ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The State of Maryland has reached a civil settlement with an energy retail supplier accused of deceptive door-to-door sales.
Last March SFE Energy Maryland, Inc. was issued a cease and desist order after dozens of complaints were filed.
A majority of the reports were made between January 1, 2020 and September 30, 2022.
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SFE allegedly signed customers up for energy services without their permission or signing proper paperwork.
This resulted in some customer accounts being switched over to SFE from other companies without prior knowledge, causing their expenses to rack up by the thousands.
Under the settlement SFE will pay $150,000 in civil penalties, and refund $400,000 to some impacted customers .
Customers who were enrolled by door-to-door marketing, or paid early termination fees, and received state utility bill assistance could be among those receiving a refund.
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In addition the settlement requires SFE to maintain an electronic database of its sales agents that would show they are licensed to conduct door-to-door marketing. Those agents also have to carry business cards clearly stating they are not affiliated with the customer’s current utility company.
Once those changes have been implemented, SFE will be permitted to resume door-to-door operations.
In the meantime SFE must send a notification letter to refund recipients within 30 days of the settlement being finalized, which could be around January 29.
Refunds will come in the form of a credit on their utility bill, or check if that's not an option.
Amounts of each refund will vary depending on how the customer was affected. Some, though, can expect to receive approximately $57.