The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has elected to hear an appeal filed by HIKO Energy of a fine of $1.8 million issued against the company by the PUC, PennLive.com reports

A question on appeal is whether the $1.8 million penalty was "grossly disproportionate" to the fines levied against other suppliers related to polar vortex rates and underlying terms and conditions

See background on the fine here

The PUC in imposing the civil penalty had stated in its order that, "HIKO knowingly and deliberately chose to dishonor its promised and contracted-for savings of 1% to 7% on 14,689 occasions to 5,708 customers, in direct violation of Section 54.4(a) of our Regulations. We find that in so doing, HIKO effectively treated its own customers as the financial guarantors of its own business plan, which backed contracts offering customers guaranteed savings with what was essentially a speculative supply portfolio based exclusively on spot market purchases."