Verde Energy Class Action Challenges Rate Hikes

A man from New Jersey filed a Verde Energy class action lawsuit, alleging the energy resupplier company had unreasonably high rates compared to the claimant’s local utility company.

The Verde Energy class action lawsuit alleges that the claimant and other consumers had been tricked into signing up with the energy resupplier, with significantly cheaper rates compared to their local utility company.

Plaintiff Ray M. filed this Verde Energy class action lawsuit soon after finding out numerous other consumers had been hit with unreasonable energy rates from the company, when they were merely looking to save money on their energy bills.

According to the Verde Energy class action lawsuit, Ray had signed up with Verde in August 2012 after a company representative had stated the rates would be cheaper compared to those he was paying to PSE&G.

Overview of Verde Energy Class Action Lawsuit

More specifically, Ray says Verde had promised that the discounted power rate would be from PSE&G’s rate of $0.11470/KWH to Verde’s $0.1065/KWH. This rate was allegedly sent in a solicitation letter, which stated the company was “looking forward” to helping Ray save money on his power bills.

In addition, Ray says Verde further promised a competitive market rate in the standard Terms of Service contract, which was on the back of the company’s Welcome Letter that was sent to Ray soon after he signed up.

According to Ray, the Terms of Service stated that “customer will receive electricity from Verde at a variable generation rate” and that the customer “agrees and understands that the rate may fluctuate monthly with market conditions” that “may fluctuate monthly with market conditions.” Ray understood this to mean that the energy prices from Verde were likely to change depending on the energy wholesale market, including increasing and decreasing with the market.

However, the Verde Energy class action lawsuit states that Verde had used the fluctuating market prices explanation as an excuse to significantly raise the prices of their energy rates.

The Verde Energy class action lawsuit states that the energy resupplier’s rate was almost four times higher than wholesale market rates and 80% higher than PSE&G, including when wholesale prices lowered.

After experiencing the energy rates go up and tolerating it for five years, Ray decided to cancel his electricity service with Verde in December 2017. Verde Energy USA Inc. is an energy resupply company, which has thousands of customers in New Jersey and gains millions in revenue from their energy bills.

New Jersey and several other states in the United States have energy deregulation, which allows for energy resupply companies to purchase the energy at wholesale prices and redistribute it to their customers.

Verde is one of these companies, which has been accused of using aggressive marketing tactics to convince people to sign up with them and drop their local utility companies. Customers allege that Verde and other energy resuppliers promise lower rates that are often guaranteed for a year, and then customers are shocked when they are hit with significantly higher energy rates than expected.

This Verde Energy class action lawsuit is seeking to represent a Class of New Jersey consumers, who had allegedly signed with the company after promising significantly lower energy rates than their utility company. Ray believes that tens of thousands of consumers have been led to pay much more for electricity, and suffered significant financial damage.

This Verde Class Action Lawsuit is Case 2:18-cv-01344-JMV-JBC, in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.

Join a Free ESCO Energy Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

You may qualify to file an energy service company class action lawsuit if you bought utilities through a deregulated energy supplier such as:

• Constellation
• Reliant Energy
• Verde Energy
• Spring Energy

Learn More