In Docket No. 09-10-10RE01, the DPUC took another step last week in its formal investigation of Starion Energy while sending letters to customers of Starion soliciting input on their experience with the company to date.
The DPUC is continuing with its own investigation of Starion Energy, even after a recent complaint over anti-competitive marketing and customer enrollment practices, involving Public Power & Utility, was withdrawn in April.
The investigation has raised a number of concerns from Starion Energy as it believes the DPUC’s customer solicitations are “prosecutorial” in nature, as much as Starion has fully cooperated with the DPUC and its staff throughout its investigation.
Starion said the Department’s actions are likely to intimidate its customers and create the impression among otherwise satisfied customers that the company’s business practices are suspect. And unless the customer feedback is kept within the procedural boundaries that accompany a formal designation of prosecutorial staff, it would violate Starion’s rights under Connecticut’s Uniform Administrative Procedure Act.
Additionally, Starion raised several questions along with its procedural concerns regarding the customer solicitations, and said whether a customer’s experience was “positive or negative” implicates many considerations that have nothing to do with whether Starion has complied with the law.
Starion requested that the DPUC clarify the procedural context of the customer letters by confirming:
- that the letters came from properly designated prosecutorial staff, and
- that no communications between such staff and customers will be relied upon by the Department in rendering a decision in this matter unless and until prosecutorial staff brings this material into the record with all attendant procedural protections.
The DPUC’s investigation is ongoing, and sends a strong message to Connecticut energy marketers that it will continue to watch competitive marketing activities very closely in coming months.
The DPUC also has an open investigation into alleged customer complaints against Discount Power, and two weeks ago, opened on its own motion, a new Docket No. 10-06-24 to review the current status of the competitive supplier and aggregator market in Connecticut and investigate market participant marketing practices and supplier conduct.
Several new electric suppliers, brokers, and aggregators have entered the Connecticut competitive marketplace, and the proceedings in this docket are likely to spawn even further scrutiny and investigation as the DPUC attempts to keep its consumer-oriented focus at the forefront while fostering a robust competitive energy marketplace.
Click HERE to follow the CT ENB on Twitter.
Further Reading
- Starion’s Response to 2nd Set of DPUC Interrogatories
- Docket No. 09-10-10RE01 – Application of Starion Energy, Inc. for an Electric Supplier License – Investigation
Related Posts:
