Things are changing in the fight against Summit Utilities, the gas company that was accused of overcharging its customers and acting with bad practices.
Federal Judge Billy Roy Wilson on Tuesday dismissed the class-action lawsuit at the request of the attorneys who were suing. Additionally, the Arkansas Public Service Commission ordered that two investigations related to the company will be opened.
Scott Poynter, one attorney who was suing the utility company, said Tuesday that the case was voluntarily dismissed. Poynter that the class-action suit may be refiled in the future if necessary.
“We look forward to working quickly and deliberately with the [Public Service Commission] and the Office of the Attorney General for the benefit of all our clients,” Poynter said.
Jeff Hilton, the interim director of the Public Service Commission, said Tuesday that the agency will open two investigations into the billing and the price of natural gas, as Attorney General Tim Griffin requested on March 16.
The class action suit claimed that Summit Utilities was overcharging customers through price gouging and stated that the company had poor customer service practices. The lawsuit included all Summit Utilities customers in Arkansas, regardless of contact with an attorney. Thousands of customer complaints have been reported through the Attorney General’s Office, the Public Service Commission and the lawsuit. Many say that their gas bills were double or triple what their average bill once was.
Last week, the case moved from a Pulaski County court to the federal court at the request of Marshall Ney, the attorney representing Summit Utilities. Shortly before that move, Circuit Judge LaToyna Austin Honorable established a temporary restraining order against the company, which allowed customers to refuse payments for two weeks. With the case now dismissed, the temporary restraining order has ended.
Summit Utilities bought the assets of the former provider, CenterPoint Energy, at the start of 2022, but it did not start providing its own customer service until around November. The transition period is when bills spiked, Poynter said.