SUMMITT ENERGY TO REVIEW ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD RULING

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 19 /CNW/ - A Panel of the Ontario Energy Board ("Board") issued a ruling yesterday relating to the sales activities undertaken by five third party sales agents of Summitt Energy Management Inc. ("Summitt") under the Ontario Energy Board Act,1998 and involving twenty eight cases over an eighteen month period.  Summitt is in the process of undertaking a detailed review of the ruling and expects to make further comment in the days ahead. In its ruling, the Panel of the Board awarded an administrative penalty against Summitt in the amount of $234,000 and directed it to procure an independent review and audit of Summitt's sales related processes. The Panel also ordered Summitt to file the results of the independent review and audit with the Board by January 15, 2011. In the seventeen cases where the Board made a finding of non-compliance, Summitt was directed to cancel, without penalty or cost, the electricity or natural gas supply contracts entered into by such complainants. The Panel, based on the lengthy hearing, concluded it did not believe suspending Summitt's door-to-door sales activities was appropriate. The Board's ruling is available at: www.summittenergy.ca.

Once the allegations made by the Board were brought to the attention of Summitt, Summitt promptly implemented a number of procedural changes to its sales practices and processes relating to its third party sales agents in an effort to ensure it complied with and in many cases exceeded the requirements of the Board. These changes have included the following measures to ensure high quality of service for consumers:

1. Verification call - A verification call to new residential customers. This call occurs at the time of any sale and while the sales agent is still at the customer's door. All customers are required to confirm the sales agent identified himself or herself as an agent of Summitt and met the other requirements under the Code of Conduct including providing the customer with a copy of the contract and the Terms and Conditions. This verification call supplements the other compliance steps that Summitt is required to adhere to. Customers will have the ability to decline the contract at the time of the verification call.  

2. Plain language disclosure form - In addition, while the sales agent is at the door of a residential customer, each customer is required to sign a "plain language" disclosure form. This form is intended to have each consumer acknowledge and confirm the sales agent properly identified himself or herself on behalf of Summitt; the agreement is for a fixed price energy supply contract for up to five years for natural gas/electricity; and the customer received a copy of the agreement and the terms and conditions.

3. Customers will still receive a reaffirmation call after their 10 day cooling off period that will confirm the terms of the contract, that the customer understands the contract, that the customer agrees to the contract and that the customer received a copy of the contract and the terms and conditions.

"Summitt remains highly committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure our customers receive full disclosure relating to our products and customers understand both the value of our products and the terms of the agreement to best determine if our products are suitable for their needs," said Gerry Haggarty, President and CEO, Summitt. "Satisfied customers can only be achieved by meeting and exceeding the requirements of the regulations of the Board and the Code of Conduct governing the sales practices of our agents."  Haggarty continued, "We take any allegations of non-compliance very seriously and in this case we immediately implemented additional procedures to help inform consumers including verification calls, plain language disclosure forms and ensuring that customers receive copies of their agreements. These new processes exceed the current requirements of the Board and are designed to meet and exceed the new requirements that are slated to come into effect on January 1, 2011."

Summitt is one of the largest energy retail companies in Ontario, representing over 100,000 customers across the province. Established in 2006 and headquartered in Mississauga, Summitt offers residential and business customers a variety of natural gas and electricity price protection programs.  In 2008, Summitt launched the Summitt EverGreen Program, designed to offset greenhouse gas emissions from homes in Canada.

For further information:

Media contact: Victoria Ollers, 416-822-2288, [email protected] or Paul Tyler, [email protected], 905-235-7285