NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Gateway Energy Services is facing a class action lawsuit that alleges its bad faith pricing practices have burned consumers in New Jersey and other states.
The Feb. 24 lawsuit in New York federal court says Gateway has taken advantage of deregulation in New Jersey to reel in consumers with false promises of market-based variable rates for natural gas and electricity.
“But Defendant’s rates are not competitive, nor are they market-based,” says the lawsuit, filed by Jonathan Shub of Shub Law Firm, as well as lawyers at the firms Frederick Law Group of Pennsylvania and Timoney Knox of Washington, D.C.
“In fact, Defendant’s variable rates are substantially higher than those otherwise available from its customers’ local utilities in the energy marketplace. As a result, consumers are being fleeced millions of dollars in exorbitant charges for their natural gas and/or electricity.”
The suit alleges violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and New Jersey Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act. The plaintiffs are New Jersey citizens, while Gateway has a headquarters in Montebello, N.Y.