In a significant legal move, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a lawsuit against alternative energy supplier Spark Energy LLC, alleging a host of deceptive and unfair business practices. According to the Illinois Attorney General's office, Spark Energy is accused of enrolling customers without their consent, raising electricity and gas rates without prior notice, and misleading consumers with false savings claims.
The lawsuit points to numerous transgressions, including Spark Energy's enrollment of consumers in their services without their knowledge or consent, failure to properly obtain consent to telemarketing solicitations, altering telemarketing records, and deceptively obtaining consumer account information. These practices, Raoul emphasizes, have caused Illinois consumers to pay millions more for their energy needs. "Companies like Spark must be held accountable for taking advantage of consumers with misrepresentations and false promises of lower prices," Raoul said, in a statement that demonstrates the state's resolve to protect its residents from such practices.
These allegations are not an isolated incident but part of a broader campaign by the Attorney General's office to address the misconduct of alternative energy suppliers. In the past, settlements have been announced with other suppliers on similar grounds: in December 2024, a settlement of $3.5 million with Palmco Power IL, also known as Indra Energy, and a hefty $10 million with Teleperformance entities related to misleading practices were disclosed. This court action, not to mention, builds on previous lawsuits against various other suppliers, reinforcing the pattern of allegedly predatory energy sales tactics in the state.
Raoul's combative stance against deceptive energy suppliers is bolstered by the Home Energy Affordability and Transparency (HEAT) Act, which Raoul helped initiate. Since its effectuation in January 2020, the HEAT Act has provided more rigorous oversight of alternative energy suppliers, offering legal tools to curb fraud and reimburse consumers who've been wronged by such entities. Tackling the issue with a combination of legal rigour and consumer education appears to be the twin-strategy of Raoul's office, as it continues to investigate other alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES) operating within Illinois.
Behind the legal proceedings, a team including Consumer Protection Division Chief Susan Ellis, Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Thomas J. Verticchio, and Public Interest Counsel Darren Kinkead are maneuvering the case for Raoul’s office, with support from several Illinois-based law firms. Their collaborative efforts underline the commitment to scrutinize the alternative energy sector and ensure that Illinois residents do not fall victim to the questionable practices that can plague an under-regulated market. As such, the Attorney General's recent actions signal an unyielding front to protect consumers in an industry that is pivotal to the everyday lives of citizens.
