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The New York Supreme Court for the County of Albany has consolidated two separately filed appeals of the New York PSC’s broker registration and regulation order.

See: Order – Consolidation  (10/01/2024) – Index No. 907356-24
Order – Consolidation  (10/01/2024) – Index No. 907244-24

As reported previously, the separate cases were filed by Citizens Choice Energy, LLC and Diversegy, LLC (Index 907356-24), and the New York Retail Choice Coalition (NYRCC) and M&R Energy Resources Corp. (Index No. 907244-24).

The court agreed that the two cases present “common questions of law and fact”, and thus the cases would be more efficiently addressed on a consolidated basis.

“In PSC’s opposition to the motion for consolidation, they state that the proceedings are at different procedural stages and consolidation would result in delay and not promote judicial economy.  PSC states that the matters are not identical and only have some commonality between the two petitions.  PSC also states that there is also no risk of inconsistent outcomes because the Court has assigned the matters to the same Judge.  PASC argues that there is no benefit from consolidating the two matters.”

In response to the PSC’s claims, the court responds, “[w]hen actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before a court, the court, upon motion, may order a joint trial of any or all the matters in issue, may order the actions consolidated, and may make such other order concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary costs or delay. . . “Where common question of law or fact exist, a motion to consolidate should be granted unless there is a showing of prejudice of a substantial right”  “In their opposition, PSC does not make any allegation that they would be prejudiced by a consolidation of these matters.  Further, the petitions filed by NYCC/M&R and Diversegy/Citizens, present common questions of law and fact which are pending before this Court and consolidation would be in the interests of judicial economy.”  “For these reasons, the Court is consolidating the matters filed by NYRCC/M&R and Diversegy/Citizens against the PSC.  “The motion for consolidation … is hereby granted.

As previously reported, on September 19, 2024 in Docket No. 98-M-1343, the PSC issued a Notice on energy broker/consultant registration deadlines after the State Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction order to enjoin only the PSC’s enforcement of the financial assurance requirement. The Secretary extended the following deadlines until October 27, 2024: The effective date of new Uniform Business Practices (UBPs) reflecting new broker regulation rules, including new requirements for both brokers/consultants and ESCOs; Brokers/consultants compliance with the new UBPs; Brokers/consultants deadline to register with the PSC (originally by July 31, 2024); and ESCOs deadline to update their customer sales agreements to include disclosures of compensation to brokers/consultants, as set forth in the order. Additionally, the requirement that broker/consultant applicants must provide a method of financial accountability is suspended until further notice. Brokers & consultants will not need to include any financial accountability as part of their registration packages. On its broker regulation webpage, DPS announced that Staff will be resuming implementation of the PSC’s April 2024 Order except for the portions restricted by the preliminary injunction.

Order – Consolidation  (10/01/2024) – Index No. 907356-24
Order – Consolidation  (10/01/2024) – Index No. 907244-24
Index No. 907356-24
Index No. 907244-24
See also: 23-M-0106, 98-M-1343