FYI Lindenwold Residents **********NJ turns up heat on energy scams********** David P. Willis, Asbury Park Press 8:01 a.m. EDT May 22, 2014 Energy marketers who scam New Jersey residents might get zapped.The state Board of Public Utilities approved an agreement Wednesday with the state Division of Consumer Affairs to work together to investigate — and prosecute, if necessary — third-party energy suppliers for advertising, marketing and contracting practices that allegedly violate New Jerseys laws. Between December and March, the BPU saw a tenfold increase in the number of complaints about sharp increases in electric and gas service bills, President Dianne Solomon said. The board is very concerned with the increase in consumer complaints over this past winter about some third-party suppliers marketing tactics and lack of transparency in terms of their agreements. People purchased electricity or natural gas from third-party marketers and got hit with variable prices that could change monthly, the result of an extremely volatile market. In some cases, they were switched to a variable rate after a fixed-rate contract ran out. Sometimes these deals were trouble. Customers have reported they never signed up for variable rates and complained they were never informed of a contracts fine print, state Rate Counsel Stefanie A. Brand told legislators this month. While others knew what they were signing up for, the written terms did not match the telephone sales pitch, she said. In addition to the many complaints regarding higher utility supply costs due (to) the variable-rate contracts, numerous customers alleged behavior by certain third-party suppliers that if corroborated would at best be considered dishonest and/or misleading, Solomon said. These suppliers, players in New Jerseys energy supply market, are not regulated by the BPU, unlike the states major utilities, such as Atlantic City Electric. Unless you switch to a third-party marketer, wholesale electricity prices in the state are set by an auction and passed through by the utilities. But third-party suppliers business, advertising and marketing practices still must conform to state law. We have been reviewing these complaints and the practices of certain third party energy suppliers to determine whether these companies violated the consumer protection requirements set forth under New Jersey law, said Steve Lee, acting director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs. The agreement establishes the terms of cooperation as to addressing these complaints and pursuing any enforcement actions that may be warranted, he said
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 12:39:42 +0000
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