Consumer complaint received 2021-10-06
Company: KILOWATT FINANCIAL, LLC, A SPRUCE FINANCE COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, XXXX is a for-profit limited liability company organized in Texas with its headquarters and principle place of business located in Minnesota, and as such is a citizen of Texas and Minnesota. 

XXXX  XXXX  XXXX, XXXX, which does business as XXXX XXXX XXXX, is a for-profit limited liability company organized in Texas with its headquarters and principle place of business located in Texas, and as such is a citizen of Texas New Jersey regulations forbid a non-default, third party energy supplier from providing electric generation service to a New Jersey customer without having a written contract signed by that customer. See N.J.A.C. 14:4-7.6 ( A TPS [ third party supplier ] shall not provide electric generation service or gas supply service to a retail customer without the customers written signature on a contract or such alternative forms of verification ) Despite this clear mandate, kilowatt finacials have for years been supplying electricity to us without any signed, written contract, in direct violation of New Jersey law XXXX 

Additionally, by supplying electric generation service to us in the absence of any contract whatsoever, Defendants are also in direct violation of the section of N.J.A.C. 14:4-7.6 mandating that a third party suppliers contract for the provision of electric service must contain specific information, including, inter alia, the duration of the contract, the price of electricity per kilowatt hour, and a complete list of any other fees that may be charged. 

We are required to pay Defendants {$0.00} per kilowatt hour for any and all electricity generated by Defendants solar panels mounted on their homes. This rate is higher than the {$0.00} average rate per kilowatt hour charged by default electric service provider, XXXX XXXX XXXX. To the extent Plaintiffs do not use all of the electricity generated by Defendants panels in a given month, they still have to pay Defendants {$0.00} per kilowatt hour for the electricity generated by the panels, but they will receive a credit of only {$0.00} per kilowatt hour from XXXX XXXX  XXXX for that unused electricity. Thus, we are forced to pay XXXX an additional {$0.00} per kilowatt hour for the electricity that they use, and an additional {$0.00} per kilowatt hour for electricity that we do not use. 
are effectively forcing Plaintiffs to subsidize their business. If we were not forced to pay {$0.00} per kilowatt hour of electricity XXXX, then XXXX  would only be paid {$0.00} per kilowatt hour for the electricity generated from their solar panels by XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

In the absence of any signed, written contract, XXXX XXXX  is effectively holding us hostage by forcing them to purchase electricity from them, at a higher rate uniformly set by XXXX and to pay undisclosed surcharges at XXXX XXXX whim, for an unspecified amount of time What happened to us was not a one-time incident, an accident, or an oversight. 


there are numerous common questions of law and fact affecting my rights. 

a ) Whether N.J.A.C. 14:4-7.6 forbids Defendants from providing electric service to a New Jersey customer without having a written contract signed by that customer ; b. Whether N.J.A.C. 14:4-7.6 requires Defendants to have a signed, written contract for each customer that lists, inter alia, the duration of the contract, the price of electricity per kilowatt hour, and all fees that may be charged ; c. Whether XXXX  XXXX  charging me a higher rate for electricity than is charged by their default electric service provider, without a signed contract by such customer agreeing to said rate, is an unlawful or unconscionable business practice under New Jersey law XXXX d. Whether Defendants charging New Jersey customers an undisclosed Non ACH Fee to which they never agreed is an unlawful or unconscionable business practice under New Jersey law ; e. Whether Defendants refusal to remove their equipment from their customers homes and refusal to permit customers from changing electric providers is an unlawful or unconscionable business practice under New Jersey law ; f. Whether Defendants policies described herein constitute unconscionable business practices in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1, et seq. ; h. Whether XXXX  XXXX  policies described herein violates the clearly established rights of Plaintiffs and the class under the New Jersey Truth in Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act, N.J.S.A. 56:12-14, et seq. ; They had also told mer in XX/XX/2017 that they will be able to provide me with a new and reduced quote after 5 years. I contacted them a week ago and they said they will speak only with the previous owner- who does not want to speak with me or them. 


I am in a big fix and can not think of selling my house without this mess being cleared up.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation