ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - State officials are investigating an energy company after a spike in complaints from customers over higher-than-expected bills.
Ambit Energy, based in Dallas, is an energy services company that supplies electricity and natural gas. Consumers can choose to get their energy from their own utility or companies like Ambit.
The probe of Ambit was prompted by a spike in complaints in recent months to the state’s utility regulation agency, Department of Public Service CEO Audrey Zibelman said Monday. About one in five complaints against energy services companies filed this year have been against Ambit, Zibelman said.
The company is considered to be the largest direct-sales energy company in the country.
Ambit said the numbers of complaints in 2014 and 2015 represented less than half a percent of its New York customers. The company said it had pledged full cooperation with the state investigators.
Zibelman said Department of Public Service staff members have determined that some customers may not have received proper notification at the end of their contract terms and in other cases Ambit may not have calculated rebates accurately to guaranteed-savings customers.
The agency also has concerns about Ambit’s practice of moving people off the guaranteed-savings plan into a variable-rate plan that had significantly higher rates than the utility.
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