Independent electric marketer Wheeled Electric Power Co. (WEP) has filed a petition at the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), alleging that anticompetitive practices by Central Illinois Light Co. (CIL) and CIL subsidiary QST Energy have undermined CIL's Power Quest retail competition pilot.
WEP asked the ICC to 1) initiate a new pilot in CIL's service territory (em involving an additional 5,000 customers in new locations (em 2) compel CIL to provide the information needed to implement full-scale retail competition, and 3) exclude QST Energy from the new program entirely, or for the first 120 days to ensure that consumers are able to choose suppliers fairly.
According to WEP's Illinois marketing director, Gordon Pozza, QST Energy improperly identified itself as CIL's sister company, and claimed that only QST would provide the same "reliable" service as CIL, because CIL still would service power lines and read meters. WEP believes such statements are improper because CIL will provide those services for all customers participating in the pilot program. In addition, QST uses a logo almost identical to that of the pilot program, creating the impression that QST somehow has official status in Power Quest.