WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – A New Jersey consumer has filed a class-action lawsuit against a New York energy company over allegations it charges excessive amounts for electricity.
Anthony Wagar filed a complaint on Nov. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Gateway Energy Services Corp. alleging breach of contract and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was a customer of the defendant from 2010 to September 2018.
"Defendant has taken advantage of the deregulation of the retail electricity market by luring consumers into switching electricity suppliers with false promises that it offers a market-based variable rate for electricity," the suit states.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant's rates are "substantially" higher and that its rates do not reflect wholesale cost changes.
The plaintiff holds Gateway Energy Services Corp. responsible because the defendant allegedly damaged him and the class by charging a rate for electricity that was higher than it would have been if the defendant based its rate on the agreed factors.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks punitive damages, interest, costs and attorneys’ fees. He is represented by D. Greg Blankinship, Todd G. Garber and Chantal Khalil of Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber LLP in White Plains, New York.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York case number 7:18-cv-10244-UA