Attorney General George Jepsen filed a civil lawsuit on Monday to collect a $360,000 penalty against former electricity aggregator Turris Associations LLC, of Redding for defrauding schools.
The lawsuit filed in Danbury Superior Court seeks the penalty from Raymond Sanzone of Redding, who was the sole principal of the company.
In October, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control revoked Turris’ authorization to operate as an electric aggregator in Connecticut. The attorney general’s office and the Office of the Consumer Council charged Turris and Sanzone of forging documents to more than double his commission from the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. The DPUC imposed a fine of $360,000.
“These schools were looking to a competitive energy supplier for lower cost electricity. Instead, they were overcharged by the agent who was supposed to be representing their interests,” Jepsen said in a statement. “We’re asking the court to enforce this penalty.”
According to the school association, Sanzone agreed to negotiate electricity contracts for the schools in exchange for a fee of 1 mill per kilowatt hour. Turris then charged the schools 2.5 mills instead, relying on a contract the schools said was forged. Neither Sanzone nor Turris responded to the DPUC to answer the charges.
