Georgia PSC Slaps Energy America With $400,000 Fine Levied in Gas Case 'Slamming'

Gas marketer Energy America will pay a $400,000 penalty and $100 to each of 138 customers it "slammed" last year, according to a settlement approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC).

The fine – technically a "voluntary" payment to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) – was the commission's largest to date against a company accused of slamming, or switching customers to a new gas marketer without their consent. In July, the PSC approved a settlement with Southern Company Gas.

The settlement is the company's second with the PSC in Georgia and may not be the last. Even as the slamming case wrapped up, regulators were launching a new investigation into cutoffs of at least a dozen low-income Energy America customers last spring.

It was also the company's first fine for a second offense. The Georgia PSC ordered Energy America to pay $100,000 in 2000 for slamming 25 customers during a door-to-door sales drive.

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Page Last Updated: December 7, 2005