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In re. RPA Energy, Inc., Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-563 – Excerpts from Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-563:

{¶ 1} “Appellee, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (the “commission” or “PUCO”), certified appellant, RPA Energy, Inc., doing business as Green Choice Energy (“RPA”), as a competitive retail electric-service (“CRES”) provider and a competitive retail natural-gas-service (“CRNGS”) provider. After RPA’s certification, the commission received consumer complaints and other information indicating that RPA and its vendors engaged in illegal door-to-door solicitation and telemarketing practices, such as spoofing phone numbers, altering call recordings, and soliciting door-to-door during the COVID-19 pandemic in violation of commission orders. The commission opened an investigation into RPA and, following an evidentiary hearing, found that RPA had violated numerous commission rules. The commission rescinded RPA’s certificates and ordered it to stop operating in Ohio; it also ordered RPA to pay a forfeiture of $1.44 million and to “re-rate” consumers who were enrolled with RPA and provide restitution to those consumers. 2023 Ohio PUC LEXIS 1037, *66-69 (Oct. 18, 2023).

{¶ 2} “RPA appealed to this court, arguing that the commission did not provide it with proper due process, that the commission’s findings were not supported by the evidence and not clearly articulated in its opinion and order, and that the remedies ordered by the commission are unlawful and not supported by evidence. We granted the motion to intervene as appellee filed by the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (“OCC”). 2024-Ohio-5173.”

{¶ 3} “For the reasons stated below, we affirm the commission’s order in part and reverse it in part and remand the cause to the commission. Specifically, we affirm the commission’s order rescinding RPA’s operating certificates. But we reverse the commission’s order directing RPA to pay a forfeiture and to rerate consumers. We remand the cause to the commission with instructions to identify and thoroughly explain the evidence used to support the amount of the forfeiture and to clarify which consumers it is ordering RPA to rerate.

On October 18, 2023 the Ohio Public Utilities Commission issued an Opinion & Order requiring RPA Energy, Inc. d/b/a Green Choice Energy to re-rate all customers enrolled between January 1, 2021 and July 20, 2021, and pay a forfeiture of $1.44 million. Further, the Commission rescinds RPA’s certificates to provide both competitive retail electric service and competitive retail natural gas service in Ohio.

As background and as previously reported, on April 18, 2022, Staff of the Commission’s Service Monitoring and Enforcement Department filed a letter in 22-441-GE-COI stating that,

“after reviewing customer contacts received by the Commission’s call center from January 1, 2021, to October 1, 2021, as well as an audio recording provided by RPA, Staff believed that RPA has engaged in a pattern of misleading and deceptive practices to market and enroll customers during both door-to-door and telephonic sales practices. Staff stated that, on October 16, 2021, a notice of probable non-compliance (PNC) was sent to RPA; however, after many discussions, RPA and Staff were unable to resolve the issues raised in the PNC. As a result of its conclusions indicating probable non-compliance with statutory and rule requirements, Staff recommended that the Commission open a formal proceeding to review RPA’s compliance with Ohio law. Further, Staff noted that, at the urging of Staff, RPA ceased marketing in Ohio after receiving the notice. Staff requested that the Commission order RPA to continue the suspension of marketing pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Subsequently, on June 10, 2022, Staff filed its report of investigation (Staff Report), which it amended on July 21, 2022.

In that report Staff indicated that since the initial filing of its report, Staff discovered that a violation was omitted, adding two additional violations to those listed in its report.

“Staff made six main recommendations, requesting the Commission take the following actions:

1) Find that RPA has violated the code provisions identified in the Staff Report.

2) Rescind, conditionally rescind, or suspend RPA’s certification, after all customers are notified and credited.

3) Order RPA to pay a forfeiture of $1,500,000.

4) Order RPA to provide notice to each customer enrolled from February 1, 2021 to May 1, 2021, informing the customer of the terms of their respective contract, including the type of rate, the date of enrollment, the means by which the customer was enrolled, that the Commission believes the customer may have been misled by RPA during enrollment, and that RPA will return the customer to their utility’s default service.

5) Order RPA to, for customers enrolled through door-to-door or telemarketing between May 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021, re-rate those 22-441-GE-COI -5 – customers back to their respective utility’s default service rate and send notice informing said customers that they will receive a refund of a specified amount. 6) Order RPA to re-rate all customers who filed a complaint with any entity disputing enrollment with RPA starting from February 1, 2022.”