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Commission Files Notice Of Investigation Of Arcadia Power For Operating Without A License
From Notice:
On March 11, 2024, the Authority’s Office of Education, Outreach, and Enforcement (EOE) submitted a petition (Petition) requesting that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (Authority or PURA) investigate Arcadia Power, Inc., (Company or Arcadia). In response, the Authority, pursuant to General Statutes §§ 16-245, 16-245o, and 42-110b, and regulations promulgated pursuant to said statutes, initiated this proceeding to investigate Arcadia’s operation in the State of Connecticut.
As part of the investigation, the Authority will review the operation of Arcadia, including its possible (1) operation as an electric supplier without a license, (2) operation as an aggregator without a certificate, (3) marketing to customers in a deceptive and misleading manner regarding the services it offered, (4) entering contracts with customers in a deceptive and misleading manner regarding the services it offered, and (4) failure to provide customers with services for which it charged. The Authority may levy civil penalties in accordance with General Statutes § 16-41 in a subsequent contested proceeding.
What is surprising and confusing, EOE did note in a footnote that, “EOE is aware that in 2017 Arcadia applied to the Authority for an aggregator certificate and that docket (Docket No. 17-12-42) was closed based on Arcadia’s responses on its application.”
In 2017, PURA informed Arcadia, in a directive closing Arcadia’s application for an aggregator certificate without granting such sought certificate, of the following: “Pursuant to the General Statutes of Connecticut (Conn. Gen. Stat.) §16-1(a)(25), electric aggregator is defined as a person that ‘gathers together electric customers for the purpose of negotiating the purchase of electric generation services from an electric supplier . . . provided such person . . . is not engaged in the purchase or resale of electric generation services, and provided further such customers contract for electric generation services directly with an electric supplier.’ The Authority finds that the Company stated that it intends to operate as an energy broker/marketer and not as an aggregator as defined by the law. Application, Exhibit B-4. Specifically, the Company seeks to act as a broker, (i.e., an agent of the customers), monitoring electric supplier prices and switching customers to contracts with the lowest-priced supplier. Id. This activity does not meet the definition of an electric aggregator which is a person that ‘gathers together electric customers for the purpose of negotiating the purchase of electric generation services from an electric supplier.’ Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-1(a)(25). Therefore, the Company is not required to obtain an electric aggregator’s license.”
