Connecticut Attorney General William Tong touted the Connecticut PURA's amnesty program for retail electric suppliers, with the AG's office stating in a news release that, "thousands of Connecticut consumers will receive refund checks from third-party electric suppliers following systematic rate notice errors dating back to 2016."

As exclusively first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, PURA recently adopted an interim decision setting forth the final directives for the refund program (see story here)

The amnesty program allows suppliers to refund to customers any charges above the customer's "Next Cycle Rate" listed on the customer's bill, when the Next Cycle Rate rate was not updated but a higher rate was charged for the next cycle

The AG's office said that, "For an average residential customer, a 'next cycle rate' billing error could have resulted in a monthly overcharge of $45 -- meaning such consumers who were with electric suppliers between 2016 through early 2019 could see hundreds of dollars in refunds soon."

The AG's office said that, "Refund checks will be mailed through this summer to both current and non-current customers of electric suppliers affected by the billing errors, with some refund checks already issued to affected customers."

As previously reported, PURA required updated compliance plans to be filed by June 19, and directed suppliers to stay any refunds pending PURA review of such plans

"Thousands of Connecticut consumers will see substantial refunds soon due to this egregious billing error by third-party electric suppliers. I am grateful to former Sen. Len Suzio for identifying this significant problem. The Office of the Attorney General fought to ensure complete refunds to all impacted consumers, and will continue to ensure that electric suppliers adhere to consumer protection laws through both advocacy and enforcement. Electric rates are too high in Connecticut as it is, and consumers cannot afford to overpay, especially as a result of systematic error and noncompliance with consumer protection laws," said Attorney General William Tong.

The AG's office said that third-party suppliers who "must" provide refunds include: "Aequitas Energy, Inc.; Agera Energy, LLC; Ambit Northeast, LLC; Choice Energy, LLC; Constellation New Energy, Inc.; Direct Energy Services, LLC; Discount Power, Inc.; Energy Plus Holdings, LLC; Engie Retail, LLC d/b/a Think Energy; Hiko Energy, LLC; Liberty Power Holdings; Major Energy Electric Services, LLC;; North American Power and Gas, LLC; Reliant Energy Northeast; Perigee Energy, LLC; Spark Energy, LLC; Town Square Energy, LLC; and Verde Energy, LLC."