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From NOV: 

[ *** ] In January 2023, PURA’s Office of Education, Outreach and Enforcement’s (EOE) Consumer Affairs Unit began receiving complaints from customers alleging slamming by Major. Major indicated that it accepted these customers’ enrollments from Utiliz Services, LLC (Utiliz). In its Response to Interrogatory EOE-17, Attachment C, Major stated that Utiliz was acting as an agent on behalf of Major, and that Major accepted enrollments from Utiliz for 7867 customers in December 2022 (December 2022 Enrollments) and 144 in October 2023 (October 2023 Enrollments). [ *** ] 

Utiliz Services LLC received an aggregator certificate on July 6, 2022. Docket No. 22-05-17, Application of Utiliz Services LLC for an Electric Aggregator Certificate of Registration, Decision dated July 6, 2022. Utiliz maintained its aggregator certificate until March 30, 2023. Docket No. 22-05-17, Ruling on Motion No. 3, dated March 30, 2023 (granting Utiliz’s request to relinquish its aggregator certificate). As a result, from July 6, 2022, through March 30, 2023, both Utiliz and Major knew that Utiliz was not permitted to act as an agent for Major because Utiliz held an aggregator certificate.9 Further, as of March 30, 2023, Utiliz could enroll customers only as an agent of specific suppliers and could not serve as a customer’s agent any longer.

Major entered a contract with Utiliz on October 18, 2021, to pay Utiliz to enroll customers for Major. Interrog. Resp. EOE-16 and Attachment A. Major entered this contract with Utiliz before Utiliz became an aggregator and did not alter the contract during the time Utiliz held an aggregator certificate nor after Utiliz relinquished its aggregator certificate. See Interrog. Resp. to EOE-14 and EOE-16 (providing the same contract, executed in October 2021, as of March 27, 2023, and December 5, 2023). This is the contract under which Major currently employs Utiliz as an agent.[ *** ] 

EOE-26 requested the Letters of Authorization (LOA) for each customer enrollment that Utiliz submitted to Major from April 1, 2023, to January 22, 2024, and in response Major provided the LOA for 130 customers.[ *** ] 

The Authority has reason to believe that none of the LOAs are valid and all enrollments based on them violate the law. Major should have known it could not rely on the LOAs to validate the October 2023 Enrollments since the LOAs indicate Utiliz was the customer’s agent, but Utiliz could not legally represent customers at that time. Major also should have known that the December 2022 Enrollments based on the LOAs were invalid because the LOAs indicate Utiliz was the customer’s agent, but the evidence indicates that Utiliz was functioning as Major’s agent at that time. Because the enrollments were based on invalid LOAs, the Authority has reason to believe that all enrollments Major received from Utiliz were deceptive, that Utiliz failed to correctly identify its affiliation with Major to customers, and that Major failed to properly monitor its agents, resulting in the deceptive marketing and slamming that is the subject of this investigation. [ *** ] 

Major did not obtain the appropriate consent from the 144 customers enrolled by its agent, Utiliz, in October 2023, resulting in the unauthorized switching (slamming) of these customers’ accounts.[ *** ] 

Major could not rely on the LOAs when accepting the October 2023 Enrollments from Utiliz. Major should have known these LOAs were invalid and that Utiliz was illegally using the contacts and permissions it obtained acting as an aggregator (a customer’s agent) to now enroll customers as an agent of Major.[ *** ] 

Had Major examined the LOAs, it should have realized they created an agency between Utiliz and the customer that was no longer legally permissible, and that none of the LOAs permitted Utiliz to enroll a customer on behalf of Major in October 2023. [ *** ]

Major violated the Aggregator Rulings by accepting enrollments from Utiliz as an aggregator in December 2022 while having a contract with Utiliz as an agent. The contract that Major entered with Utiliz in October 2021 indicated that Utiliz was Major’s agent. [ *** ] 

Major deceived customers by allowing Utiliz to indicate that it was acting in the customer’s interest but serving as Major’s agent instead. [ *** ] 

For the October 2023 Enrollments, Utiliz’s actions meet all three criteria of deceptive marketing. Utiliz represented to customers that it was acting on their behalf, stating it was the customer’s agent, that it would act as the customer’s special agent, and that it would monitor energy markets on the customer’s behalf. [ *** ] 

Major’s December 2022 Enrollments also meet the definition of deceptive and unfair marketing. When engaging with Utiliz in 2022, Major was working under the same contract that had been in effect since October 2021. [ *** ] 

Major’s agent, Utiliz, did not indicate to customers that it represented Major. In fact, it appears that at present a reasonable customer still would be unaware that Utiliz is Major’s agent. [ *** ] 

Major did not properly monitor its agents to ensure that Utiliz did not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct. [ *** ] 

Orders: 

1. The Company shall pay a total civil penalty of three million dollars ($3,000,000). Two million nine hundred thousand dollars ($2,900,000) shall be payable to Operation Fuel, Inc., to provide financial assistance to electric customers experiencing difficulties paying their utility bills. [ *** ] 
2. Major shall not accept enrollments from Utiliz for three years from the date of this NOV. Before accepting enrollments from Utiliz again, Major shall train Utiliz and ensure that Utiliz has a process in place that prevents it from using the account information it acquired during the time it held an aggregator certificate.
3. If any customer enrolled by Utiliz is currently contracted with Major on a rate greater than the standard service rate (whether the customer is on the original enrollment contract or a renewal contract), within ten days of the date this NOV is final Major shall return the customer to standard service and shall reimburse the customer the difference between the rate the customer paid and the standard service rate for the entirety of the time the customer’s rate has been greater than standard service. Major shall accomplish this as a bill credit issued through the EDCs in the same manner bill credits have been issued in Docket No. 18-12-22 and Major shall reimburse the EDCs all costs associated with the issuance of the bill credits.

NOV (05/06/2024)
14-03-03 (03/12/2014)
Application Of Major Energy Electric Services, LLC For An Electric Supplier License