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On July 20, 2026 the New York PSC issued an Order Instituting Proceeding and to Show Cause against Prime Time Marketing, LLC for Violations of the Uniform Business Practices.

In its order the Commission indicates that Staff “has identified sufficiently credible evidence to support the issuance of an Order to Show Cause (OTSC) concerning Prime Time Marketing, LLC’s (Prime Time or the Company) apparent failure to comply with the Uniform Business Practices (UBP) and two Commission Orders. Today’s Order does not constitute final findings of facts or conclusions of law.

“We now provide Prime Time with the opportunity to respond to Staff’s contentions. Prime Time is ordered to show cause within 28 days why its eligibility to act as an Energy Broker and Energy Consultant in New York State should not be revoked or, alternatively, why other consequences as set forth in the Commission’s UBP should not be imposed.”

Procedural Background:

“In October 2025, Staff in the Department’s Office of Investigations and Enforcement (OIE) initiated an investigation into apparently improper mass market customer enrollments and attempted enrollments in the service territory of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison). Specifically, in early October 2025, Con Edison informed Staff that it had experienced an abnormal increase in online requests to initiate service at premises where the existing customer of record had not affirmatively requested to close their account. Con Edison informed Staff that a third party may have used identifying information for individuals who were not Con Edison customers to start service in those individuals’ names. Con Edison stated that this trend began in June 2025 and peaked in September 2025, with requests continuing into 2026. Staff’s investigation into these issues is ongoing.”

“Con Edison further informed Staff that, as of October 2025, accounts associated with more than 2,000 of these improper start service requests also had Electronic Data Interchange transactions indicating that an entity sought to enroll those accounts with an ESCO, Verde Energy USA New York, LLC (Verde). Verde appeared to be the primary ESCO connected to these attempted enrollments.

“Based on information that Verde, or an entity working on Verde’s behalf, appeared to have some connection to the improper start service applications in Con Edison’s service territory, Staff issued information requests to Verde on October 21, 2025. In its November 12, 2025 limited response to Staff’s information requests, Verde informed Staff that:

“[B]efore [Verde] was contacted by Con Edison in mid-October, its internal monitoring determined that a door-to-door marketer, Prime Time Marketing LLC (‘[Prime Time]’), submitted customer enrollments to Con Edison that consisted of certain imaginary or ‘made-up’ customer information in order to fraudulently collect commissions from Verde. Verde took immediate steps to investigate and terminate its relationship with [Prime Time], and continues to investigate the actions of [Prime Time].”

Staff Findings:

“Staff first alleges that Prime Time apparently violated the June 2023 Order and April 2024 Order by using a subcontractor, TBS, that the Company knew or should have known was not a registered Energy Broker or Energy Consultant. As noted above, these orders required entities that are not within their employers’ direct control to register with the Commission if they performed activities covered by PSL §66-t.31 Here, Prime Time apparently used “teams” – none of which are registered as Energy Brokers or Energy Consultants with the Commission – to enroll customers on Verde’s behalf.”

“The Department also maintains a list of registered Energy Brokers and Energy Consultants so companies can confirm that they are doing business with compliant entities. Prime Time, as a registered Energy Broker and Energy Consultant, should have verified whether the “teams” it used were registered with the Commission, but it apparently did not.32 As Prime Time is responsible for its apparent use of an unregistered subcontractor to conduct enrollments in New York State and apparently failed to comply with Commission Orders, Staff alleges that Prime Time is subject to the enforcement consequences outlined in UBP Section 11.H.1.g.”

“Relatedly, Staff contends that Prime Time “fail[ed] to comply with required customer protections,” which subjects it to consequences pursuant to UBP Sections 11.H.1.c. The emails and text messages summarized above document issues with TBS over the course of several months in 2025. During this time, TBS agents apparently completed TPVs themselves or used AI to complete TPVs, Verde “received complaints from customers stating they never spoke with an agent,” Verde deactivated more than a dozen TBS agents, and Prime Time became increasingly suspicious about the legitimacy of TBS’s purported enrollments. Nevertheless, Prime Time continued to use TBS to market Verde’s product offerings to mass market customers. Staff alleges that Prime Time’s continued reliance on TBS only prolonged the apparently improper mass market customer enrollments and attempted enrollments. Prime Time – a registered Energy Broker and Energy Consultant and the point of contact for a Verde marketing campaign – is ultimately responsible for the apparent misconduct of its unregistered “sub team.” Staff therefore contends that Prime Time apparently failed to comply with consumer protections designed to prevent improper enrollments or attempted enrollments, which subjects Prime Time to enforcement consequences.”

Commission Discussion and Conclusion

“Based on the information identified by Staff, and for the reasons discussed in this Order, the Commission therefore orders Prime Time to show cause why, based upon the allegations and contentions described herein, its eligibility to provide services as an Energy Broker and Energy Consultant in New York should not be revoked. Prime Time should further show cause why other consequences should not be imposed.”