An Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) judge has recommended that Austin, TX-based Santanna Energy Services be barred from selling natural gas to residential customers in Illinois and ordered to pay refunds for overcharges. The full Commission, which has the option to either accept or reject the judge’s proposed action, is expected to take up the matter either later this month or in early November.

The decision by the administrative law judge (ALJ) calls on the ICC to deny Santanna Energy a certificate to sell natural gas in the state because it “lacks sufficient managerial resources and abilities to provide gas service,” said ICC spokeswoman Beth Bosch. If adopted by the five-member ICC, Santanna Energy would be prevented from participating in the gas-choice programs offered by Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas.

“This recommendation is good news for the thousands of customers who have been tricked or misled by Santanna,” said Martin Cohen, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), an Illinois watchdog group created by the state legislature. “And it puts the other new gas suppliers in the state on notice that customer-choice plans don’t mean it’s open season to take advantage of consumers.”

In seeking to get Santanna Energy removed as an Illinois gas supplier, CUB had argued before the ICC judge that more than 2,000 complaints had been brought against the energy supplier at various state agencies, over billing, marketing and customer service practices.

Customers participating in the Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas customer-choice programs had complained that their initial gas bills had more than doubled with Santanna Energy due to a “complicated gas purchasing program” under which the company buys extra gas for customers in the summer and stores it for winter usage, CUB said. This practice is common in the gas industry, it noted, but Santanna Energy charged customers for the extra gas before they actually used it.

Moreover, Santanna Energy did not inform customers ahead of time that they would be paying for the gas they had not yet used, contrary to an Illinois law that requires companies like Santanna to inform new customers of the rates, terms and conditions of service before their gas service is switched, CUB said. Customers also complained they could not reach any one at Santanna Energy to answer questions or resolve their complaints, it noted.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.