NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (November 1, 2022) – Consumer Counsel Claire E. Coleman released the following statement in response to the Notice of Violation and Assessment of Civil Penalty (NOV) and Proposed Final Decision issued by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) resulting from the Office of Consumer Counsel’s (OCC’s) investigation of Connecticut utility companies’ collection practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am pleased that PURA’s NOV and Proposed Final Decision support OCC’s recommendation to hold the Avangrid companies accountable for its harmful pursuit of wage garnishments and failure to inform some of Connecticut’s most vulnerable customers about the payment plan specially designed to assist struggling customers during the pandemic,” Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman said. “Ensuring our utilities adopt more equitable utility billing, credit, and collections practices is a high priority for me as Consumer Counsel. UI should have been seeking to assist low-income customers during the unprecedented financial challenges that Covid-19 inflicted upon them, not placing greater pressures on these already overburdened customers and their families.”
PURA’s Notice of Violation imposes a civil penalty of 4.48 million dollars against Avangrid’s United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas, and Southern Connecticut Gas companies for failing to sufficiently inform customers about the COVID-19 payment plan, as well as for referring inactive accounts to third-party collection agencies without providing adequate notice to residential customers that their information would be submitted to credit agencies. The total civil penalty amounts to $4,481,650. The majority of the fine will be payable to Operation Fuel, a nonprofit company engaged in assisting Connecticut consumers struggling with energy bills.
More information available here.
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The Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) is the State of Connecticut’s advocate for consumers on issues relating to electricity, natural gas, water, and telecommunications. For more information, visit www.ct.gov/occ.