April 11, 2018

New York announced a $550,000 settlement with Liberty Power Holdings, LLC (“Liberty”), as part of an ongoing investigation into energy service companies (ESCOs). The investigation uncovered that the company’s contractors and subcontractors lured consumers with false promises of savings, and then charged them costly early termination fees when they tried to get out of their contracts. Additionally, sales representatives used other deceptive means to enroll consumers, such as falsely claiming to represent the consumers’ current utility provider or having someone who was unauthorized to give consent such as a minor sign the enrollment agreement. As a result, many consumers did not even realize that they had been enrolled in Liberty. According to the settlement, Liberty will implement new restrictions on their marketing practices to prevent future frauds and pay $550,000, which will be used to refund eligible consumers. NY