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Office Of Staff Counsel Files Report Re: SmartEnergy Customer Refunds
From Report:
[ *** ] This is [Maryland] Staff’s first report on the status of the SmartEnergy refunds stemming from Case No. 9613, In the Matter of the Complaint of the Staff of the Public Service Commission Against SmartEnergy Holdings, LLC D/B/A SmartEnergy. Order No. 91626 requires Staff to file these reports.
On September 16, 2025, the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Division (“CAD”) notified Staff that customers had contacted CAD regarding an inability to negotiate checks that had been forwarded to them in accordance with the refund process established in Case No. 9613. Staff immediately contacted SmartEnergy’s representative for an explanation and was provided with preliminary information regarding the disbursal of refund checks.
On September 17, 2025, SmartEnergy’s representative notified Staff that SmartEnergy had accidentally issued checks with an incorrect Chase Bank account number. Although some customers were able to negotiate the checks despite the error, other customers were unable to negotiate the checks. Although the representative explained that the check mistakes have been addressed by Chase Bank, Staff is deeply concerned that only a portion of the refund checks have cleared. Therefore, Staff plans to monitor this process on a continuing basis. Part of Staff’s monitoring process will be a review of SmartEnergy’s daily updates.
As of September 18, 2025, SmartEnergy has provided the following information to Staff:
- On September 5, 2025, SmartEnergy mailed 22,609 checks to former customers, totaling $5,107,982.74.
- As of September 18, 2025, 3,526 checks in the total amount of $1,304,391 had cleared the Chase Bank account.
- The remaining checks are scheduled to be mailed on October 7, 2025, to customers that are “inactive” with no new National Change of Address (“NCOA”) Database address, but who verified their address with SmartEnergy, consistent with Order No. 91626. SmartEnergy also provided the following chart that illustrates the number of checks and amount of funds that have cleared the Chase Bank account and the change from September 17, 2025, to September 18, 2025.
| Date (Morning of…) | Total Number of Cleared Checks | Daily Increase in Cleared Checks | Total Dollar Amount of Cleared Checks | Daily Increase in Dollar Amount of Cleared Checks |
| Wed. 9/17/25 | 3,179 | $1,193,678 | ||
| Thur. 9/18/25 | 3,526 | 347 | $1,304,391 | $110,713 |
Staff is in contact with SmartEnergy’s representative on a daily basis and will receive further updates regarding problems related to the issuance and payment of the required refunds. Specifically, Staff is focusing on the size and extent of the refund disbursement problems, and whether appropriate controls have been instituted to ensure that further refunds to customers are processed smoothly. Finally, Staff is in the process of evaluating whether the refund check errors might constitute a violation of Order Nos. 91626 and 91676.
Staff Report (09/19/2025)
9613 (05/10/2019)
(In The Matter Of The Complaint Of The Staff Of The Public Service Commission Against SmartEnergy Holdings,LLC D/B/A SmartEnergy)
