Sperian Energy Class Action Alleges Fraudulent Pricing Scheme

A new Sperian Energy class action lawsuit accuses the company of using a bait and switch price scheme to mislead consumers.

Sperian Energy is a provider of electric power, and the proposed class action says that consumers across Chicago were affected by the misleading ads.

The Sperian Energy class action says that the company advertised teaser rates to get Chicago residents to switch their electric carrier.

However, according to the claims in Sperian Energy class action lawsuit, the power provider later raised those rates without notifying the customers.

The proposed Class Members in the Sperian Energy scheme, according to the lawsuit, collectively could have saved millions of dollars had they stuck with their original energy provider.

The local regulated utility services would have been much cheaper and had clear rates, the Sperian Energy class action lawsuit says.

Named plaintiff Intira Brady took action with the Sperian Energy lawsuit shortly after the Illinois Attorney General publicized a $2.65 million settlement with the company over deceptive acts.

Brady says that the rates on her electricity remained high even when the wholesale price dropped, misleading and defrauding consumers who switched because they thought they were getting a better value.

That plaintiff originally switched to Sperian Energy in 2012 after a traveling salesman reportedly visited her home and told her about the lower rates and how much money she would save with the alternative provider’s offerings. She says she was never told how much her rates would vary or that they could be hiked without notice.

According to the arguments in the Sperian Energy class action lawsuit, consumers who switched from their regular electric provider to an alternative paid $198 million more in electric costs between June 2016 and June 2017.

She says that her particular experience involved an electricity rate from Sperian that was more than 60 percent higher than Commonwealth Edison’s rate during the same period.

The Sperian Energy class action lawsuit accuses the company of violating Illinois’ deceptive practices law in addition to breach of contract and unjust enrichment. The Sperian Energy class action seeks damages and restitution.

Potential Class Members in the Sperian Energy class action lawsuit could include those customers who had variable electric rates charged by the provider at all times the company operated in Illinois, which the complaint says could include more than 60,000 residents of Illinois.

The Attorney General’s settlement with the company prohibits Sperian from actively marketing in Illinois for the next two years. When that settlement information was released, the Attorney General shared that this was part of a bigger strategy to investigate and take action against alternative electric providers using deceptive or fraudulent practices.

The proposed Class is represented by Richard J. Burke, Jamie E. Weiss and Zachary A. Jacobs of Quantum Legal LLC, Jonathan Schub and Kevin Laukatis of Kohn Swift & Graf PC, and Charles E. Schaffer and Daniel C. Levin of Levin Sadran & Berman LLP.

The Sperian Energy Rate Class Action Lawsuit is Brady v. Sperian Energy Corp., Case No. 1:18-cv-06968, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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If you bought utilities through a deregulated energy supplier, including any of those listed above, and saw your utility costs increase, you may qualify to file an energy service company class action lawsuit.

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