One of the many third-party retail electricity suppliers serving the Connecticut market has filed for bankruptcy, with the state among its largest creditors.
Agera Energy and its parent company Agera Holdings petitioned for Ch. 11 reorganization on Friday in New York’s southern district, reporting estimated liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, according to court records.
Connecticut is owed $8.2 million in so-called alternative compliance payments, which energy sellers pay when they don’t source as much renewable energy as state law requires.
Agera’s petition said the company expects funds to be available for distribution to unsecured creditors, but it wasn’t immediately clear how much there might be to go around.
Agera did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.
Agera said it had at least several hundred creditors. The largest among them is Massachusetts, which is owed nearly $44 million in alternative compliance payments, according to the petition. Agera also reported a $35.7 million subordinated loan from a North Carolina-based lender.
On the same day it filed for bankruptcy relief, Agera announced it had reached an agreement to sell its retail assets — which include customer accounts in Connecticut and more than a dozen other states, to Constellation.
Any agreement would be subject to court approval.
“This agreement would provide an opportunity to grow our retail business in strategic markets and strengthen our position as the nation’s largest competitive energy provider,” Constellation CEO Jim McHugh said in a statement. “Provided the court process unfolds favorably, we look forward to providing Agera Energy’s retail customers with the same quality products, services and clean energy solutions that Constellation customers currently enjoy.”
As of June 30, Agera had 8,090 business and residential customers in Connecticut, according to public reports submitted by Eversource and United Illuminating to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
