Although the Federal Trade Commission approved the sale of itscustomers to Shell Energy Services last week, Peachtree Natural Gasis not clear of problems yet, as the Georgia Public ServiceCommission (GPSC) is investigating slamming charges against theembattled marketer. GPSC Commissioner Bobby Baker said yesterday aslamming investigation is currently under way and that anywherefrom several hundred to several thousand gas customers could beaffected. There is no timeframe for the conclusion of theinvestigation.

The alleged slamming, or unauthorized switching of customers,apparently occurred around the time Peachtree filed for bankruptcyprotection last October. Baker said there is evidence of extensivewrongdoing. “There is a pretty clear indication of extensiveslamming. Right now, however, it is still under investigation. Weare not sure who did it. It might have been an internal employee ofPeachtree, or it might be an outside agent.”

Baker said no punishment has been decided upon yet in the eventthat Peachtree is found guilty. “We’re looking into that. It istricky because they have no customers. We might go to theBankruptcy court and ask for a penalty payment. Shell is a very keyplayer in this situation. They stand to lose a significant amountof money if many of [the customers] were signed unjustly.”

The GPSC is also attempting to remove Peachtree’s marketercertification. “Pulling the certificate is a complex issue. Theyhave not voluntarily removed it, so we have to go through a lengthyprocess to do so,” Baker said.

Shell Energy Services proclaimed the completion of its customeraccount acquisition yesterday. The FTC approval was the onlyregulatory hurdle the $19.3 million deal needed to jump. Throughthe transaction, the Shell affiliate became the third largestnatural gas marketer in the state with more than 20% of the marketshare (see Daily GPI, Nov. 18).

“We want to assure all our new customers that there will be nointerruption in their service and they will not be required to takeany action during this transition period,” said Alan Raymond,president, Shell Energy. Peachtree’s 172,000 customers will beswitched over to Shell this week and will receive their first billfrom Shell Energy Services in January.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.