defaults with the TDUs and ERCOT

See background here

Axon provided retail electric service in Texas until September 26, 2019, when it entered into an agreement to sell its book of customers to Infuse Energy, LLC

The settlement states, "From December 2014 through September 2019, Axon defaulted on multiple payments to AEP, TNMP, Oncor, and CenterPoint for invoiced delivery charges..."

The settlement states, "Axon submitted late payments to ERCOT on eight separate occasions in January 2016, February 2016, March 2016, December 2017, January 2018, July 2018, September 2019, and October 2019..."

The settlement states, "On September 1, 2020, ERCOT revoked Axon's rights as a market participant and terminated its standard form market participant agreement due to Axon's failure to cure a material breach of this agreement with ERCOT."

The settlement states that Axon took actions to pay amounts owed to the TDUs and that Axon currently has no outstanding financial obligations to TNMP, Oncor, CenterPoint, or AEP.

The settlement provides that:

"Axon's corporate officers, Amar Ali, Nur Ali, and Barkat Ali, agree not to have any further participation in, or association with, the ERCOT market, including but not limited to the following:

a. "Having any ownership or control of any current or future retail electric providers;

b. "Participating in any way in the provision of wholesale or retail electric service;

c. "Participating in financial trading of any kind related to the ERCOT market;

d. "Providing funding to any ERCOT market participant;

e. "Receiving any financial benefit from the ERCOT market (with the limited exception of maintaining a diversified investment portfolio maintained by a financial professional who controls such investments. This exception only applies where such Axon principal has no direct control over the portfolio);

f. "Acting as a consultant to any market participant for any reason; and

g. "With the exception of the caveat described in (e), performing any action resulting in a financial benefit related to the ERCOT market or any affiliated interest.

h. "The above conditions do not prohibit the named persons from receiving electric service as retail electric customers from an ERCOT market participant."

The settlement provides that, "This agreement represents a compromise of claims and allegations, and the execution of this agreement does not admit the truth or accuracy of any such disputed claims."

Docket 54189