Gas supplier to give rebates to customers

Consumer Energy blames another company for varying rates charged.
HOWLAND -- A natural gas aggregation supplier says it will give rebates to township customers who were overcharged.
"I don't think we'll have any problem finding them," said Linda Ames, manager of corporate communications for Commerce Energy Inc.
The township sent a letter to Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann on March 21 complaining about what it termed Commerce Energy's "bait and switch pricing scheme."
Residents who signed up for the aggregation program were supposed to pay 9.45 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas for six months and the best rate for the balance of an 18-month contract.
In her letter to Dann, Law Director Paula Maas said customers didn't receive the full six-month price.
The township also claims that those who complained about the rate structure are receiving varying rates for the same service.
Ames said the six-month period was to run from May through October 2006, and no more customers should have been enrolled after May 1. Commerce Energy, however, had hired a company to solicit and enroll customers. The outside company signed up customers after the deadline.
As a result, Ames explained, those who were enrolled after May 1 did not receive the 9.45 mcf rate charged for the full six-month period.
Those customers who complained, she said, received different rates because they brought it to Commerce Energy's attention at varying times, thus at different rates.
Ames said the rebates will be issued "very soon," most likely in about a month.