In the other instance, a somewhat naive individual approached consumers and attempted to sign them up as customers of what was an illegal pyramid scheme based in another state. It is not clear that this individual knew that the business he was representing was a fraud and there was no evidence that this individual signed up any customers or collected any funds. Immediately upon our contacting him, the individual ceased his solicitations. In 1999, a competitive retail electric service company failed to follow New York law governing the renewal of expiring consumer service contracts, by failing to provide clear and coherent notice of the automatic renewal clause in the customers' contracts. We resolved this matter under the Attorney General's longstanding authority to enter into binding administrative settlements.
All indications are that the company is honoring the settlement.
We have received between 150 and 200 such complaints involving two such providers, as well as a smaller number of complaints against other competitive providers. Our investigation into these companies is proceeding. To date, we have found that existing federal and New York laws provide us the tools needed to address consumer abuses in the marketing and provision of competitive retail electric service. However, we are cognizant of the fact that competitive retail electric service is far from a mature market. Indeed, in New York this market has barely begun developing.