Offering customers options for their electricity service is one thing, but engaging in deceptive practices to get them to switch providers deserves harsh penalties.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement proposes to come down hard on a Texas company it alleges has violated the rules for electric utilities sales thousands of times. The investigators want to fine the company $8.8 million and strip the company’s license to do business in Pennsylvania.

The company in question is Verde Energy, which didn’t comment on the pending PUC action but said it is committed to compliance with laws and regulations.

If the PUC agrees with investigators, the company should be fined and barred from doing business in Pennsylvania.

The company often spoofs numbers — that means the number you see on caller ID is not the number from the actual company. It might even appear to be coming from Duquesne Light.

The calls from this outfit vary and may be robocalls or from a representative.

Four hundred companies sell electricity in Pennsylvania, and most follow the rules. When a company won’t follow the rules, and flouts them with impunity, regulators must act.

PUC investigators claim Verde has threatened customers with service shutoffs and told some that they must change electricity suppliers.

The PUC is also reviewing outdated rules from 2012 that focused on door-to-door sales. The PUC should update those regulations quickly to take into account the tactics used today by telemarketers. A good start would be banning number spoofing and limiting the number of robocalls a company can make to a consumer’s number.

The PUC should leave any company thinking about similar tactics with no doubt they’ll be heavily fined and shut out of the Pennsylvania market.

First Published: February 27, 2020, 11:15 a.m.